A Critical Review on the Impact of Combining Outdoor Spaces and Nature with Learning Spaces on Students’ Learning Ability

Abstract

The human innate tendency to interact with the natural environment hasbeen proven by psychologists. This interaction should be placed ineducational environments (schools). Unfortunately, interaction withnature is not considered in schools today, and the schoolyard, a placewhere students can interact with open space and nature, is designed to becompletely separated from the classrooms. That means the schoolyard andthe classrooms should be designed in harmony with each other. Studentsspend a majority of their educational period in classrooms, so to creatediversity and increase student's productivity, it is necessary to combineoutdoor natural spaces with indoor educational areas. So, the schoolyardplays a complementary role to the classroom. Additionally, the naturalenvironment can be considered as another educational setting option.The major goal of this review paper is analyzing the impact of the school'soutdoor and natural spaces on enhancing students' learning abilities.Accordingly, first, the landscape architecture theories related to individualsand the natural environment, the importance of nature in learning spaces,and its impacts on students are presented. Then, the outcome of designinglearning spaces in combination with outdoor spaces is displayed. Finally,the results can provide guidelines to education stakeholders, designers,and policymakers focused on creating more encouraging environments forstudents’ learning.