Student Worksheet

Thought-starter: Where is 'nature'?

Preparation: Read the report Planting trees: just what the doctor ordered and summarise three (3) key findings of the research.

Making the case and background research

Work in teams of six to evaluate the research using De Bono’s six Thinking Hats. Divide your group into the six hats and complete the table:

Group activity

In this activity your team will complete a scientific inquiry into the effects of spending time in nature. You will start by planning and conducting your research and will then communicate your findings by creating a video and sharing it with your classmates.

Step 1:

Developing a research question

First, your team will need to develop a question or hypothesis that can be investigated. Using the Planet Ark research paper Planting trees: just what the doctor ordered as a secondary source, your team should develop a question that you would like answered about the effects of spending time in nature, or a hypothesis around the effects of nature that you would like to test.

Examples of studies could include:

Participants complete a questionnaire before and after spending time in nature and describe the changes in their personal stress levels.
Participants are split into two groups and perform an academic test sitting either inside or outside. Test results are then compared.
Participants self-report on their levels of stress before and after having a screen fast.
Does exercising indoors have a different effect on mood compared to exercising outdoors.

You will be conducting the research yourselves and using students from your class or school as the subjects in your research. You must develop a question that can be answered given the constraints your team will face. These constraints could include, for example, how much time you have to conduct your experiment (your research can’t be carried out over the course of a year - ask your teacher for how much time you have been allocated), who is available to act as a research subjects in your investigation (other students in your class or school), how many research subjects you have (if you want to test whether students perform better academically indoors or outdoors you will need enough students for both test sites), and what facilities and amenities are accessible to you (natural areas, parks etc).

Some examples of research questions could include:

Do students taking a basic math test perform better when taking the test indoors or when taking the test outdoors?
Do students report any changes to their perceived levels of mental health after spending 10 minutes of quiet time in nature?

Some examples of hypotheses could include:

Students taking a basic maths test perform better when taking the test outdoors than when indoors.
Students don’t experience any mental health benefits after spending 10 minutes of quiet time in nature.

A quick note about qualitative versus quantitative research:

Qualitative research is primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into the problem. In qualitative research you will be looking for statements or thoughts from your participants that support or disprove your research question or hypothesis. For example, “students who spent time 10 minutes outdoors said that they ‘felt healthier’ and ‘are more relaxed’.”
Quantitative research is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data or data that can be transformed into useable statistics. In quantitative research you will be looking for the number of participants who responded in a particular way. For example, “79% of participants performed better academically when outside.

Step 2.

Planning and conducting your research

How will your team conduct the research? You should develop a plan for research and consider the following issues:

What is involved?

Who is involved?

What resources are required?

How will you deal with any ethical issues? (You will need consent from participants)

What are the risks associated with your research and how will you deal with these?

How will you record your results?

Once the plan is complete, go ahead and carry out your research!

Step 3.

Analyse and report your results

It’s time to look at your results. What are the main findings from your results? What is the answer to your research questions? Have you proved or disproved your hypothesis?

Communicating your results - Your team has been appointed as the creative advertising agency for Nature. Your team has been asked to create a short commercial reporting the results of the investigation. Your commercial should be no more than 2 minutes and should be made outside. You will only have 40 minutes to make your video and there are no extensions!

The video is not a description of the process used to carry out the study. Instead it should be about the effects of spending time in nature. Hopefully, it will encourage more people to spend more time in nature. You can use your own research as well as the Planet Ark Research to support the messages in your film. Film making tips.

Step 4.

Assessment and evaluation

The assessment and evaluation process is made up of two parts. Firstly, you will be assessing the film of other groups using the Peer Assessment Rubric - Film. Secondly, you will be undertaking an individual assessment of the research process, including your personal response to the findings of your research.

Individual assessment questions:

Did you enjoy the process of planning and conducting your research? Why or why not? What could have been improved?

Did you enjoy the process of making your film? Why or why not? What could have been improved?

How do you feel after spending time in nature?

Resources

Schools Tree Day - Research the benefits of nature

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