Outdoor Education Research Articles

Recognition and reporting of outdoor learning in primary schools in England

ABSTRACT The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) inspects and reports on the quality and effectiveness of educational provision in England. This research explores the extent to which non-mandatory curricular outdoor learning was recognised and reported by Ofsted in their inspections of state-maintained English primary schools (3–11 years) between September 2019 and February 2020. The data obtained from published reports (n = 629) using key word searches indicate mainly positive outcomes for pupils who have opportunities for outdoor learning (42% of reports). Seventy-two percent of comments related to the Early Years Foundation Stage (3–5 years) where access to an outdoor environment or planned daily outdoor activities is a statutory requirement. Inspectors reported on learning and enjoyment outcomes although some identified the need to develop quality outdoor space and learning. The data provide a proxy measure for the extent, nature and status of outdoor learning at a national level.

K-11 teachers’ school-based outdoor education practices in the province of Québec, Canada: from local initiatives to a grassroots movement

ABSTRACT Although the school curriculum of the province of Québec, Canada, does not explicitly encourage teachers to provide outdoor learning experiences, it appears that there is a growing momentum for outdoor education. Thus, the research question that guided this study was: What are preschool, elementary, and secondary teachers’ outdoor education practices in the province of Québec, Canada? To answer this research question, we conducted a survey that collected quantitative data to describe teachers’ intentions, the places they use, the learning that is targeted, and the challenges. We used descriptive statistics to analyze the data. Our results show that school-based outdoor education can realize complementary learning intentions that cannot be met by using only classrooms, that outdoor education can be practiced in a variety of places, regardless of the settings in a school’s immediate surroundings, and that school-based outdoor education has the potential to decrease sedentary behaviours and increase students’ levels of physical activity.

The Effectiveness of Outdoor Education on Student Creativity

This study aims to determine the effect of outdoor education activities on student creativity. The method used in this study is an experimental method with a static group comparison design. The sample in this study were PGSD Physical Education students using a purposive sampling technique, totalling 40 students, namely 20 students who did outdoor education activities and 20 students who did not do outdoor education activities. The research instrument was a creativity questionnaire which was analyzed with the statistical technique of the Two-Average Equivalence Test with the treatment of outdoor education activities given six days in 2 weeks. Based on the data analysis, the hypothesis is accepted, which means that outdoor education activities have a significant effect on student creativity. This study concludes that outdoor education activities have a significant positive impact on student creativity. Outdoor education activities can be a good alternative in learning to increase creativity and other cognitive components.

Improving Mathematics Learning Outcome Through Outdoor Learning Based on Ethnomathematics of Bengkulu’s Traditional Game ‘Gotri Ayo Gotri

Many high school students have difficulty learning probability material. Meanwhile, probability is very important to be applied in everyday life, for example, in estimating and drawing conclusions based on the analysis of an experiment. Therefore, students' understanding of probabilities needs to be improved through learning that invites students to real situations. This study aims to improve the mathematics learning outcomes of probability topics (counting, permutations, combinations, and probabilities) through ethnomathematical outdoor learning based on the game 'Gotri Ayo Gotri (GAG)' for XII Class senior high school. The research method is a classroom action research with the following cycle stages: planning, action, reflection, and evaluation. The research subjects were 33 students (20 female students and 13 male students). The research instrument was a learning outcome test about the probability of as many as five items. Data were analyzed qualitatively. The results of the study are as follows: outdoor learning based on the ethnomathematics of the game 'Gotri Ayo Gotri (GAG)' can improve mathematics learning outcomes on probability topics with an average score of cycle 1 of 65.91, cycle 2 of 79.97, and cycle three score of 89.97. The novelty in this research is the form of the traditional Bengkulu GAG game. As an alternative to learning, it is recommended for high school mathematics teachers to apply traditional game-based learning outside the classroom to increase motivation and learning outcomes in mathematics.

Green school outdoor environments, greater equity? Assessing environmental justice in green spaces around Dutch primary schools

Green spaces around schools contribute to children's health and wellbeing. However, only a few studies have examined whether green space provision around schools in urban and rural areas are equally available across socioeconomic groups. We assessed whether and to what extent the green space provision of public primary schoolyards differs cross-sectionally across demographic and socioeconomic neighborhood profiles in the Netherlands. A fine-grained measure of green space (e.g., lawns, hedges, and trees) was applied to 5,773 school locations centering buffers at 50 m, 100 m, and 500 m. Fitting spatial lag regression models to the data, our results showed robust and inverse associations between available green school outdoor environments and low-income and less-educated neighborhoods. The percentage of non-Western migrants was positively associated. No evidence showed greenness around schools differing across levels of urbanization; however, schools with subsidy schemes supporting schoolyard greening tended to be greener. Our overall findings highlight socioeconomic disparities in green school outdoor environments across the Netherlands. To bridge this gap in environmental justice, we advocate for each child to have the ability to benefit equally from schoolyard green spaces by enabling more comprehensive greening subsidy schemes.

Charlotte Mason, history and outdoor education and her relevance today

ABSTRACT This paper aims to raise awareness of the relevance of the philosophy of Charlotte Mason to primary school education today. First a biography of Mason, tracing her development from an orphaned pupil apprentice to an internationally influential figure, puts her philosophy in context. This is followed by an overview of her philosophy, with a focus on outdoor learning and on learning in history. Then three case studies of outdoor history investigations are analysed to explore the ways in which they reflect both the English National Curriculum and Mason’s philosophy. First, eight-nine-year-old children visit Stone Age sites, then five-to-seven-year-olds visit a medieval castle and finally a group of primary school teachers investigate a seventeenth-century farmhouse during a residential weekend. The paper explores how Mason’s philosophy and practice can enrich the teaching of history within contexts of the English Curriculum.

Outdoor education toward personal & social responsibility and physical fitness level

The research aims to determine the impact of outdoor education activities on personal & social responsibility and physical fitness. The research method used was a Quasi-Experimental design Non-equivalent Control-Group design. The sample consisted of 40 students, then divided into two groups, the experimental group, and the control group. The instrument used was a questionnaire of Personal & Social Responsibility and a Bleep test. The analysis of the experimental group affects Personal & Social Responsibility and Physical Fitness. The results of analysis and calculation state that the Personal & Social Responsibility and physical fitness level experimental group increased compared to the control group and improving the physical fitness level of the experimental group increased by an average of 1.83 compared with the control group with an average of 0.055. In conclusion, the activity of Outdoor Education has increased the Personal & Social Responsibility and physical fitness of students.

Current Status of Outdoor Education in the Curriculum of the Romanian School to the Discipline of Religion

Outdoor education represents a holistic and innovative approach to learning, having a significant impact on student development. Students have the opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge in practical contexts, which can stimulate interest and curiosity, thus facilitating the learning process. Outdoor activities can improve students’ mood, health, and overall well-being. Integrating outdoor education into the curriculum allows for a diversified and balanced approach to learning by implementing new teaching techniques. Teachers can adopt innovative methods such as learning through discovery and collaboration in nature, can propose outdoor school programs by planning activities that combine formal education with experiences in nature. Teachers need specialized training to effectively implement outdoor education, to develop group management skills regarding the initiation and active involvement of students in outdoor activities. The study explores the way in which outdoor education is integrated into the school curriculum, in the Religion discipline, with a possible research theme in the future, which would discover examples of good practices that correlate curriculum documents (framework plans, school programs) with didactic strategies involving outdoor activities. The results can provide information and recommendations for the improvement of educational practices in this field, considering aspects of the curriculum, the influence on the development of students and the optimization of the teaching-learning-assessment process.

Educazione all’aperto e colonie di vacanza nell’Italia del secondo dopoguerra

Moving from the renewed debate on outdoor education, this dossier focuses on children's holiday camps in Italy after WW2. Holiday camps were at one time an educational, recreational and socialization experience; a form of child welfare in the context of reconstruction and economic recovery; a ground for political confrontation between public and private actors involved in the organization and management of holiday stays. Emilia-Romagna Region, very rich in diversified experiences in this field, presents itself as a case study open to reflections in several directions.

The development of a professional development model focusing on outdoor learning resources to enhance in-service teachers’ STEM literacy

The development of a professional development model focusing on outdoor learning resources to enhance in-service teachers’ STEM literacy

Teaching Archaeology in Carmiel with the Israel Antiquities Authority Cultural Heritage Department: A Different Learning Experience?

This article addresses the archaeological park at the Agricultural Farm, a thematic school that serves the children of the city of Carmiel from compulsory kindergarten to high school. The park is the result of a joint effort by the farm manager, the Carmiel municipality, and the staff of the Israel Antiquities Authority, and is an activity cushion for outdoor learning. Educational institutions place great importance on imparting knowledge and values to those who come to their gates; the subject of archaeology in particular is one that encourages different and multidisciplinary learning. The uniqueness of the subject lies in the students' valuable, unmediated encounter with the Land of Israel's landscapes, sites, and rich heritage. This encourages learners to develop a connection and affinity with the country and its history. The establishment of the archaeological park in Carmiel has allowed students to go out into the field for the first time and learn about the Galilee's regional agricultural history firsthand. The activities that take place in the park cultivate the students' natural curiosity and make them equal partners in learning. Students' activity in the park may also enable other forms of learning. The article raises this issue and attempts to examine it in depth: What additional learning may be facilitated by students' activity in the park? Does the archaeological activity performed at the Agricultural Farm in Carmiel, in collaboration with the Israel Antiquities Authority's management system, give rise to a unique form of extracurricular learning?

High-Quality Outdoor Learning: Evidence-Based Education Outside the Classroom for Children, Teachers and Society ed. by Rolf Jucker and Jakob von Au (review)

High-Quality Outdoor Learning: Evidence-Based Education Outside the Classroom for Children, Teachers and Society ed. by Rolf Jucker and Jakob von Au (review)

From John Cage to the Outdoor School: Activating the “Minor” through Mycological Forays

Dans la foulée des réflexions d’Erin Manning et Brian Massumi conceptualisant la recherche-création en tant qu’expression de ce qui est de l’ordre du mineur, le présent article propose une exploration du rituel créatif de l’incursion mycologique en tant que recherche-création. L’incursion, comme la recherche-création, perturbe les principaux systèmes régissant les méthodes institutionnelles (universitaires, scientifiques, anthropologiques, artistiques) et s’attarde aux rencontres fortuites indéterminées qui surviennent lors de la quête de champignons. Cet article établit un lien entre l’intérêt que le compositeur américain John Cage a entretenu toute sa vie pour les champignons et les incursions contemporaines dirigées par le commissaire et écrivain Amish Morrell et la créatrice en art visuel et en performance Diane Borsato, ainsi que le travail de revitalisation écologique du collectif japonais, Matsutake Crusaders.

Towards Transformative Sustainability Education Through Ecological Implications of Local Curriculum

The dominant schooling design of the schools in Nepal celebrates Western-Modern ideals of indoor schooling structure. The indoor design has continuously separated school education from the living world. Also, it has constrained pedagogical innovations for outdoor teaching and learning. It might be a reason that despite several trainings and capacity development programs for head teachers and teachers, many schools in Nepal have not been able to implement the local curriculum policy provision of the Nepal government. Against this background, evidenced through the lessons learned from a Participatory Action Research (PAR) project for contextualized teaching and learning in a rural-located school of Nepal, this study explores how the initiations for the local curriculum were sandwiched in the limited space of linearly designed indoor pedagogical structure of the school. From there, it argues the need to discover the ecological implications of the local curriculum. Following the transformative sustainability principles of authenticity, rationality, and ethical responsibility, the ecological implications suggest local curriculum practitioners to revisit indoor schooling design and make it flexible enough to embrace community life world as teaching and learning resources.

Il cambiamento della scuola secondo il paradigma dell’outdoor education per la rinascita della persona

The return to school was as traumatic for the school as being at home forced by the pandemic emergency. The inability to adapt immediately to change whether in the case of preventing contagion or in the case of resuming the rhythm of daily life abruptly thrown back into the vortex of the schedules that punctuate our existence, demonstrates the human person's need to know and master events. There is in fact a clear gap between the change brought about by norms and the internalization of the sense of change itself. The freedom in which a person's autonomy is expressed clashes with the need to accommodate what is indispensable to civil coexistence. The continuous process of adaptation to events moves toward finding that balance which, although, temporary, remains indispensable for the reorganization of the school into new forms. Among the choices of greatest interest, outdoor education presents itself as the paradigm of a desired and expected innovation capable of opening the school to the world to know how to handle emergency and everyday life.

Linking 21st Century Learning Skills to Outdoor Learning: Exploring the Experiences of Primary School English Language Teachers in Malaysian Private Schools

Collaboration, communication, creative thinking, and critical thinking, or 4Cs, are important 21st century learning skills which prepare students to face challenges in the globalised world of the 21st century. In this paper, we explore the link between the 4Cs and a rather unconventional pedagogy, outdoor learning. In Malaysia, the outdoor learning space has not received much recognition and is often overlooked. Therefore, we sought the experiences of primary school English language teachers when engaging with outdoor learning to see how their practices reflected the 4Cs. Data were obtained through fivein-depth interviews with teachers and were analysed using an inductive approach. Two main themes which related to soft skills and thinking skills development were identified. It was found that outdoor learning had potential to enhance soft skills because it emphasised communication and collaboration. However, in terms of thinking skills we found that there is still room to engage more deeply and meaningfully with critical and creative 21st century learning skills. Currently, outdoor learning seems to be a rather grass-roots effort that happens at the discretion of individual teachers. Nevertheless, it has a role to play in nurturing critical and complex thinking and effective communication and collaboration which are needed for the 21st century.

Movement Skills Learning Model in Physical Education Against Psychological Student Personality: A Systematic Riview

The right motion learning model in physical education will improve the psychological aspects of the student's personality. however, different subjects and interventions should have different impacts. The purpose of this study is to review learning models in physical education that relate to the psychological aspects of students from elementary to high school. The method used is a systematic review, using secondary data from published journals. Data collection was carried out manually outside the database and with the help of access to the Google Scholar database. In searching the data, keywords that are relevant to the topic to be discussed are used. The keywords used were “psychological personality” AND “emotional” AND “mental” AND “social behavior” AND “physical education”. After that, an analysis will be carried out using a prisma flowchart diagram. The results of filtering data according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria are 20 national and indexed Sinta journals. Based on the results of the analysis of various models, the application of the outdoor physical education learning model and the cooperative model is more widely applied to junior high school students and above. Meanwhile, elementary schools apply more game-based learning. Therefore it is important for educators to know and understand the characteristics of each student for the selection of learning models so that it has a positive impact on aspects of the psychological personality of students.Key words: Learning Model, Physical Education, Personality Psychology.

The development of the Czech concept of education in nature: A tribute to Jan Neuman

ABSTRACT In the Czech Republic there has been a growing interest in education in nature [výchova v přírodě] in connection with accreditation as a field of study. Outdoor experiential educator Jan Neuman, who died in April 2021, was instrumental in the development and formalisation of Czech education in nature programmes over the past 50 years. The aim of this review is to highlight the culturally unique, holistic and multi-disciplinary approaches of the concept of education in nature within the Czech environment, comparing this term with outdoor education internationally. Such cross-referencing of different cultural and indigenous variants aims to enhance outdoor physical activity opportunities in natural environments. We define education in nature in the Czech Republic and highlight the historical development of education in nature, with a focus on turistika activities, summer camps [tábory], and holistic dramaturgy approaches that elaborate on the cultural heritage and unique Czech approach to education in nature.

Motivations and challenges for sail training personnel: It’s not entirely about the boat!

ABSTRACT Sail training is described as an educational endeavour where participants are required to adapt to an unfamiliar physical and social environment, acquire new skills (maritime and domestic), and confront personal challenges (e.g. going aloft, dealing with seasickness). It shares many of the philosophical underpinnings of adventure education, where personal and social growth is believed to be achieved through challenge and working as a team. Sail training has a focus on educational experiences through the sea rather than for the sea—thus practitioners need a combination of maritime and people management skills. This study looks at the motivation of crew to engage in sail training, the challenges they face, and what they believe would assist them to perform their role. This study contributes to the growing research on the professional development needs of ‘incidental’ outdoor educators and makes recommendations to address some of the challenges they face.

Student and teacher perceptions of the outdoor experience on traditional playgrounds: a case study

ABSTRACT Outdoor education fosters student well-being, development and learning. However, many schools restrict outdoor experience to their own playground, and to times considered recess. This case study, which examined student and teacher perceptions about the outdoor experience on traditional playgrounds, was conducted in an urban school in the Basque Country with an asphalt playground whose only resources were related to sports. We conducted five focal studies with 40 students, and administered a questionnaire to 78 teachers in Primary and Secondary Education. The results obtained made clear the dissatisfaction of both students and teachers with the use of the playground and with the opportunities it offered. However, they also identified areas for improvement and suggested future lines of work. It is essential to promote a dynamic of reflection on outdoor spaces that includes student participation as well as training teachers and raising their awareness.