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. 2018 Oct 2:9:1579.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01579. eCollection 2018.

Green Breaks: The Restorative Effect of the School Environment's Green Areas on Children's Cognitive Performance

Giulia Amicone  1 , Irene Petruccelli  2   3 , Stefano De Dominicis  4   5 , Alessandra Gherardini  6 , Valentina Costantino  2 , Paola Perucchini  5   7 , Marino Bonaiuto  1   5
Affiliations

Green Breaks: The Restorative Effect of the School Environment's Green Areas on Children's Cognitive Performance

Giulia Amicone et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Restoration involves individuals' physical, psychological, and social resources, which have diminished over the years in the process of meeting the demands of everyday life. Psychological restoration can be provided by specific environments, in particular by natural environments. Studies report a restorative effect of nature on human beings, specifically in terms of the psychological recovery from attention fatigue and restored mental resources that were previously spent in activities that require attention. Two field studies in two Italian primary schools tested the hypothesized positive effect of recess time spent in a natural (vs. built) environment on pupils' cognitive performance and their perceived restorativeness, using standardized tests. In Study 1, children's psychological restoration was assessed by measuring sustained and selective attention, working memory, and impulse control, before and after the morning recess time. Team standardized playtime was conducted in a natural (vs. built) environment, and the perceived restorativeness was measured after each recess time. Results showed a greater increase in sustained and selective attention, concentration, and perceived restorativeness from pretest to posttest after the natural environment condition. In Study 2, the positive effect of free play recess time in a natural (vs. built) environment was assessed during the afternoon school time on sustained and selective attention and perceived restorativeness. Results showed an increase in sustained and selective attention after the natural environment condition (vs. built) and a decrease after the built environment break. Higher scores in perceived restorativeness were registered after the natural (vs. built) environment condition. Team standardized playtime and individual free play recess in a natural environment (vs. built) support pupils' attention restoration during both morning and afternoon school times, as well as their perceived restorativeness of the recess environment. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in terms of nature's role both for the school ground design or redesign and for the organization of the school's activities.

Keywords: attention; children; green areas; nature; restoration; school.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Natural environment of Study 1.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Built environment of Study 1.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Within-subjects procedure for Study 1.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Results of Study 1 for H2. Repeated measures ANCOVA for the three-way interaction effect of condition and time on working memory, controlling for the presentation order [F(1,71) = 43.04; p < 0.001; ηp2 = 0.38]. Natural environment condition T1 (M = 15.22, SE = 0.34); natural environment condition T2 (M = 16.38, SE = 0.38), t(73) = 4.12; p < 0.001; d = 0.68. Built environment condition T1 (M = 15.42, SE = 0.41); built environment condition T2 (M = 15.86, SE = 0.38) in their sustained and selective attention scores, t(73) = 1.55; p = 0.12; d = 0.26.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Results of Study 1 for H4. Repeated measures ANCOVA for the effect of condition on perceived restorativeness, controlling for manipulation order, F(1,74) = 30.53: p = 0.000; ηp2 = 0.292. Natural environment condition (M = 5.64, SD = 1.59, N = 76); built environment condition (M = 4.14, SD = 2.06, N = 76).
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
Natural environment for Study 2.
FIGURE 7
FIGURE 7
Built environment for Study 2.
FIGURE 8
FIGURE 8
Between-subjects procedure for Study 2.
FIGURE 9
FIGURE 9
Results of Study 2 for H5. z-test for sustained and selective attention scores at T1; natural environment condition (M = –0.08; SD = 1.21; N = 18) and built environment condition (M = 0.102; SD = 0.78; N = 17): z(33) = 0.54; p = 0.59; z-test for sustained and selective attention scores at T2; natural environment condition (M = 0.37; SD = 1.10; N = 18) and built environment condition (M = –0.40; SD = 0.72; N = 17), z(33) = 2.47; p = 0.007.
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