Why it Works
There is a strong and growing body of scientific evidence that nature contact provides multiple benefits, including attention restoration and stress reduction.
Our programs are intentionally designed to be efficient and effective in providing those and other benefits to students.
“Simple walks turned into powerful learning moments!”
– Teacher
Directed attention is central to executive function and it can be easily depleted.
We showed that a walk in Nature restores our directed attention reservoir.
– Marc Berman, Professor, University of Chicago
Attention is Key
Directed attention involves focusing on a task of our choosing. It is essential for all learning and requires concentrated effort. Directed attention can be depleted by prolonged effort and having to resist distractions and impulses.
Nature contact restores directed attention.
Experiment: people took the backward digit span test – a measure of directed attention and working memory – and then walked 40 minutes in nature or on busy urban streets. They were then re-tested. People who walked in nature had a 20% score improvement whereas the urban walkers did not.
See Berman paper below.
Child-led Exploration
Maria Montessori’s pre-school methodology and Friedrich Frobel’s kindergarten model both center on self-directed learning as critical for a child's development and learning.
We believe that child-led exploration and discovery, where each student drives their own experience within a framework, is vital to student engagement, joy, learning, and healthy development.
We intentionally make space for child-led exploration in nature.
See Montessori book below.
Stress Reduction
Many things can cause stress for students. Chronic stress can lead to anxiety. Stress and anxiety hinder effective learning, deplete directed attention, and can lead to serious medical issues. Japanese scientists confirmed what many of us have long suspected: time in nature reduces stress.
Experiment: Measure stress levels (cortisol, pulse, blood pressure) before and after a forest or urban walk. People who walked in nature had a 20% drop in stress levels whereas people who walked in the city had no stress reduction.
See Park paper below.
“I’ve run through this forest but never slowed down to really see things the way we did today. My highlight was the kids finding the paper wasp nest and marveling together at its intricacy.” – Parent volunteer
Reading and references
Scientific Papers
Berman paper: “The cognitive benefits of interacting with nature”.
Park paper: “The physiological effects of Shinrin-yoku (taking in the forest atmosphere or forest bathing): evidence from field experiments in 24 forests across Japan”
Books:
Nature and the Brain by Marc Berman.
Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
The Nature Fix by Florence Williams
The Montessori Method by Maria Montessori