Reading is probably the most important academic skill because it is the basis on which many other academic activities are built (Gibson, Cartledge, Keyes, Yawn, 2014). .
Although some have already researched the topic, I found it interesting and conducted a color and learning experiment also. I performed my experiment to test whether or not printing elementary reading comprehension questions on colored paper instead of white paper is more effective for learning. Data was collected on oral reading fluency, comprehension, and the speed of the participant. Based on previous research, I hypothesized that students who take a timed reading comprehension test on colored paper will perform better than students who take the exact same test, printed on colored paper, as well as white paper.
Method.
The present study included fifteen women, and fifteen men, with a total of thirty participants. The youngest participant was twenty-one and the oldest was twenty-three, giving me a median age of twenty-two. I chose them randomly, as they walked into The Hair Gallery, located on 3500 N. Roxboro Road, Durham, NC, to be serviced. The participants were all African Americans (by coincidence). Each participant had to graduate from high school, with no experience at a four year university. Also each participant could be no older than twenty-three, careful not to exceed five years out of high school. I did this to ensure that all participants were on, or around the same reading level. To conduct this study, I used participants, colored printing paper (yellow, green, and blue), white printing paper, a computer, and a printer with ink. .
Every participant was handed a ten question, grade level eight reading comprehension test printed on white paper. The test was to be completed separately and in sixty seconds, which gave them six seconds to answer each question. Upon completing the test, the thirty participants were divided evenly into three groups of ten: green, yellow, and blue.
