The talk highlights the benefits of green space access in school settings for behavioral and performance outcomes. It presents two studies both carried out in deprived schools in Central Scotland; the first compares the effect of indoor versus outdoor education (delivered in a forest setting) on a range of wellbeing outcomes in teenagers; the second study explores the benefits to memory recall in early years pupils from curriculum tasks carried out indoors versus outdoors in a range of playground settings.

1. Natural Solutions To Tackling
Behavior and Performance in
Urban Schools
Curry Education Research Leadership Series
2nd September 2016
Jenny Roe, PhD
Director of the Center for Design and Health

2. Outline
• The theoretical context;
• The evidence base for effects of nature in
school settings;
• 3 studies exploring outdoor classrooms and
effects of natural settings:
o Primary school children, mainstream school
o Adolescents aged 11-13:
(i) mainstream school (ii) specialist school

3. Key theoretical concepts
Restorative environments offering:
- short term restoration from cognitive fatigue,
stress and poor mood;
- longer-term restoration called ‘instoration’

4. Nature nurtures us (Kaplan and Kaplan 1989)
© National Geographic January 2016
Directed Attention: urban environments
demand our attention dramatically – once
it’s depleted we become cognitively fatigued,
less effective and stressed.
Involuntary Attention: the ‘soft’ stimuli of
nature – trees, water, light patterns – allows
the brain to disengage – and restore its
capacity for directed attention.

5. • Better health is related to access to green
space regardless of socioeconomic status and
income;
• Some limited evidence showing that
interventions using the natural environment
to improve health can deliver costs savings for
health and related services.
Natural solutions to health
Natural Solutions for Tackling Healthy Inequalities, Allen and Balfour 2014

6. Natural solutions to health in children & teens
Short-term restorative effects
Attention restoration (Faber Taylor et al 2002, Kuo 2001, Wells 2000)
Affective restoration (Faber Taylor and Kuo 2008)
Stress reduction (Wells and Evans 2003)
Instorative effects over time: Roe and Aspinall 2011(a)
Specific psychiatric conditions
Reduction in ADHD symptoms (Faber Taylor et al 2001, Kuo and Faber Taylor 2004,
Faber Taylor and Kuo 2008)
Reduced symptom severity in children with autism (Natural England 2014)
Evidence of differential capacities for restoration: the intensity of a restorative
experience can be influenced by mental health state in response to different settings
(Roe and Aspinall 2011b, 2011c).
Roe (in press) Cities, Green Space, and Mental Wellbeing, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of
Environmental Science

7. Natural Solutions and School Performance
• Greater levels of social interaction and greater non-verbal
communication outdoors in young children (Waite et al.,
2012).
• Improved memory recall in 13-15 year olds (n=85), better
recall of biology tasks outdoors vs. indoor classroom activities,
5 months post experiment, plus evidence of better social
interaction and affective impact (Fägerstam & Blom 2012)
• Evidence of greater creativity in children’s activities in natural
settings (Waite and Davis 2007)

8. Spectrum of mental health in children & teenagers
Buchanan et al., 2004
Some
behavior
problem
Significant
behavior
problem:
‘poor mental
health’
Severe
mental
disorder
No behavior
problem:
‘good mental
health’

9. Study 1
Primary School Memory Recall:
Indoor Task vs Outdoor Task
McKenzie Hamilton, J (2016): Environment and Cognition in
Primary Schoolchildren (unpublished PhD Research)
Jenny Roe, Pete Higgins, Peter Aspinall and Caroline Brown

10. • RH1. The cognitive performance of primary schoolchildren on
a curriculum task will be better in a natural setting than a
classroom.
• Design: quasi-experimental, 3 Scottish primary schools (n=57), mean age
5 ½ years, repeat measures performed the same curriculum task indoors
vs natural setting, children matched on SES variables.
• Main outcome variable: cognitive performance as measured by memory
recall, 6 months post task. Open ended recall question “tell me one thing
you remember about the lesson?”, and then requesting further
recollections using the simple open-ended prompt, “anything more /
else?”
• Mixed Methods: child task recollections, teacher interviews, observation,
child and teacher survey on setting preferences and setting richness.
RQ & Methods

11. Total m f UnderA Setting 1 Setting 2 Setting 1 Setting 2
Group 1 13 7 6 3 Indoors Wild Indoors Indoors
Group 2 16 8 8 4 Indoors Indoors Wild Indoors
Totals: 29 15 14 *7
*Underachievers: All male, except one girl in Group 1
KEY:
Children (Av Age 5yrs) Task1: Make aToy Task2: Puppet Tour
Experimental
Control
Research design: example

12. Make a Toy: Comparison of Indoor and Outdoor Toys

13. Survey Measures

14. • Outdoor tasks were recalled more readily and in
richer detail than the classroom, with stronger recall
in the wilder setting over the playground.
• Children – and teachers – preferred the outdoor
tasks.
• Underachievers recalled more outdoors than their
peers.
• Observational data showed great movement, social
interaction and creative diversity outdoors.
Main findings

15. Recollections 6 months post task
25.8%
74.2%
Locationof1st Recollection
Children(n= 31)
indoors
outdoors
The first recollection was most often the outdoor task

16. Boxplot of Underachievers vs Able Children, significantly
different outcomes in the wilder outdoors setting only
Recollections between groups

17. Study 2
Secondary school: restorative outcomes of forest
vs indoors settings in young people with varying
behaviour states.
Roe, J. and Aspinall, P A. (2011b), Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, issue 3, Volume 10.

18. Deprived, inner city school in Glasgow, n=18, aged 11
Mainstream school Urban forest school

19. Study Design: two behavior groups: good vs poor behavior
Context: School day vs Forest School day x 2
Outcome measures:
-Mood: stress, anger, hedonic tone and energy (UWIST MACL 1990);
-Dimensions of personal goals (manageability, mastery, meaning, fun and
stress).
Methods

20. Anger Outcomes
-4
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
4
5
School
Forest1
Forest2
estimatedmarginalmean
setting
Between group differences for anger
good behaviour
poor behaviour
*
*
*significant
difference
between group
A higher value on the y axis = higher anger level

21. Hedonic Tone Outcomes
-4
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
4
5
School Forest 1 Forest 2
Estimatedmarginalmeans
setting
Between group diffrences for hedonic tone
good behaviour
poor behaviour
A higher value on the y axis = higher HT

22. Participatory Video
Video Diary Box
https://vimeo.com/user11133442/videos

23. Study 3
Residential School: outcomes of forest school in
children with severe mental health problems
Roe, J. and Aspinall, P A (2011c): The emotional affordances of forest settings: an
investigation in boys with extreme behavioural problems, Landscape Research. 22
March 2011 (iFirst), 36 (5).

24. Residential school, Glasgow

25. Participatory Video
https://vimeo.com/151261536

26. Affective Outcomes, n=8

27. 4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Pre Post
Mean
Stress
Good
Poor
Extreme
Differing rates of restoration across the behavior spectrum in the
outdoor setting

28. Blue light exposure across the life span
Amanda Nioi, PhD
Jenny Roe, Peter Aspinall,
Bal Dhillon, David McNair
Blue light exposure across the life span
Proposition study: autism and blue light exposure

29. The non-visual eye
Body
clock:
SCN
Melatonin – the
sleep hormone,
suppressed by
blue light
Non-image forming cells at the
back of the eye send signals to
the brain synchronizing
environmental cues and the
body clock
Czeisler et al., 1995: Suppression of melatonin secretion in some blind patients by exposure to bright light
Pineal
gland

30. Key findings
• Sensitivity to fluorescent light – can
cause over arousal in behavior.
• Disruption in the melatonin rhythms –
sleep/wake cycle can become out of
sync.
Gaps for further study
• Quantify amount of blue light reaching
the eye and the level of sleep
disruption.
• Limited research on light therapy as a
non-pharmaceutical to synchronize
circadian rhythms.
• Simple light intervention measuring
the effects of sleep.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
http://blog.lightingvanguard.com/2011/11/miami-airport-
installation-harmonic.html

31. Adolescents
Key findings
• Lack of blue light in the am or over
exposure in the pm causes disruption
to sleep cycles.
• Blue light in the morning proven to
help daytime alertness during the
school day.
Gaps for further study
• Exploration of the connection between
morning blue light exposure and
academic performance.
• Examine the longer term implications
on sleep and well-being due to over
exposure to evening blue light.

32. • Increasing reliance on prescriptions (Ritalin,
Adderall) being used to manage behavior
• “We’ve decided as a society it’s too expensive
to modify the kid’s environment. So we have to
modify the kid”
Clinician quoted in ADHD Nation, Alan Schwarz 2016
Natural solutions … why is this important ?

33. Next steps …
• Exploring the convergence of environment,
education and health and wellbeing.
• Establish a ‘natural connections’ school
demonstration project.
jjr4b@virginia.edu

34. Appendices
Name FSM* Teachers School Yr Sample Av Age m f UA** Settings Tasks
1. Playground 14% n=1 P1 n=19 5yrs 10 9 6 Classroom / Playground
(1) Autumn Leaves***;
(2) Build aDen
2. Urban Wood 72% n=1 P1 n=29 5yrs 15 14 7 Classroom / Wood
(1) Make aToy;
(2) Puppet Tour
P1/ 2 n=9 5.5yrs 4 5 0
P5/ 6 n=14 9.5yrs 6 8 1
***Pilot Study*FSM: Free School Meals **UA: Underachievers
SCHOOLS CHILDREN TASK
3. Rural Wood 14% n=2 Classroom / Wood (1) Alien Adventure