Naturalness in the educational setting:The restorative effect of a walk through naturalness versus a walk through buildings during breaktime

Introduction: University students need to focus their attention during classes. In education, it is common practice to split classes into successive lecture hours (e.g. each 45 minutes), with breaks (of e.g. 15 minutes) in between, to allow students to restore their attention capacities. Objectives: In this study, we research attention restorative effects of taking a break walking indoors, or taking a break walking outdoors in a natural environment. Methods: The research uses the usual break in a lecture to split the student group into two groups. Half of the group goes for a 12 minute walk through several university buildings linked by indoor walking bridges, and the other half walks straight outside and then 12 minutes in a nature environment. The experiment is performed in 5 classes, all in the same educational building, allowing the walking break to be consistent across classes. At the start of the break, students fill in a selective attention test (Stroop Test), after which they have their (guided) walk. Upon returning to the same classroom, a repeat measure of the attention test is filled in. Results: Through measuring attention capacity in a mentally fatigued state before and a potentially restored state after the break, analysis can show potential differences in attention restorative effect in education settings between a walking break outside through green, or inside through buildings. Data collection is performed from September through December 2024, therefore, final number of participants is not known yet and results will be presented at the conference.