COVID-19 is fueling a Utah shift to outdoor classrooms
Not only is learning outside safer during the pandemic, but spending time outdoors
also is better for mental health, focus and creativity, points out David Strayer,
a University of Utah psychology professor who has conducted research into these benefits.
He helped develop a standardized creativity test to measure cognitive function, and found that outdoors “not only is creativity boosted, but we see an important part of our thinking, our working memory, is enhanced so we have greater capacity to hold and manipulate information.”