Bracing Biophilia: When biophilic design promotes pupil’s attentional performance, perceived restorativeness and affiliation with Nature

Giuseppe Barbiero,Nicola Maculan,Alice Venturella,Rita Berto

doi:10.1007/s10668-021-01903-1

Giuseppe Barbiero, Nicola Maculan + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-021-01903-1

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Abstract

AbstractBiophilic design is an architectural model that offers the possibility to create the Nature-based Innovative Learning Environment (ILE), which might support cognitive processes and stimulate affiliation with Nature. Bracing Biophilia is an exploratory research programme which verifies the effect of Nature-based ILEs on pupils’ attentional performance and affiliation with Nature. We compared a conventional learning environment with two Nature-based environments made according to biophilic design and the Biophilic Quality Index (BQI). The experimental observations spanned three school years; they were carried out within a conventional learning environment in the first year and in a biophilic designed one in the next two. Measurements, that is the administration of the Perceived Restorativeness Scale-children, the Continuous Performance test, and the Connectedness to Nature Scale-children, were deployed at regular intervals at three different times (autumn, winter, spring) of each school year. Results show that learning environments with biophilic design, in addition to being preferred and perceived as more restorative, are more effective in supporting pupils' attentional performance than conventional learning environments and, over time, strengthen the feeling of affiliation with Nature. A BQI certified biophilic design learning environment turns out to be the best of all indoor environments and just below the outdoor learning environment used as a comparison of biophilic design indoor environment. Although the objective limitation of this study is the number of pupils, the trend appears clear and cannot be attributed to pupils’ cognitive maturation processes. This case study allows us to appreciate the importance of the restorative learning environments with biophilic design capable of supporting the learning process and strengthening the affiliation with Nature.

Highlights

Educational theorists and practitioners have always recognized the importance of physical space in an early learning environment, they argue that a child’s environment is crucial to the physical and cognitive development and that educational environments should be rich in stimuli, providing opportunity for exploration and testing (Moore, 1987)
We present Bracing Biophilia, a research programme devoted to study Nature-based learning environments able to support pupils’ cognitive processes and stimulate their biophilia
In the following two school years (2017–2018 and 2018–2019), the experimental observations were conducted in the school after the building requalification where the large and small classrooms had taken on a biophilic design configuration, as Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 show, and the multipurpose classroom the Biophilic Quality Index (BQI) certified biophilic design configuration, as Fig. 6 shows

Summary

Introduction

Educational theorists and practitioners have always recognized the importance of physical space in an early learning environment, they argue that a child’s environment is crucial to the physical and cognitive development and that educational environments should be rich in stimuli, providing opportunity for exploration and testing (Moore, 1987). School environments should provide a balance between individual capabilities and environmental challenge, and giving the child the opportunity to avoid mental fatigue to sustain learning (Kuo et al, 2018) This kind of school environment has no environmental stressors which challenge the child subtracting resources to the ongoing task; in addition to that, this type of environment offers non-competitive stimuli that is stimuli that positively engage attention without distracting the child too much and keeps an eye on Nature directly or indirectly (Kuo et al, 2019). When attentional fatigue concerns primary school children restoration should go through a biophilic designed learning environment (Hartig et al, 2008)

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