Summary of Recognizing Campus Landscapes as Learning Spaces

The article “Recognizing Campus Landscapes as Learning Spaces” by Kathleen G. Scholl and Gowri Betrabet Gulwad, was mostly about understanding that the campus that people live and stay on at a university is very important to education. The two writers explain how important a campus is by going in-depth about campuses as a whole. They do a great job at convincing the reader that its important through the use of historical context of American campuses, The impact they have on student learning, and lastly the different holistic landscapes for holistic learning.

In the Historical context of the American College Campus the authors state how the word campus is derived from a Latin word tat means field. They also state how university founders want their universities to be away or secluded from the city so that they aren’t too many distractions and so that students and faculty will devote their time to personal growth and their studies.  Through the Morrill Act of 1862 it required new buildings to be built that were labs and observatory space for agricultural, technical education, and scientific research. Later it shows how campus construction was slowed due to WWII; however, that all changed after the war in 1955 to 1970 where there was a huge increase in student enrollment. The authors then go into explaining what effects that the campus has on students.

Fredrick law Olmstead; an influential landscape designer of early campuses studied the philosophy that someones landscape and its features can have affects on the students behavior. he suggested that students get offered an experiential education rather than  theoretical learning.  he also suggest that nature in the environment can help the students fatigued mind trough the Attention restoration Theory. This states that through human-nature interaction, the human mind can take advantage of the benefits of nature and its affect on the brain. They go on to describe what nature is and how you can define it with regards to living nature. in the article it states that interacting with nature can improve ones direct attention, problem solving, focus and concentration, impulse inhibition, and memory; which, they state can become depleted form fatigue. Furthermore, the author starts going into detail the affects of having your direct attention depleted and the importance of having your direct attention healthy. They go on to state that many things you do and all your goals rely on you having healthy direct attention and that without it you wont be able to concentrate, “You will have a reduced performance on task, higher rates of irritability and tension, and more impulsive and hostile behavior may arise.”  (Kaplan, 1983; Kaplan & Kaplan, 1982; Tennessen & Cimprich, 1995).  The only way to combat this is through involuntary attention and that happens when you look at nature and interact with it, because it employs involuntary concentration which allows your neural mechanisms associated with direct attention a chance to replenish itself and rest. Campuses having many natural environments can help students combat their direct attention loss and can help them overall. This goes back to the authors main point that the landscape a Student lives in can have a lasting affect on their education and their well being.