Urban vegetation, schools, students, and neighborhoods: An outlook from Chile

About the research

Using satellite images to identify schools’ vegetation characteristics and socioemotional indicators of students, we test those questions in schools of Santiago, Chile. To date, it is the first study in the Latin American Region that measures the impacts of school vegetation on students’ socioemotional indicators across cohorts from primary to secondary students observing important impacts on self-esteem and motivation, school coexistence, and civic participation, but not as much on declared students’ healthier lifestyles. We discuss the results connecting with international and comparative education discussions mostly focused on curricular and pedagogical aspects, resituating the place of schools’ greenery on students’ psychological and physiological renovation processes, as key for learning. We also argue that improving schools’ green spaces can not only improve students’ learning and social interaction experiences but also potentially help to improve local and city-level access to green spaces.

Registro: https://bit.ly/3ekpagv