A recent press release from Curtin University in Australia has announced the results of a study which proves the theory that children are more creative when they learn in natural surroundings – which is of course great news if you are keen to unleash your pupils’ creative potential.

The study consisted of asking 97 primary school students, split across four classrooms (two from an English primary school and two from a Western Australia primary school), to write a poem based on what they saw, smelled and felt. In each country one class visited a natural forest before writing the poem and the other class viewed laminated images of the forest setting.

Ms Kuzich, from Curtin’s School of Education, said the difference in the creative language used between the classes was obvious with twice as many UK forest students using figurative language (such a similes and metaphors) compared with their class-based counterparts. In Australia that figure rose to more than four times when comparing the poetry of the bush-based students to those who remained at school.

Thus, the results, which have recently been published in the Cambridge Journal of Education, gave a big thumbs-up to the positive influence of natural settings.

Click here to read the full press release.

Of course, if your school is in a city then it is likely that you will need some form of transport so that your pupils can venture into natural surroundings, which is where Benchmark comes in.

We can supply you with short term rental vehicles or longer-term rental vehicles on Contract Hire, Hire Purchase or Finance Lease. You can find more information about the services that we offer including their benefits and features, at www.minibusleasing.co.uk/why-lease.php