Forest Kids

Forest Kids
fects on younger children, who get their physical activity in different
forms, or on how outdoor exercise affects their cognition.
A Swiss study of 250 young children published in 2011 found
that aerobic fitness and motor skills were linked to better attention
and spatial working memory, which is the type of memory that
helps children hold multiple pieces of information in their brains
while sorting through it, and plays a big role in learning. While
it makes sense that walking and moving outdoors would have a
similar impact, the researchers didn’t consider outdoor versus indoor
activity.
A smaller U.S. study of adults found that after four days in the
wilderness, they scored significantly higher on tests showing creative
reasoning skills.
That probably wouldn’t surprise Sangster Elementary’s Lockerbie
and Erin Van Stone, who have watched their students’ growing
self-confidence and problem-solving skills as they continually ask
questions and go about finding answers. These are building blocks
to learning.
But there’s another way green space is believed to contribute:
through the process of “attention restoration.”
According to the theory developed by psychologists Stephen
and Rachel Kaplan in the 1980s, nature has its own built-in way of
helping humans combat mental fatigue and regain clarity — a skill
that was necessary to survive during the era of living as huntergatherers.
The brain’s prefrontal cortex is the centre of judgment, attention
and decision-making. But in mentally taxing situations, it can
be depleted.
The ancient brain had its own solution: restoration by relieving
the activity in that part of the brain and replenishing it. That can
happen with something as simple as a change of place or visual
perspective, and most important, through “soft fascination” with
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