Thesis: “Therefore, we propose that the natural landscape of a university campus is an attentional learning resource for its students.”
Reasons :
#1: “Continued enrollment growth, societal and technological changes, financial challenges, and a need for increased universal and open access create ever more diverse, changing and complex US university systems.”
#2: ” Although university culture places demands on students’ cognitive abilities, campus natural open spaces have not been systematically examined for their potential in replenishing cognitive functioning for attentional fatigued students.”
Passage of Evidence:
#1: “Campus construction was sparse during the Depression and World War II of the 1930s and 1940s. A dramatic post-war increase in student enrollment – 2.5 million to 7 million from 1955 to 1970 (Bowman, 2011) – and new federal grant-supported scientific research programs created a frenzied need to invest in new facilities. College presidents approved filling existing campus open space with large, stand-alone structures that typically did not cohere or unify with the existing campus style (Turner, 1984). The inclusion of the automobile on campus resulted in parking lots claiming large areas of natural open space within a “ring road” type of plan, in which vehicles were mostly kept outside the pedestrian oriented campus core (Bowman, 2011, p. 27).” (Paragraph 6)
2#: “Involuntary attention occurs when individuals are presented with stimuli that are “inherently intriguing” (p.124). Interaction with natural environments (especially green nature) employs faculties of concentration not normally used – involuntary ones – thus allowing the neural mechanisms underlying directed attention a chance to rest and replenish. This in turn can benefit performance on other tasks, delay gratification, and perhaps even regulate levels of depression and stress. Therefore, providing opportunities for interactions that draw upon involuntary attention could be impactful on university campuses for attentional, fatigued students and their learning mechanisms. A wide range of natural settings in and around a college campus can play a role in student learning and engagement. Perceived greenness of different campus spaces can influence students’ perceived restorativeness in them. Student perception of the surrounding campus landscape and the opportunities it offers for intentional and unintentional learning or recreational engagement/activity might influence their overall campus experience. Research on student campus experiences related to surrounding nature in campus landscapes is a relatively newer research domain. Future research can test the premise substantiated by past literature that the natural landscape of a college can be an asset by enabling attention-restorative benefits and positively influencing learning and academic performance.” (Paragraph 12)
Interesting Claim: “Defining “nature” can pose a bit of problem however. Nature can be labeled as a non-human physical feature such as an individual plant or butterfly.”
