Sustainable Outdoor Education: Organisations Connecting Children and Young People with Nature through the Arts

There is an increasing concern regarding the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people;as a result, schools are increasingly expected to provide support, but they have few resources to do so. As such, there is a need for establishing mechanisms for supporting the health and wellbeing of children and young people that are relatively easy and cost-effective and that can be embedded within the school day to ensure sustainability. The overarching aim of our Branching Out project was to understand how successful elements from one such programme that supports children's mental health through the art-in-nature-based practice can be expanded from school-based approaches that reach small numbers of children to include whole communities. This paper reports on one strand that examined the practice of organisations offering arts and/or nature-based activities outdoors in schools, either as part of the curriculum or as an extra-curricular activity. Survey questions served as an a priori thematic framework around the characteristics of arts-in-nature activities delivered;the perceived impacts of activities;working with volunteers, teachers, and schools;and barriers to expansion and sustainability. Despite extensive searching, identifying, and recruiting relevant arts organisations was difficult;however, respondents strongly supported the notion that the arts-in-nature practice has a positive impact on children and young people's connection to nature, supports their mental health and wellbeing, and engages them with their local environment. Yet, challenges were identified in engaging teachers and schools and funding such projects, suggesting a need for a multi-professional approach to creating more sustainable and impactful practice for children, young people, and communities.

Protocol for the Open Sky School: a two-arm clustered randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of a nature-based intervention on mental health of elementary school children.

BACKGROUND: This article outlines the protocol for a trial to test the effectiveness of a nature-based intervention called Open Sky School to reduce mental health problems among elementary school children. Experimental studies show that contact with nature (e.g. walks in parks) improve mental health. A growing number of teachers have been applying outdoor education within the regular school curriculum and evidence suggests that such teaching methods could improve students' mental health but a randomized controlled trial has never been conducted. METHODS: A two-arm clustered randomized controlled trial will be conducted in elementary schools across Québec, Canada. Following informed consent by teachers, parents and students, schools will be randomly assigned 1:1 to the intervention or the control group with a total of 2500 5-6th grade students and 100 teachers expected to participate. The intervention will take place outdoors in a green-space (2 h per week for 12 weeks) and include a toolkit of 30 activities to foster well-being (e.g. mindfulness) and academic competencies (e.g. mathematics). Questionnaires will be administered to teachers and students before, immediately after and 3 months after the intervention. The primary outcome will be reductions of mental health problems in children from pre-to-post test (Social Behavior Questionnaire: self and teacher reports). Secondary outcomes include depression, positive and negative affect, nature connectedness, and pro-environmental behaviors among children. We will explore, immediate benefits on teacher's well-being and positive and negative affect and sustained benefits among students at 3 months follow-up. For the primary outcome, we will explore moderators including child's sex, child's disability status, the green-space of neighbourhoods, the school's socio-economic position and teacher's experience. DISCUSSION: In conducting the first randomized controlled trial of the Open Sky School, our results could provide empirical evidence on the effectiveness of nature-based interventions in reducing mental health problems among elementary school children. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study was registered with clinicaltrials.gov: NCT05662436 on December 22, 2022.

Nature and education. The historical heritage of open-air schools in Italy

The Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically drawn our attention to the central issue of hygiene and the possibility to bring school education outdoors and into natural settings. In fact, international pedagogic thought has focused on a 'nature-deficit disorder' in today's children for some time (Louv, 2005), as well as the need to review the prevailing form of school settings, no longer privileging indoor locations but rather outdoor environments. This contribution aims to focus on the experiences of open-air schools which, from the early 20th century onwards, have fought the hygienic and medical battle against the tuberculosis «pandemic», aiming to rediscover nature and the outdoors as a privileged educational environment for primary school children. Widespread internationally, these experiences foster the rediscovery of the educational value of outdoor settings and nature in all its scientific and cultural aspects, and, precisely because of their open-air environment, they have been promoters of self-government, responsibility, co-education, collective discovery, within the framework of the spread of international pedagogic activism. In particular, using lesser-known archive source and more recent bibliographical references, the attention here focuses on open air schools set up and developed in Italy from the early 20th century, fully-fledged examples of international outdoor schools that go way beyond those which have been known until now. Finally, it will take a look at the key experiences and personalities who have promoted a renewed form of education through nature in open air schools in Italy. © 2022 FahrenHouse. All rights reserved.

Meaningful Movement towards Campus-Based Outdoor Learning: Characterizing Pre-Scenery with Stakeholder Perspective

This study seeks to characterize what matters to stakeholders as a school moves towards campus-based outdoor learning. Results from a survey (n=87) demonstrate stakeholder alignment in relation to a longstanding outdoor education movement and emerging movements responding to COVID-19. Discussion considers the polylogic of local communities that work to inspire, enable, and sustain commitments to campus-based outdoor learning. © ISLS.

Learning in Space

Since the COVID-19 shutdown in March of 2020, I have a newfound appreciation for space and its influence on "work" and productivity. Inherent in designing spaces for learning is an understanding of each space's purpose and who is using the space. Learning in space took on even greater importance during the 2020-2021 school year. As educators considering student engagement, we soon realized that the best way to stay safe and increase student engagement was to learn outside.

Balancing technology and outdoor learning: Implications for early childhood teacher educators

The integration of technology in the classroom has become commonplace in early childhood education;however, promoting outdoor learning is not as emphasized. A wealth of research has documented how young children learn and develop while engaging with technology or outdoor play, but limited literature exists on balancing these learning experiences to support children’s developmental outcomes. The present paper seeks to review current literature on the effects of technology and outdoor learning on young children’s development. Building off of the relevant literature, this paper will provide recommendations for early childhood teacher educators to guide teachers in training on balancing appropriate technology use and outdoor learning. Given the COVID-19 global pandemic, teaching implications regarding balancing technology and outdoor learning are also addressed.

Contemporary issues, opportunities, and resources for the U.S. outdoor recreation profession

The purpose of this study was to understand the contemporary issues, opportunities, and resource needs of U.S. outdoor recreation professionals. In Spring 2021, we conducted focus groups with members of the Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals and Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education. Iterative qualitative analysis of professionals' perspectives using both inductive and matrix coding yielded key themes including: 1) justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI), 2) social-ecological health, 3) societal demand, 4) industry direction, and 5) professional identity. While certain themes (i.e., JEDI) existed in previous trends studies, others illustrate the relative novelty of professionals’ experiences of the outdoor recreation boom both pre- and during the COVID-19 pandemic. In sum, we provide an inventory of current issues, opportunities, and resource needs for outdoor recreation professionals, which can inform future advocacy and planning by professional organizations. Management implications The overall development in the field of outdoor recreation will be influenced by the aspects:•Key issues will be 1) justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI), 2) social-ecological health, 3) societal demand, 4) industry direction, and 5) professional identity.•JEDI was the most salient theme across organizational membership affiliation, indicating the importance of ongoing social justice efforts led by the outdoor recreation industry.•Participants' focus on the negative ecological health impacts and positive human health benefits stemming from outdoor recreation solidly situates the industry within One Health and other ongoing public health efforts.•In some cases, different needs exist across the supply and demand segments of the outdoor recreation profession, particularly related to professional identity and livable wages.•Workforce development opportunities include, but are not limited to, investment and training in community and stakeholder engagement through SCORP processes, planning for social media's influence of recreation resources, and additional human resources to adapt to surging demand.

Educational Gardens and Climate Change Education: An Analysis of Spanish Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions

Educational gardens are powerful outdoor learning environments to address the subject of climate change and foster climate action. Using an online questionnaire, this study examines the influence of the main sociodemographic and academic factors, and the role of connectedness to nature, on the perception of educational gardens as contexts of climate change education (CCE) among Spanish preservice teachers (PSTs). The sample consisted of 889 PSTs enrolled in 9 university campuses of Spain. The statistical analyses performed evidenced that women are more likely to use educational gardens than men and that there is a progressive decrease in the positive perception of PSTs about the usefulness of gardens for CCE as the educational level at which they are being trained increases. Statistics also revealed that the variable connectedness to nature and the rating of the importance of educational gardens in CCE are not significantly related. Nevertheless, the Mann–Whitney U test indicated that PSTs who scored higher on connection to nature wished to broaden their knowledge of sustainable agriculture and, thus, connectedness to nature could be considered a predictor of environmental attitudes, each influencing the other. Based on these findings, recommendations for PSTs’ training in the CCE context are provided.

How Do Children Perceive the Biodiversity of Their nearby Environment: An Analysis of Drawings

The research indicates the importance of learning about our natural environment from an early age to train scientifically literate and environmentally responsible citizens. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of a group of 120 primary school children regarding the biodiversity of their nearby environment (Andalusia, Spain) based on their drawings. For this, we used a qualitative methodology that focused on the analysis of the content. We analyzed the content of each drawing, complemented with written questions and an interview. The different environmental elements (natural, geological, and anthropic) of the children’s drawings were identified and analyzed. The results show how children perceive the biodiversity (plants and animals) of their nearby environment and their low knowledge of the concept of the environment as a system. Likewise, this study allowed for the definition of a series of emerging categories as an instrument of analysis that will serve as the basis for the design of appropriate strategies to improve initial teacher training in regard to science education.

Engineering Like a Bird

In our elementary science methods course, we have integrated hands-on learning experiences that cultivate excitement about teaching science and equip our preservice teachers (PSTs) with a range of activities and teaching strategies that they can readily utilize in their own instruction. In addition, we incorporate opportunities for our PSTs to practice the engineering design process. A Framework for K-12 Science Education calls for engineering design to be elevated to the same level as inquiry in science and recommends that engineering design be frequently incorporated throughout every grade level. This recommendation is reflected in one of the major shifts in the Next Generation Science Standards: incorporating engineering design in the performance expectations for grades K-12. The third-grade unit we introduced to our PSTs applies engineering design to nest building as they explore the intricacies of bird nest designs. The activities offer opportunities for place-based outdoor learning, which has been shown to have a variety of benefits for elementary students.