Spending time in nature boosts children’s academic achievement and healthy
development, concludes a new analysis examining hundreds of studies.
Ming Kuo, associate professor in the Department
of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the
University of Illinois and lead author on the Frontiers in Psychology study,
says she expected the critical review to lead to more questions than answers.
Instead, all signs pointed to the same outcome: “It is time to take nature
seriously as a resource for learning,” she says, “in fact, the trend of
increasing indoor instruction in hopes of maximizing standardized test
performance may be doing more harm than good.”
Kuo and her University of Minnesota co-authors found that nature boosts
learning in eight distinct ways.
“We found strong evidence that time in nature has a rejuvenating effect on
attention; relieves stress; boosts self-discipline; increases physical activity
and fitness; and promotes student self-motivation, enjoyment, and engagement,”
Kuo explains. “And all of these have been shown to improve learning.”
Moreover, nature creates a calmer, quieter, and safer setting for learning;
fosters warmer, more cooperative relations among students; and affords more
creative, more exploratory forms of play.
While none of these effects is entirely new, the analysis represents the
first time all of the lines of evidence have been pulled together. Collectively,
the findings make a much stronger case for the importance of time in nature.
They also provide an explanation for something that has been puzzling
scientists in the field – why even small doses of nature sometimes have
surprisingly large effects.
The researchers say the key is seeing how these effects work together, in
individual students and in classrooms.
“If something not only makes a student more attentive, but also less
stressed and more interested, then you can see how it could have a large effect
on their learning. Furthermore, if you put a bunch of kids in a classroom and
they’re all attentive, absorbed, and interested, that sounds like a different
classroom than one where they’re all stressed, agitated, not getting along,
etc.,” says Michael Barnes, doctoral student at the University of Minnesota and
co-author on the study. “So you can start to see how these large effects could
make sense.”
These effects extend beyond academic achievement, according to the review.
Time in nature appears to foster personal skills and qualities important for
future success, and may play a critical role in helping children grow up to be
environmental stewards.
“Report after report – from independent observers as well as participants
themselves – indicate beneficial shifts in perseverance, problem solving,
critical thinking, leadership, teamwork, and resilience. All of these line up
with skills we know are important for kids’ ability to thrive in the 21st
century,” says Catherine Jordan, associate
professor at U of M and co-author on the study.
The analysis suggests multiple benefits of greening schoolyards and
incorporating nature-based instruction in schools.
“Even small exposures to nature are beneficial. If you’re indoors, having a
view of your yard as opposed to facing the wall, that makes a difference. At
the same time, more is better. That’s one of the things that gives us more
confidence that we’re seeing a real cause-and-effect relationship,” Kuo says.
“The bigger the dose of nature we give a person, the bigger the effect we see
in them.”
Journal article:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00305/full
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00305/full
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