We do suggest that regular cognitive breaks from direct attention in natural settings can help students regulate, replenish, and strengthen cognitive function and ability to prepare for either the next round of classes or improve the effectiveness and efficiency of an independent study period.
I support this statement. After class, I like to sit in the courtyard and relax. It gets me prepared for my next class, because the tension from my last class is gone. It also helps clear my mind.
increased technology use within today’s multitasking society is likely to hijack a student’s attentional resource placing her/him at risk of underachieving academic learning goals and undermining success at a university
This is somewhat true and not true. Technology has been helping me without losing my attention span. For example, I am doing annotations on my computer and looking up definitions to different things in the article on my phone. Sometimes I can get side tracked but it depends on the assignment I'm working on.
Earth Day
Earth Day is an annual event, celebrated on April 22, on which day events worldwide are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It was first celebrated in 1970, and is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network and celebrated in more than 193 countries each year. #BEGREEN
Such an approach also goes beyond advertising the aesthetic value of the campus
Aesthetic means concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty. So this quote means it goes beyond the beauty of the campus.
reconceptualize
(something) again or in a new way
Most American universities are situated on large number of acres (up to 28,000 acres) and function like miniature cities
I find this statement somewhat true. Colleges or Universities do function like miniature cities. When I was visiting different college campuses, it felt as if I was visiting another life.
Urban (mostly built)
As I read the different descriptions, I noticed that Georgia State would fit in that category.It is mostly built.
Student perception of the surrounding campus landscape and the opportunities it offers for intentional and unintentional learning or recreational engagement/activity might influence their overall campus experience.
I find this statement true. I came to Georgia State University because of the job opportunities.
Direct attention requires mental effort and cognitive control for an individual to sustain focus and prevent distracting stimuli from interfering with an intended activity
This is telling why people has short attention span and how people start looking into something else and get distracted easily.
Morrill Act of 1862
Also known as Land-Grant College Act of 1862 provided grants of land to states to finance the establishment of colleges specializing in “agriculture and the mechanic arts.”
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=morrill+act+of+1862
Americans expect a university campus to look different than other places (Gumprecht, 2007) and that the campus “expresses something about the quality of academic life, as well as its role as a citizen of the community in which it is located”
Every college campus has their own design. The article states "...set apart from the community..". Some colleges is not close to nature nor is it set apart from a community. For example, East Georgia State College is located in Swainsboro, Ga. It is set apart from the community and surrounded by nature. Georgia State University is located in Atlanta, Ga. It is apart of a community, and it isn't full of nature. #DifferentColleges #DifferentEnvironments
holistic learning
Holistic education aims to call forth from people an intrinsic reverence for life and a passionate love of learning.” ( Ron Miller) Read more about Ron Miller. Holistic education is concerned with the development of a person's intellectual, emotional, social, physical, artistic, creative and spiritual potentials.
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=holistic%20learning
Yet the bench may have been created this way to prevent people—often homeless people—from lying down and taking nap
This is sad. It showed me how blessed I am. This touched me. When I moved to Atlanta, I seen how there's a lot of homeless people lying down on benches trying to get rest. So for them to create a way to prevent that, it's sad. They have no where else to go and no support.
antidiscrimination law
This law refers to the law on the right of people to be treated equally.
He believed that through this action, the city was sending a clear message to its black residents,14 and he could not understand why the Court could not see that message.
I'm pretty sure if the people could see the message then the Court System could see the message too.
powerful symbolic message.”
The message shows an act of discrimination/ racism to African Americans and the poor.
At the request of white residents, in 1974 the city of Memphis closed off a street that connected an all-white neighborhood to a primarily black one.9 Supporters of this measure argued that it would ostensibly reduce traffic and noise, in addition to promoting safety.
They claim they are promoting safety, but it's just racism. I never understood the system. How could closing a street promote safety?
The lack of public-transit connections to areas north of the city makes it difficult for those who rely on transit—primarily the poor and people of color—to access job opportunities located in those suburbs.
It prevented them to try to make a living and higher income.
This design decision meant that many people of color and poor people, who most often relied on public transportation, lacked access to the lauded public park at Jones Beach.5
The height of the bridge was design particular to keep colored and poor people from accessing to different places.
Wealthy, mostly white residents of the northern Atlanta suburbs have vocally opposed efforts to expand MARTA into their neighborhoods for the reason that doing so would give people of color easy access to suburban communities.
I'm not really familiar with the MARTA and the history because I'm from the southern part of Georgia. I didn't think the MARTA's transportation system would have discrimination in its history because a lot of people (no matter the race or how much money in his/her pocket) use it in today's society.
Walls, fences, and highways separate historically white neighborhoods from historically black ones.
It shows how they interpret and enforced Jim Crow Laws. And it gives the audience a sense of what the article is going to be about.
the exclusionary built environment—the architecture of a place—functions as a form of regulation; it constrains the behavior of those who interact with it, often without their even realizing it.
They used this as a form of regulation. A synonym for regulation is control or a rule. The system was controlling who goes where and had restrictions.