Bibliography:Scholl, Kathleen G., and Gowri Gulwadi Betrabet. “Recognizing Campus Landscapes as Learning Spaces.” Recognizing Campus Landscapes as Learning Spaces. The University of North Carolina Greensboro, 2015. Web. 27 Sept. 2016. <http://libjournal.uncg.edu/jls/article/view/972/777>.
“Recognizing Campus Landscapes as Learning Spaces” by Scholl and Gulwadi
The main statement made by Scholl and Gulwadi is that as times change within the modern age and student populations increase, the natural landscape of a campus becomes a higher learning resource for it’s students. They go onto say that the entire campus is important to create a holistic learning community and that the campus can create a sense of “belonging” to the learning community. Open spaces have not been utilized as much in “replenishing cognitive functioning for attentional fatigued students”(Scholl and Gulwadi, par.1).
Justin Smith Morrill, attributed to the Morrill Act of 1862
The authors reference that in the beginning of the idea of a campus, the goal was to build a place like no other in order to promote thought, classical studies, and divinity learning among the students and faculty. With the Morrill Act of 1862 came the idea of “zones” more than just student corrals to exterminate outside lures. They go onto say that since the first incorporation of Earth Day, there has been the birth of sustainability efforts in campus construction, meaning more “green Infrastructure”(Scholl and Gulwadi, par.7).Through the addition of open spaces come many benefits, such as campus identity, community, and environmental benefits.
Natural scenery, as attributed in the piece to Olmstead, provides mental development without fatigue. Scholls and Gulwadi bring up the Attention Restoration Theory (ART), which is a model in which natural scenery can have “recovery effects on the human attentional system”(Scholl and Gulwadi, par.9). The model is strained by the definition of nature, which can range from a single component, such as a flower, to a united space, such as an outdoor classroom. The authors specify that in this paper, nature is described as the holistic view containing flora, fauna, and water. Direct attention is the individual “working” to remain focused and to not fall victim to “distracting stimuli”(Scholl and Gulwadi, par.11). The problem with direct attention is that it does not last long without a mental revival, meaning that eventually the individual will eventually fail to focus. Involuntary attention occurs when the
natural scenery is important to a campus
individual focuses on something that is “inherently intriguing”(Scholl and Gulwadi, par.12). The idea is brought up again that campus “greenness” can lead to involuntary attention and revive human mentality.
Scholl and Gulwadi cite to Keniger, who references several types of settings for interactions with nature: “indoor (plants), urban (high human impact), fringe (on the outskirts of town or city), production landscape (agricultural), wilderness (low human impact), and specific species (animals, pets)” (Scholl and Gulwadi, par.13). With these different natural forms in space, there a different interactions one can have with these spaces: “indirect (experiencing nature passively even though not physically present in it), incidental (chance encounters with nature via other activities) and intentional(purposeful activity)”(Scholl and Gulwadi, par.13). Most universities can be modeled as its own communities. learning is dynamic and can be built or destroyed through a campus’s open space or lack thereof. These regular breaks can replenish cognitive abilities and can aid in future studies.
The authors drive home the idea that natural aids can provide benefits to cognitive function, focus, community, and even happiness. They also request that in order to improve these factors, human-nature relations need to be acknowledged and researched more thoroughly. The preservation of these open spaces, especially green spaces, is vital to a campus’s health and aesthetics need to be replaced with educational benefits.