Scholl, Kathleen G., Gulwadi, Scholl. “Recognizing Campus Landscapes as Learning                                 Spaces.” Journal of Learning Spaces. The University of North Carolina                                             Greensboro, 2015. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.

In Kathleen G Scholl and Gawri Gulwadi article, “Recognizing Campus Landscapes as Learning Spaces” focuses on how, when, where, and with whom college students learn. After graduation high school it’s typical for students to get enrolled in either a 2 year or 4 year college. Students usually consider how the campus looks before making their choice. Based on studies, college campuses is a learning resource of students. All colleges have different campus looks, but one thing they all have in common is the the campus effects the academic life. Only one fifth of the student’s time is actually spent in the classroom the other time goes towards the extracurricular activitites. One major event that happens with college students is that they usually get bored fast. Students deal with attentional fatigue. But colleges are trying to eliminate that by making class and the school more intriguing by getting technology advances, but also advancing the campus as a whole. The word campus is a latin term that means “field”.  Campuses first came into play in the 1700s and have definitely changed over the course of time. Typical colleges include dormitories, dining halls, and different recreational building. The physical layout of campuses are designed to contribute to student learning. Based on studies older campus layouts emphasized disciplinary boundaries but with current and future college layouts are designed to be more integrative. Landscape designer Frederick Olmstead worked with a philosophy group that constructed research that physical landscape features impacts human behavior and offers students different learning styles. Olmstead also states that “natural scenery employs the mind without fatigue and yet exercises it; tranquilizes it and yet enlivens it; and thus through the influence of the mind over the body, gives the effect of refreshing rest and reinvigorating to the whole system”. According Olmstead students do better academically with a well designed physical landscape.    This executive system is divided into two parts that is associated with student’s learning and that’s involuntary attention and direct attention. Direct attention requires more of mental stability and cognitive control for the student to stay more alert and focused. The second one is involuntary attention and that’s when the student is being brought around a stimuli that’s suppose to be very intriguing. This idea is testing the student’s attention. The physical landscape of campuses are converting to more open space. It’s also including a lot of different types of plants and greenery. Also the height of the buildings, less floors, all contribute to attention restoration.

In conclusion, campuses have involved drastically since the beginning. Not only for the look, but for academic purposes and the school’s health. Direct and indirect are two attention types that play a huge role in a student’s success at the school. The main components are communication and collaboration. By doing this most schools are going to flourish and realize that it’s the entire campus that contributes to the students not just the classrooms.