According to some researchers, there is a link between the exposure to green spaces of a school located in the city and the cognitive development of children in elementary grades
Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerous
Put one school with one green space next to it: it will benefit the mental development of the children who attend it.
Yes, according to i researchers of the Spanish Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology, there is a link between the exposure to green spaces of a school located in the city and the cognitive development of elementary school children. The contact with nature (outside the school but also around the house), in fact, would play a fundamental and irreplaceable role in the development of the brain of the little ones.
I study, published on PNAS, was based on the monitoring every three months (between January 2012 and March 2013) of the cognitive measures of almost 2.600 children aged between 7 and 10 years in Barcelona.
Over a 12 month period, exposure to greenery in and around schools has been linked to increased mental capacity to continuously manipulate and update information with ease. In addition, greater memory capacity and reduced inattention was recorded, regardless of ethnicity, maternal education and parental occupation.
“We also found that traffic linked to air pollution has an impact between 20 and 65% on the link between green around schools and cognitive development. Part of the observed influence of green space on cognitive development could be mediated by the ability of green spaces to reduce air pollution, which has also been negatively linked to cognitive development ", says Payam Dadvand che ha condotto lo studio.
The same connection was observed between green spaces and houses. Given the growing number of people living in urban areas, research suggests that expanding green space close to home could also "translate into a population-wide mental capital benefit," explains Jordi Sunyer, one of the authors.
In short, once again a policy that supports the creation of green spaces is a winner, also and above all in the cities and areas most frequented by children!
Germana Carillo
READ also:
The Kindergarten in the Woods: the nursery that educates children in the open air
Eco Classroom: the off-grid school in the forest that collects rainwater from the green roof
Educating for sustainability: "green" schools
