Within the framework of the cooperative project "One Year in the Forest - The Influence of Education Outside the Classroom on Biological Indicators of Stress Resilience", Prof. Ulrich Dettweiler, University of Stavanger, Prof. Peter Kirsch and Dr. Martin Gerchen, Central Institute of Mental Health/University of Heidelberg, Prof. Perikles Simon, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and our colleague Dr. Christoph Mall, Technical University of Munich, recently published an article in the British Journal of Educational Psychology.
Various studies have shown that urban in comparison to rural upbringing might affect one’s brain structures and therefore biological stress regulation systems. However, these associations have not been investigated for pupils in the framework of educational interventions.
The researchers compared two groups of pupils: one group received one day per week curriculum-related lessons outside the school building in a nearby forest, so-called Education Outside the Classroom (EOtC); the other group received regular indoor lessons. In an explorative longitudinal design, pupils’ autonomy support, cortisol levels, sedentary behavior and physical activity (PA) were measured at three measurement occasions (autumn/spring/summer), structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was conducted at two measurement occasions (autumn/summer) and functional MRI under a stress condition was conducted once (summer). The researchers were especially interested in the developments of the amygdala, the hippocampus and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Bayesian multiple group latent growth models, Bayesian multivariate regression models as well as Bayesian regularized regression models were setup to account for data structure complexity.
The results showed that the pupils in EOtC classes exhibited more efficient regulation of biological stress-reactivity and that decreasing cortisol levels over the school day were associated with higher levels of light PA in natural environments. Analysis of structural MRI indicates that cerebral maturation effects are best explained by age: older pupils showed greater cerebral maturation. Perceived autonomy support, in the meaning of choicefulness, had a positive direct effect on the maturation of the ACC. This association seemed to be stronger in EOtC classes. Autonomy supportive teaching might therefore foster cerebral maturation and EOtC taking place in natural green environments such as forests might have a positive effect on biological stress regulation systems.
The findings of this exploratory study of an innovative teaching concept should be further explored in future research.
Funding information: Dietmar Hopp Stiftung, Grant/Award Number: 23016007
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Dettweiler, U., Gerchen, M., Mall, C., Simon, P., & Kirsch, P. Choice matters: Pupils' stress regulation, brain development and brain function in an outdoor education project. British Journal of Educational Psychology. 00, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12528