Improving outdoor pedagogy through design: Reflections on the process of redesigning a school landscape

Abstract

This paper critically reflects on a participatory multi-phase mixed-methods action research study with an embedded quasi-experiment to investigate the design and development of a school landscape in Bangladesh. The study employs a suite of qualitative, quantitative and visual methods to co-design the school landscape with children, teachers and the school community, and examine the impact of the redesigned schoolgrounds on the teaching and learning process, children’s academic attainment, engagement (motivation) and play during break times. This research approach is novel within landscape architecture and represents a methodological shift in the field of design and planning of schoolgrounds. By critically reflecting on the methodological approach and outlining strategies to overcome the challenges related to this complex design, the paper provides new insights that contribute to the design and planning of mixed-methods evaluation in landscape architecture research.