The promoting effect of natural environment in music education on the cognitive and emotional development of college students: A quasi-experimental study

This study explores the role of natural environments in promoting cognitive and emotional development in music education. Using a mixed-methods approach through a 12-week quasi-experimental design, the study comparatively analyzed the differential effects of music education activities conducted in natural environments versus traditional classroom settings on student development. The research subjects were 240 college students (120 in the experimental group, 120 in the control group), with data collected through scale assessments, behavioral observations, semi-structured interviews, and social network analysis. The results indicated that: (1) Natural environments significantly promoted the development of students' music cognitive abilities, particularly in auditory discrimination ability (d=0.82), musical memory ability (d=0.79), and musical creative thinking (d=0.87); (2) Music education in natural environments produced systematic effects on emotional development, especially in emotional recognition and expression abilities (d=0.91), emotional regulation ability (d=0.92), and musical empathy ability (d=0.93); (3) Different types of natural environments produced different effects on cognitive and emotional development, with water landscapes showing optimal effects for auditory discrimination and emotional recognition, while forest environments were more conducive to creative thinking and emotional expression; (4) Natural environments exertedted psychosocial influence through three mechanisms: enhancing social connection and sense of belonging, cultivating ecological music values, and developing sustainable learning motivation; (5) Environmental complexity, biodiversity, and sense of natural rhythm were the three key environmental factors affecting music cognitive and emotional development. The research results support the application of attention restoration theory and place attachment theory from environmental psychology in music education, providing empirical evidence for the mechanism of environmental factors in music education, and offering important implications for organically integrating natural environmental elements into music education practice to promote students' comprehensive development.