Nature does promote learning in children in both direct and indirect ways. Nature can help a student feel more attentive, less stressed, more self-disciplined, more engaged, more interested, and more physically active and fit. And it can also provide a calmer, quieter, safer, warmer, more cooperative setting for learning. Student motivation, enjoyment, and engagement are better in natural settings, perhaps because of nature’s reliably positive effects on mood. Attention is clearly important for learning, but many kids have trouble paying attention in the classroom, whether it be because of distractions, mental fatigue, or ADHD. Luckily, spending time in nature taking a walk in a park and even having a view of nature out the window helps restore kids’ attention, allowing them to concentrate and perform better on cognitive tests. Students and teachers report strikingly high levels of student engagement and motivation, during both student-elected and school-mandated nature activities.
Importantly, learning in and around nature is associated with intrinsic motivation, which, unlike extrinsic motivation, is crucial for student engagement and longevity of interest in learning. The positivity of learning in nature seems to ripple outward, as seen in learners’ engagement in subsequent, indoor lessons. Ratings of course curriculum, materials, and resources and interest in school in general, as well as lower levels of chronic absenteeism. Encouragingly, learning in nature may improve motivation most in those students who are least motivated in traditional classrooms. Just like adults, children are less stressed when they have green spaces to retreat to occasionally, helping them to be more resilient. Studies have found that holding a class outdoors one day a week can significantly improve the daily cortisol patterns of students reflecting less stress and better adaptation to stress when compared to kids with indoor-only instruction. Also, in a study looking at children in rural environments, those with more nature nearby recovered better from stressful life events in terms of their self-worth and distress.
The social and physical environment in which children learn can make a difference in their academic success. Letting kids spend time in settings with natural elements or giving them structured nature experiences can make for a calmer, socially safe, and fun learning environment. And being outdoors can also enhance peer-to-peer relationships and student/teacher relationships needed for learning, even for students who otherwise feel marginalized socially. While physical fitness is important for children for many reasons, one that may not immediately come to mind is the role it plays in learning. In particular, cardiorespiratory fitness seems to support efficient cognitive processing, and kids with higher fitness levels do better academically. Though it’s not clear that nature affects physical fitness directly, it is true that the more time kids spend in nature, the better their cardiorespiratory fitness. Having access to nature may encourage children to be more physically active and keep in shape longer as they age.
By doing so, we won’t only be benefitting our kids’ psychological well-being—though that’s reason enough! We will likely help them perform better in school, too. And, as a connection to nature breeds more care for nature, we may also be inspiring the future stewards of our natural world. Humans evolved to grow and thrive in natural environments, and research is showing the costs of indoor childhoods. It’s time to cure “nature deficit disorder” in our kids by giving “nature time”—not just studying and extracurricular time—the importance it deserves.
Sources:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00305/full#B68
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/six_ways_nature_helps_children_learn#:~:text=Nature%20improves%20children's%20psychological%20and,along%20with%20teachers%20and%20peers