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
“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
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, video games, social media, or having to resist distractions and impulses. Multiple scientific studies demonstrate that nature contact restores directed attention. One study is below.
Experiment: University of Michigan researchers had college student volunteers take the backward digit span test – a measure of directed attention and working memory – and then walk 40 minutes in nature or on busy urban streets. They were then re-tested. Students who walked in nature had a significant score improvement (20%) whereas the urban walkers did not. This effect was independent of mood or weather. Viewing nature scenes without going on a walk provided modest benefits whereas viewing urban scenes 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: Chiba University researchers measured the stress levels (cortisol, pulse rate, blood pressure) of adult volunteers before and after a 16-minute forest or urban walk. Stress levels dropped significantly after the forest walk but not after an urban walk. Viewing nature scenes without walking lowered stress levels to a smaller but still significant degree. Viewing urban scenes did not reduce stress levels.
See Park paper below.
“Nature is the source of all true knowledge. She has her own logic, her own laws, she has no effect without cause nor invention without necessity.”
– Leonardo da Vinci
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