Curved Lines and Fractals

Outdoor learning has always been a “nice to do” in this country instead of a “have to do.” The opposite is true in the Scandinavian countries. Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark pride themselves for offering outdoor schools to children of all ages. Even when the temperature is well below freezing, Scandinavia’s young learners are taking advantage of learning outdoors, and their reading, writing, and problem-solving abilities, as evidenced by international testing, demonstrate exemplary achievement.

In an article posted by The New York Times back in August of 2025 titled “A Surprising (and Easy) Way to Boost Your Attention Span,” researchers found that improved attention span, by being outdoors, impacts almost everything – including one’s capacity to learn:

“In 2008, 38 students at the University of Michigan set out on a walk. Half of them wound their way through the trees in Ann Arbor’s Nichols Arboretum for 2.8 miles, while the other half navigated the same distance on the busy streets of downtown. A week later, the two groups swapped routes.”

“Both times before they set out, the students took a test that challenged their attention and working memory, where they were given progressively longer sequences of numbers that they had to repeat back in reverse order. When they returned to campus, the students took the test again. Walking through town improved their performance slightly, but walking in nature boosted scores by nearly 20 percent.”

“’You didn’t even need to like or enjoy the nature walk to get these cognitive benefits,’ said Marc Berman, a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago, who conducted the study while he was a graduate student at Michigan. People who walks on a cold January day experienced just as much benefit as those who did the experiment in July.”

“The effect that nature has on our minds has been studied many times before and since, and the research generally – though not always – finds that exposure to green spaces boosts our cognition and creativity, not to mention our mood.”

“Many of us have experienced firsthand the natural world’s ability to revitalize us – a moment of clarity after summiting a mountain, or renewed focus following a lunchtime stroll in the park. Scientists are trying to understand exactly why that happens.”

“In his new book, ‘Nature and the Mind,’ Dr. Berman attributes the cognitive benefits of nature to ‘attention restoration theory.’ First proposed in the 1980s by Rachel and Stephen Kaplan (both of whom were psychology professors at the University of Michigan when Dr. Berman was a student there), the premise is that our ability to focus is a finite resource that gets easily used up, and being in nature is an effective way to replenish it.”

“One of the most important things about nature, according to attention restoration researchers, is that it is ‘softly fascinating,’ meaning it tickles our attention in a gentle way without being too boring or stimulating. (Think about watching ocean waves roll in and out, or gazing at a field of wildflowers.) Urban environments, by contrast, are more harshly fascinating and demand our vigilance in a way that depletes us.”

“Dr. Berman posits that one reason nature has this effect on us is because of its physical properties, particularly its curved lines and fractals. And the arc of a river or a rock formation, or the repeating patterns of a snowflake, may be easier for our brains to process than the straight edges of a skyscraper. ‘That might give our brains a rest, and that’s why we might see these benefits,’ he said.”

When I was a public school superintendent, we had a hand full of elementary schools that were filled with predominantly high-poverty, minority young learners. When we started visiting these schools, we immediately noticed that these kids weren’t offered the same amount of “outdoor” time compared to elementary students attending middle class schools. The high-poverty, minority kids spent much of their time inside classrooms, being drilled on reading passages, writing prompts, and problem-solving activities. When they did get out of their classrooms, they were usually lined up in row order for bathroom breaks and walks to the lunchroom. Recess was limited, and some kids stayed in the classroom during recess due to disciplinary reasons.

We changed all this. We coached these schools’ principals to immediately expand recess time, and to not use recess as a disciplinary tool. We encouraged these schools’ staff to use walks to the bathroom and the cafeteria as opportunities for mini-lessons on science and social studies, allowing the young learners to explore their surroundings. We trained classroom teachers how to implement outdoor education strategies whereby, after several months, we started to see more lessons taught in the school’s courtyard than inside the school’s classrooms.

Over time, we saw kids enjoy learning more. Parents told us that their children asked to be outside more, and asked interesting questions to them while they were outdoors. More importantly, we saw these elementary students’ focus and concentration levels improve, and we saw reading, writing, and problem-solving scores improve on high-stakes tests.

There’s something about the outdoors that helps all of us learn better, and feel better.

If our traditional K-12 system is unwilling to “go outdoors” and “be outside,” then maybe it’s time to find a system that will.

It’s a beautiful day in Iowa. I’m heading outside to enjoy the curved lines and fractals.

Til tomorrow. SVB