LACOE’s Green School Initiative hosted the Wellbeing and the Schoolyard Speaker Series for district facilities leads to provide essential insights into the importance of nature-based play spaces for students' wellbeing and academic performance. The Green School Initiative recruited expert speaker Marcella Raney, PhD (she/her), the senior manager of the Office of Well-being from the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, who shared useful tips and data that clearly demonstrates the positive impact of greener spaces on test scores on over student wellbeing and test scores.

One of the speaker series was an in-person lecture at Steelcase of Tangram Interiors, a captivating pop-up showroom on the 32nd floor of a skyscraper in the heart of Downtown L.A., showcasing the latest in educational furniture, outdoor environments and healthcare solutions, including wellness centers.

At the event, Dr. Raney, who presented research on the schoolyard's impact on student well-being, discussed shade, nature, equity in play and physical activity's benefits. Dr. Raney further explained that her research showed that when "learning" is broken up with "1-minute energizers," test scores were higher. This resulted in less instruction time because some of the instruction time was taken up by these exercises, so the physical activity increase resulted in learning more. 

During the event, artist Michael Lagocki created a visual representation of her presentation. Educators, administrators and professionals interested in schoolyard well-being attended. Many of the attendees found it informative, inspiring and impactful for creating student-friendly, research-based schoolyards the nurture overall school wellness.

Dr. Raney’s published research can be found freely here: 

Raney MA, Daniel E., Jack, N. Impact of urban schoolyard play zone diversity and nature-based design features on unstructured recess play behaviors. Landsc Urban Plan, 230, 104632, 2023. [To view the full-text of the article, click on "View PDF" at the top of the journal page.]

Latané, C. & Raney, MA. (2023). Health benefits of schoolyard forests: Schoolyard forests benefit physical and mental health and sense of safety. Green Schoolyards America, available from: https://www.greenschoolyards.org/schoolyard-forest-benefits

Access the “1-minute Energizer” toolkit here