The Great Outdoor Learning Environment
Aug 1, 2011 12:00 PM, By Mike Kennedy (mkennedy@asumag.com)
Education institutions that create outdoor learning spaces can enhance hands-on opportunities for students.
An interactive play system, such as this one at St. Coletta School, Washington, D.C., can provide fun and therapy. Photo by Michael Quill
Many education institutions are embracing sustainability in their facilities and curriculum as they look for innovative ways to use resources more efficiently and help students learn. At the same time, health professionals have been sounding the alarm about the growing problem of obesity among young people who are likely to spend more time sitting inside glued to a screen than they do participating in activities outdoors.
Those factors are among the reasons that schools are being encouraged to get their students out of classrooms and into the great outdoors to provide young people with more firsthand opportunities to experience and appreciate nature.
Much of the impetus for making outdoor education a priority comes from the federal government: The America’s Great Outdoors Initiative seeks to encourage conservation and reconnect citizens to the nation’s natural resources; "Let’s Move" is an anti-obesity effort launched by First Lady Michelle Obama; "Take It Outside," a U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) program, urges students to learn about public lands.
"Almost every K-12 school has some outdoor space that faculty could use (or already do) to breathe life into concepts learned in the classroom," states "Planning School Grounds for Outdoor Learning," a report from the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (NCEF).
Sedentary habits
According to "Take it Outside," unstructured outdoor activity among young people is down by half compared with the previous generation. Children in the United States average 30 minutes a week of unregulated time outdoors, while their exposure to electronic media is almost 45 hours a week. The number of outdoor environmental education programs offered in schools has been decreasing in the last decade, the BLM says.
The America’s Great Outdoors Initiative report notes that young people spend most of their time at school or in formal afterschool activities; "less and less of it is spent outdoors," the report says. It also says that too few schools have incorporated environmental education into their curriculums. For many students, "the only nature you see during the school day is in the images of your textbooks or the window of your school bus," the report says.
The report recommended that schools expand outdoor education programs so that students have more opportunities for "hands-on, place-based learning experiences." It also urged schools to give students more chances to go outside during the school day "through curriculum-based activities, service-learning projects, and outdoor recess and P.E."
Use what you have
The type of outdoor learning space that a school can provide will depend on the amount of space and its characteristics.
"School grounds can include outdoor spaces adaptable to many types of activities," says the NCEF report. "They may be open-air porches adjacent to classrooms, art and science rooms, or cafeterias; and they may include various seating areas, such as amphitheaters, pavilions, steps, planters, benches or individual student-sized chairs."
Outdoor spaces enable students to learn more about nature and the environment, but they also can enhance other subject areas.
"Although most of what is done in an outdoor classroom relates to the environment, it is also an interactive opportunity for students and adults to learn how math, literature, history, art, and music are influenced by nature and our natural resources," according to Virginia Naturally, the state’s environmental education program.
Virginia Naturally identifies numerous types of outdoor classrooms: ponds, streams and wetlands; butterfly and wildflower gardens; agriculture gardens; bird and squirrel sanctuaries; composting and recycling areas; arboretums with native trees, shrubs, plants and nursery areas; weather stations; amphitheaters, shelters, nature trails and other structures; art gardens; and oyster gardens.
As is the case with most facility decisions, an outdoor learning space can be designed more effectively if plans for it are included as part of the initial site selection and development.
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