Recent studies on the stress-reducing effects of natural environments have been conducted primarily with adults. This current research examined if similar results would be found with children. The specific aim of this study was to investigate differential effects of outdoor natural environments compared to indoor classroom environments on students' stress levels and cognitive performance.
Two schools participating in an “outside the classroom” (EOtC) program in Denmark agreed to be a part of the study. Teachers and students in the EOtC program use nearby natural environments for teaching and learning on a regular basis. A fourth-grade class from one school and two fifth-grade classes from the other school participated in this study, with a total of 49 children participating. For this study, the children performed the same activities and cognitive tasks in both the indoor and outdoor environments on two separate days, one week apart. For one class, related assessments were first conducted in the outdoor natural environment one week and in the indoor environment the next week. The opposite took place for the other two classes – that is, assessments were conducted indoors one week and then outdoors the following. The children wore chest-strapped heart-rate (HR) monitors on both assessment days.
Recordings of the HR monitors were generated during five minutes of rest and during four minutes and 40 seconds while children completed the d2 Test -- a paper and pencil task designed to be used as a measure of cognitive performance. Analysis of the data found no indications that students performed better on the cognitive task in the natural environments compared to the indoor classrooms. The analysis did, however, provide some evidence that children's stress response differed in the two environments, but this effect was situation-dependent. The stress-reducing influence of the natural environment was evident during break time or mental pauses; not during the completion of cognitive tasks.
In discussing their findings, the researchers highlight the fact that this study was conducted in a school setting where contact with nature was routine. It's also likely that the participating children lived in close proximity to natural environments. The researchers, therefore, caution against accepting these findings as being representative of the general population. They also call for more research on the potential benefits of natural environments for children.
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