Views and indoor nature

affected views. In some conditions, the luminance ratios did not meet the requirements between light sources and surroundings. The study concludes that the United Arab Emirates has several design issues in their stand classroom design including visual quality and daylighting. 192

Publication type: Journal Article Study type: Case Study Sample: 7 Duration: Single Point in Time Age or developmental stage: School Children, Primary and Older

Küller, R., & Lindsten, C. (1992). Health and behavior of children in classrooms with and without windows. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 12(4), 305–317. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944(05)80079-9 Kuller and Lindsten address how light affects classroom performance, body growth, sick leave, and stress hormones of school children. The study used around 90 children in their natural school environment for one school year. Four classrooms differed in access to daylight and artificial fluorescent light. Measurements of central power supply, window size, room size, and measurements of hormones were taken during the middle or second half of the week, and students needed to be in school for a few weeks, not around holidays. Measurements of urine were taken four times and behaviors were observed for thirty minutes during forty-minute lectures. The study found that there were more stress hormones in the summer when compared to the winter. Morning cortisol of high levels affected sociability and moderate or low levels promoted individual concentration for the students. Body growth was the smallest for children with the highest levels of morning cortisol. Children in the classroom without natural and artificial daylight did not have the same circannual rhythm of urinary-free cortisol. 193

Publication type: Journal Article Study type: Case Study Sample: 90 Duration: Longitudinal, One School Year Age or developmental stage: 8 to 9 Years Old

Benfield, J. A., Rainbolt, G. N., Bell, P. A., & Donovan, G. H. (2015). Classrooms With Nature Views: Evidence of Differing Student Perceptions and Behaviors. Environment and Behavior, 47(2), 140–157. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916513499583 Authors studied nine classrooms that have views of nature and compared them with nine classrooms that have windows that look to a concrete wall. The two types of classrooms had the same size, layout, number of students and course. They compared students’ perceptions, midterm scores, and final scores. They developed a survey in the beginning of the course to use as

a control and compare the two classrooms. They did not find statistically significant results regarding midterm grades. However, there was a significant difference between the classrooms with and without views of nature for the final scores of the class. Similarly, classrooms with views of nature rendered significantly more positive perceptions of the class from students. The study has some limitations, such as controlling for instructor, which could change the results. 194

Publication type: Journal article Study type: Quasi-experimental study Sample: 567 students Duration: One course Age or developmental stage: Undergraduates, 19 years old

Bogerd, N., Dijkstra, S.C., Tanja-Dijkstra, K., Boer, M.D., Seidell, J., Koole, S., & Maas, J. (2020). Greening the classroom : Three field experiments on the effects of indoor nature on students’ attention, well-being, and perceived environmental quality. Building and Environment, 171, 106675. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.106675 Van den Bogerd, Dijkstra, Tanja-Dijkstra, de Boer, Seidell, Koole, and Maas address if students in a lecture in a classroom are affected by indoor nature in a classroom. Specifically, if the benefits of indoor nature like potted plants, and green walls do affect these students and their attention, health, and well-being. The study involved 70 students at a university, 213 students at a secondary school, and 161 students at a secondary vocational school. Students were measured and tested on their attention, health complaints, lecture evaluation, perceived environmental quality, and attention. Students were given attentional tasks and questionnaires to complete that were then measured. The study found that the perceived environmental quality of classrooms with indoor nature was more favorable than without nature. The study also found that after one lecture, secondary education students reported that they had greater attention, teacher evaluation, and lecture evaluation when in a classroom with indoor nature compared to one without.

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Publication type: Journal Article Study type: Paper/Case Study Sample: 444 Duration: Cross-sectional, Longitudinal Age or developmental stage: University and Secondary Schools

Doxey, J. S., Waliczek, T., & Zajicek, J. M. (2009). The Impact of Interior Plants in University Classrooms on Student Course Performance and on Student Perceptions of the Course and Instructor, HortScience horts, 44(2), 384-391. Retrieved Aug 29, 2021, from https://journals.ashs.org/hortsci/view/journals/hortsci/44/2/article-p384.xml Doxey, Waliczek, and Zajicek address how plants impact university students and their classrooms. The performance of students and their perceptions of the course and teacher were analyzed. The study involved 385 students in two classes and there were three sets of them. Tropical plants were placed in the classrooms throughout the semester, and the effect on performance was measured. In the control classroom, there were no plants. There was a survey on instructor evaluation and university courses given to the students.

The study found that there was a significant difference statistically when comparing the teacher and course evaluation scores based on tested and control groups. Specifically, there was a large difference statistically for the enthusiasm of the instructor, organization of the instructor, and learning when plants were and were not in the classrooms. The study also found that there was the largest apparent difference for the students in the windowless and stark classroom. 196

Publication type: Journal Article Study type: Case Study Sample: 385 Duration: Cross-sectional, Longitudinal, One Semester Age or developmental stage: University

Fisher, A. V., Godwin, K. E., & Seltman, H. (2014). Visual Environment, Attention Allocation, and Learning in Young Children: When Too Much of a Good Thing May Be Bad. Psychological Science, 25(7), 1362–1370. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614533801 Fisher, Godwin, and Seltman address how the visual environment affects children and their ability to allocate attention and their ability to learn. The methods involved in this study were 24 students in kindergarten that were analyzed in a laboratory classroom. Students were separated into two groups with 12 students in each group. The measurements were in a laboratory classroom designed to have visual distractions that are found in primary classrooms. Measurements were taken over 2 weeks and seating was assigned randomly and assessments were given to students in a workbook. There were also measurements on the ability to stay focused while there were potential visual distractions. The study found that when walls were highly decorated with potential visual distractions, children were more distracted. Students also spent more time off task when there were visual distractions. The study also found that there were smaller learning gains for students when there were high visual distractions. 197

Publication type: Journal article Study type: Research Study Sample: 24 students Duration: Longitudinal, 2 weeks, Cross-sectional Age or developmental stage: Kindergarten

Gou, Z., Khoshbakht, M., & Mahdoudi, B. (2018). The impact of outdoor views on students’ seat preference in learning environments. Buildings, 8(8). https://doi. org/10.3390/buildings8080096 Gou, Koshbakht, and Mahdoudi address how views impact students, specifically their seat preference and learning environment. The methods involved in the study explored two main research questions. The research questions include: How do the view elements influence students’ seating behaviors in learning environments? How important outdoor views are in seat selection in learning environments? There was a survey given to students at a university library in Gold Coast, Australia. The survey measured their seat preference, view elements, and occupancy rate. The study found that it echoed previous research that had shown that privacy and territoriality

are the main factors as to how students choose seats. The study found that views, specifically outdoor views impact seat selection. The study also found that sky views that also provide shading are seen as potential optimal outdoor view compositions. The study points to the importance of the ability to see changes besides only greenery outside the building. 198

Publication type: Journal article Study type: Research Study Sample: 1 library Duration: Longitudinal, Cross-sectional Age or developmental stage: University

Han, K.-T. (2009). Influence of Limitedly Visible Leafy Indoor Plants on the Psychology, Behavior, and Health of Students at a Junior High School in Taiwan. Environment and Behavior, 41(5), 658–692. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916508314476 Han addresses how visible indoor plants affect the physiology, behavior, psychology of students over one semester. The study used a quasiexperimental approach over one semester of two classes of sophomore students at a Taiwanese junior high, which meant they were in eighth grade. Seventy-six students were surveyed once every two weeks. Six plants were placed in the classrooms in the back to be viewed but to not get in the way. The study found that the experimental groups reported comfort, friendliness, and performance stronger than the control group. There were fewer punishment records due to misbehavior in the experimental group compared to the control group. There were also fewer sick leave hours in the experimental group compared to the control group. The study also found that visual and psychological mechanisms were at work in these classrooms due to plants, but other factors could also have affected the results. 199

Publication type: Journal article Study type: Case Study Sample: 76 Duration: Longitudinal, Two weeks Age or developmental stage: Eight Grade/Sophomore Year in Taiwanese Junior High

Harte, J. (2010). The influence of houseplants in a child development center on young children’s directed attention. Harte addresses how houseplants influence children. It was focused on the attention rates, attention state, and adaptive behavior of children. It was focused on increasing the potential learning environment for children and if that could happen with house plants. The methods used involved analyzing and measuring relationships between preschoolers and houseplants. A quasi-experimental observational study was conducted on preschoolers. Observations were recorded and measured on time spent in the area, attention spans, and adaptive behavior of the children. The thesis found that in the study that those who participated in the area between six and eleven times there was a medium effect of houseplants on the time spent there. There were small effects on attention for alert and divided attention

and almost medium effects for sustained and focused attention it was found that for some children, the plants may have influenced them to stay at the sensory bins longer when compared to not having plants in the classroom.200

Publication type: Paper Study type: Thesis Sample: 1 Duration: Cross-sectional, Longitudinal, Six to Seven Times Age or developmental stage: Young Children

Ko, H., Schiavon, S., Zhang, H., Graham, L. T., Brager, G., Mauss, I., & Lin, Y.-W. (2020). The impact of a view from a window on thermal comfort, emotion, and cognitive performance. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.106779 In this study they explored the impact of having or not having a window on thermal perceptions, emotion, and cognitive performance. The study uses a randomized crossover experimental set up with a sample of 86 graduate and undergraduate students. They placed the participants in a room with windows and a room without windows at 28 °C for 2 hours. During this time the participants developed a survey, a creativity test, a cognitive test and a second survey during each hour. All the participants experienced the two conditions during one hour of the experiment. To measure the outcomes of the experiment, they used physical measurements, skin temperature measurements, thermal perceptions, and cognitive performance tests. They found the thermal sensations were significantly cooler in the space with a window compared to the space without a window. Also, 12% more of the participants where thermally comfortable. Memory and the ability to concentrate were higher in the space with a window. They found no significant differences in short term memory, planning, and creativity performance between the 2 conditions. 201

Publication type: Journal article Study type: Experimental study Sample: 86 Duration: 2 hours Age or developmental stage: college graduates and undergraduates

Lassonde, K. A., Gloth, C. A., & Borchert, K. (2012). Windowless Classrooms or a Virtual Window World: Does a Creative Classroom Environment Help or Hinder Attention? Teaching of Psychology, 39(4), 262–267. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628312456618 Lassonde, Gloth, and Borchert address how creating a view for students of virtual windows affect attentional tasks. The study involved forty undergraduates and they took the Trail Making Task and Benton’s Controlled Oral Word Association Test. They were in classrooms with blind-covered windows or virtual windows of nature scenes. They were randomly assigned to one of the two classrooms with twenty in one and twenty in the other. The virtual windows were installed in a basement classroom. The study found that the results of the students on the Trail Making task and Benton’s Controlled Oral Word Association Test were affected positively in the classrooms with the virtual windows. Students were found to have a positive influence on

their completion of the tasks. The study also found that students were more efficient on the Trail Making Tasks in the virtual window classroom compared to the no window classroom. The study found that virtual windows were not a distraction in the classroom. The study also found that virtual windows had a positive effect on performance. 202

Publication type: Journal Article Study type: Case Study Sample: 40 Duration: Single Point in Time Age or developmental stage: Undergraduate

Li, D., & Sullivan, W. C. (2016). Impact of views to school landscapes on recovery from stress and mental fatigue. Landscape and Urban Planning, 148, 149–158. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2015.12.015 Dongying and Sullivan investigated how nature and greenspaces can help a student with their stress levels. The authors hypothesize that the students view out on to green landscapes can help with their mental fatigue and stress. They conducted a randomized controlled experiment with 94 high school students distributed in 5 high schools. The students were then randomly placed in three room types, no window, window without a good view, and a window with a view to lush vegetation. They measured attentional functioning through digital span, and physiological stress using a set of physiological measurement (body temperature, skin conductance, and heart rate), as well as questionnaires to assess subjective perceptions of stress and attention. They found that students with the view to lush vegetation had significantly increased their recovery from stressful situations, as well as their attention. 203

Publication type: Journal article Study type: Experimental study Sample: 94 high school students, 5 high schools Duration: 45 minutes, one time Age or developmental stage: high school students

Lindemann-Matthies, P., Benkowitz, D., & Hellinger, F. (2021). Associations between the naturalness of window and interior classroom views, subjective well-being of primary school children and their performance in an attention and concentration test. Landscape and Urban Planning, 214, 104-146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2021.104146 Authors address primary students’ subjective well-being and performance are affected by the naturalness of window and interior classroom view. The study involved 785 students in the fourth grade. The students were ages eight to eleven years old and their well-being was passed with a written survey. The survey was about their satisfaction, comfort, ability to concentrate, ability to learn, satisfaction with achievements, perceived stress, and social belonging in school. The study found that the students reported less stress and were more focused when they were in a classroom with more natural views. The study also found that there was a positive association between students’ connection to nature, which was their time spent in nature, and on plant care, and with their feelings of comfort and learning satisfaction. The more time that students spent in nature created less fatigue and stress for

them and allowed them to pay more attention during lessons. 204

Publication type: Journal article Study type: Cross-sectional Study Sample: 785 students Duration: Longitudinal, Cross-sectional Age or developmental stage: Fourth Grade

Mcsweeney, J., Rainham, D., Johnson, S. A., Sherry, S. B., & Singleton, J. (2015). Indoor nature exposure (INE): a health-promotion framework. Health promotion international, 30(1), 126–139. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/dau081 Mcsweeney, Rainham, Johnson, Sherry, and Singleton address nature-based spaces and their impact on physiological and psychological health and how indoor nature exposure affects people. The study involved a scoping method that considered a variety of evidence and identified it. The assessment involved the biological, psychological, physical, and social components of health with adults and pediatrics to understand the impact. There were 4,573 articles read with 51 meetings the entire criteria. The study found that indoor nature exposure can promote health and be a tool to do so because of the nature based-stimuli and its interaction with individual characteristics. The study also found that indoor nature exposure research is not always consistent and there are issues with definitions and methodology. Indoor nature exposure may be able to create a built environment that supports our health in all aspects of people’s lives. Indoor spaces that are rich with nature may be an effective way of embracing indoor and outdoor health. 205

Publication type: Journal Article Study type: Literature Review/Case Study Sample: 51 Duration: Cross-sectional, Longitudinal Age or developmental stage: Adults and Pediatrics

Studente, S., Seppala, N., & Sadowska, N. (2016). Facilitating creative thinking in the classroom: investigating the effects of plants and the colour green on visual and verbal creativity. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 19, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2015.09.001 Studente, Seppala, and Sadowska address how students are affected by views of nature the color green, and exposure to live plants. The study included 108 business students in a British University that were randomly assigned one of the three conditions, nature views, the color green, and exposure to live plants. The control group did not have any plants in the classroom space and the second experimental group included a classroom with live plants and large classroom windows that allowed views of nature. The study found that there was increased visual creativity when there was access for students to plants, the color green, and natural views. The study also found that there was no impact on verbal creativity with those three different conditions. The study found that visual creativity can increase with the access to natural greenery and understood that this may not be able to be accommodated by everyone, so with the addition of green colored paper, there were similar effects on visual creativity shown. 206

Publication type: Journal Article Study type: Literature Review/Case Study Sample: 108 Duration: Cross-sectional, Longitudinal Age or developmental stage: University

Taylor, A. F., Kuo, F. E., & Sullivan, W. C. (2002). Views of nature and self-discipline: Evidence from inner city children. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 22(1-2), 49-63. https://doi.org/10.1006/jevp.2001.0241 Taylor, Kuo, and Sullivan address how inner-city children are affected by nature views. The study involved 169 boys and girls. The boys and girls were in 12 high-rise buildings that were architecturally identical. The buildings had varying amounts of nature nearby. The parent ratings of the naturalness of the views were considered to predict how students would perform on tests. Measures were taken on the performance of children on concentration, impulse inhibition, and delay of gratification tests. The study found that girls were affected more by immediate nature views than boys and view accounted for 20% of the variance in scores for them. The study also showed that boys may be affected by distant green spaces as they are used to the green spaces that are near their homes more than the girls. The study also found that girls need to have immediate green spaces near their homes as it can allow them to live more effective, self-disciplined lives. 207

Publication type: Journal article Study type: Case Study Sample: 169 boys and girls Duration: Longitudinal, Cross-sectional Age or developmental stage: Boys and Girls, Children

van den Berg, A. E., Wesselius, J. E., Maas, J., & Tanja-Dijkstra, K. (2017). Green Walls for a Restorative Classroom Environment: A Controlled Evaluation Study. Environment and Behavior, 49(7), 791–813. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916516667976 Van den Berg, Wesselius, Maas, and Tanja-Dijkstra address how green walls with living plants affect two elementary schools with a project design, measurements, and follow-ups. Specifically, children’s cognitive performance, classroom evaluations, and well-being of children were reported. The study involved 170 elementary school children at two elementary schools in controlled, prospective designed environments with baseline measurements taken. There were also follow-ups are taken at two and four months. Children’s cognitive performance was measured with attentional tests and self-report questions to also understand well-being and classroom evaluations. The study found that when there was a green wall placed in four classrooms, the students in those classrooms performed better on tests on selective attention. Children’s classroom evaluations were positively affected by the green walls. Children’s self-reported well-being was not found to have a measurable effect because of the green wall. The study overall found that a green wall could affect students and create a restrictive classroom design. 208

Publication type: Journal Article Study type: Controlled Evaluation Study