Lessons in nature: What is the impact on children’s engagement during subsequent indoor lessons?

Kuo M, Browning MH and Penner ML (2018) Do lessons in nature boost subsequent classroom engagement? Refueling students in flight. Frontiers in Psychology 8 (2253) DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02253 Introduction This research paper investigates what happens to pupil focus and behaviour in the classroom following an outdoor lesson in nature. I chose it because there is an increasing amount of evidence suggesting that outdoor learning has a wide range of benefits for pupils, yet the vast majority of learning in UK schools still happens indoors. One possible reason for this is that teachers are concerned that outdoor learning will make children more over-excited and disruptive during subsequent lessons. This was the first study to directly examine the aftereffects of lessons in nature on classroom engagement.   What is the research underpinning the study? Previous research suggests that lessons in nature have a wide range of benefits, including helping pupils to retain more infor