The authors of this article start off by stating facts about how the enrollment numbers for college are on the rise. With the enrollment numbers on the rise this has forced people to ask the question of what makes college campuses a good learning environment for students. The authors say that many students don’t pick colleges for small things such as technology upgrades or new buildings, but that they choose to go to the college that has the type of environment that best fits their needs. With college being both stimulating and demanding this can cause attention fatigue and begin to erode a students academic success and learning goals. This raised the question of how can a college campus’ environment help replenish a students cognitive functions.
The authors of this article state that one way a college campus can help replenish a students cognitive function is by having a lot of open space. In a study done in 1994 it was found that having a lot of open space on a college campus adds both quality and value to a campuses environment. A landscape designer by the name of Fredrick Olmstead claimed that the way a college campus looks has a direct impact on the way a student is able to learn. He states that natural scenery can be very influential in refreshing both the mind and the body. In a major body of research it has been discovered using the Attention Restoration Theory that nature is a catalyst when it comes to healing the human attention system.
According to this article a college campuses landscape is instrumental in providing an interconnected type of feeling. The authors state that with colleges beginning to employ a more holistic type of feeling, nature is starting to be implemented more frequently around college campuses. Interaction with nature has been shown to have positive effects on the mind and body as well as have positive effects on a person’s voluntary and involuntary attention system. When students experience this type of holistic feeling on a college campus this can definitely impact their college experience in a positive way.
The authors of this article stress the importance of finding a space that best fits a students needs. Some students like to be outdoors and some people like to be in a quiet area. If you feel stressed or feel like your attention is suffering find an open space on campus, preferably around nature to help freshen up your mind and body. It is very important when choosing a college campus to try and find a place where you feel interconnected with the environment around you, because in the end it will benefit your academic success and student goals.