As summer winds down and back-to-school season approaches for children and their families, households everywhere must again adjust to the rhythm of the classroom. Nature provides a huge number of lifelong benefits to children, and it’s important for families and educators to make sure they incorporate nature into young learners’ routines in the absence of the summer sun.
Cathy Jordan, a professor in the University of Minnesota Medical School and principal scientist at the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, shares why nature is so important for kids and how to ensure kids benefit from nature-based learning year-round.
Q: How does nature affect the way children learn?
Dr. Jordan: Both simple exposure to nature and active outdoor instruction can significantly boost academic success. Contact with greenery — whether through school landscaping, window views or indoor “green walls” — supports the core mental, emotional and social building blocks of learning. It sharpens cognitive functions like attention, memory and self-regulation; eases stress to improve overall well-being; and encourages positive social behavior. This has implications for nature-based learning because children learn better when they are focused, calm and cooperative.
Active, nature-based teaching builds on these same benefits while boosting student motivation and engagement. Nature naturally lends itself to high-impact teaching methods like hands-on investigations, phenomena-based exploration, group collaboration and physically active lessons. These interactive approaches keep students engaged, expanding their capacity to absorb new information and learn new skills.
Q: How does nature shape the way a growing brain develops?
Dr. Jordan: Nature plays a vital role during early childhood, which is a period of rapid brain growth and high plasticity. Nature’s role begins before birth: pregnant mothers living near quality, connected green spaces have a lower risk of delivering babies with low birth weight and preterm birth, risks that can contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders. This protective effect is especially significant for low-income and marginalized families, who often have the least access to quality green space. As children grow, continued exposure to greener environments leads to larger brain volumes in regions governing attention, learning and behavioral control. Nearby nature also acts as a crucial buffer against worsening climate risks — like air pollution and extreme heat — shielding young nervous systems from their harmful neurodevelopmental impacts.
Q: How can families incorporate nature-based learning into their routine at home?
Dr. Jordan: I define nature-based learning as learning “in, with and through” nature, and this can be applied to almost any topic or subject. It can take many forms and looks different at different ages. While nature-based learning usually takes place at school, parents can easily support it at home. For instance, parents could use acorns under the backyard oak tree as hands-on math tools for story problems. Parents can also improve kids’ study habits by tapping into nature’s ability to restore focus. Introducing brief “nature breaks” during homework time refreshes a child’s attention span, allowing them to return to their work more focused and engaged.
Parents’ most unique and critical role is supporting a strong emotional bond with nature. Families are the context in which kids have their first nature experiences and develop comfort in nature and positive attitudes toward the natural world, which is important for both the wellbeing of the child and the planet. Nature connection is created through frequent nature experiences in childhood; the chance to “free play” and take developmentally appropriate risks in nature; and experiencing joy, curiosity and awe with a nature-loving adult, like their parent or grandparent, who shares their enthusiasm for the natural world with the child. Becoming a champion for nature is as important as learning academic knowledge.
Q: How can nature-based learning be incorporated in schools?
Dr. Jordan: While nature play and nature-based learning are widely accepted in preschools, enthusiasm sharply drops off in the upper grades. I believe this decline stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of how — and where — children learn best. As a result, nature is often viewed as a break from learning, a reward or an optional luxury. In reality, research shows nature-based learning is just as effective as traditional classroom instruction, if not more so. Even when academic results are equal, the additional socio-emotional, physical and mental health benefits of nature make a powerful case for widespread adoption, especially as those benefits support student achievement, and might do so in ways that help address educational disparities.
More and more, teachers are excited to bring nature-based learning into their schools, but they face real hurdles, including adapting rigid curricula and school leaders who doubt its value. To shift this dynamic, schools must embrace the research supporting nature as an ideal context for whole child development and well-being and nature-based learning as a proven teaching approach rather than an extra add-on. Research from sources like the Children & Nature Network can help build this case. From there, schools need nature access and proper teacher training. While some schools invest in greening their school grounds with play areas and outdoor spaces, access to rich natural features isn't strictly necessary. Simple elements like sticks, acorns, leaves, pinecones or even a patch of weeds can also work. The key is knowing how to harness that nature for learning, and that is where professional development comes in. Teachers can start small by moving standard lessons outdoors, but the greatest impact occurs when training helps them artfully leverage natural settings and phenomena to teach not just in, but with and through, nature.
Q: What type of work are you doing at the University of Minnesota to further understanding around nature-based learning?
Dr. Jordan: My dream is for Minnesota to build on its nature-based preschool success and become a national leader in K-12 nature-based learning. For the past 13 years, I have served as the Consulting Director of Research for the Children & Nature Network. In this role, I lead a team that translates rigorous research on kids and nature into accessible communications for audiences like educators, healthcare providers, youth workers and policymakers. Additionally, I apply this evidence to my work at the University of Minnesota Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain (MIDB). At MIDB, I lead “Flourish,” an initiative that pairs academic expertise with community lived experience to build brain-healthy environments for children.
In an effort to build Minnesota teachers’ capacity to apply nature-based teaching approaches, I co-founded the Teacher Field School (TFS) housed at Hamline University. TFS provides an intensive, nature-immersed retreat series for teams of teachers from elementary schools across the state. We are now training some TFS alumni to lead professional development in their own districts. Transforming a single teacher enriches every student they teach throughout their career, while training teacher leaders multiplies that impact across whole schools or school systems. Having established a proven model for transformative professional development, I am excited to scale these efforts to reach educators and students across Minnesota.
Cathy Jordan, Ph.D., is professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School and principal scientist at its Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain. Cathy serves as director of research for the U.S.-based international nonprofit The Children & Nature Network, which aims to lead a global movement to increase equitable access to nature everywhere children live, learn and play. Cathy believes that the establishment of a strong connection to nature is not only critical to people’s wellbeing, but to their development of concern for our planet, and it is important to establish that connection in childhood.
For more on Cathy’s work with nature-based learning, read the “Nature is Nurture” feature from the University of Minnesota Foundation’s Spring 2026 Discovery Magazine.
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About the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain
The Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain is a one-stop clinic, research and outreach location specializing in children and youth with neurobehavioral conditions. By bringing together University of Minnesota experts in pediatric medicine, research, policy and community supports to understand, prevent, diagnose, and treat neurodevelopmental disorders in early childhood and adolescence, MIDB advances brain health from the earliest stages of development across the lifespan, supporting each person’s journey as a valued community member. Learn more at midb.umn.edu.
About the Medical School
The University of Minnesota Medical School is at the forefront of learning and discovery, transforming medical care and educating the next generation of physicians. Our graduates and faculty produce high-impact biomedical research and advance the practice of medicine. We acknowledge that the Medical School is located on traditional, ancestral and contemporary lands of the Dakota and the Ojibwe, and scores of other Indigenous people, and we affirm our commitment to tribal communities and their sovereignty as we seek to improve and strengthen our relations with tribal nations. Learn more at med.umn.edu.
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