Branching Out of the Classroom: The Influence of Natural Settings on the Directed Attention of Fifth Grade Children

Abstract

This study compared the directed attention capacities of fifth grade students who participated in a classroom experience without outdoor learning experience to those who participated in an outdoor learning experience. Studies in restorative environments framed by attention restoration theory (ART) suggest that natural settings allow for directed attention restoration. Directed attention is effortful focus (attention) – paying attention to important, but not necessarily interesting, stimuli (Kaplan, 1995; Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989). Directed attention allows students to attend to, manipulate, and infer about information received. Because directed attention requires effort, it is fatigable (Kaplan, 1995; Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989). When directed attention is fatigued, it can cause symptoms such as irritability, increased errors in attentional tasks, inability to make decisions, and inability to read social situations. Natural environments have been correlated with improved directed attention after subjects have viewed images of or spent time in these spaces (Berman, Jonides, & Kaplan, 2008; Berto, 2005; Berto, 2007; Cole & Hall, 2010; van den Berg, Faber Taylor & Kuo, 2008; Faber Taylor, Kuo & Sullivan, 2001a; Faber Taylor, Kuo & Sullivan, 2001b; Koole & van der Wulp, 2003; Kuo & Faber Taylor, 2004; Matsuoka, 2010; Wells, 2000).

This study explored whether restorative environments, specifically outdoor, natural environments, influence directed attention when being utilized for the education of fifth grade students during a formal school day. The d2 Test of Attention was used to measure attention (Brickenkamp & Zilmer, 1998), and a modified Perceived Restorativeness Scale was used to measure perceived restoration (Hartig et al., 1997).

While no conclusions can be made from this study’s data, the study continues a conversation about how natural spaces can be used as an academic tool in today’s formal classrooms.