Potentialities and Challenges of Green School Ground for Children’s Outdoor Learning: A Review (original) (raw)
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School Grounds As Sites for Learning: Making the Most of Environmental Opportunities
Environmental Education Research, 2003
Drawing on the findings of an ARC funded project, ‘Children’s Environments and the Role of School Grounds for Enhancing Environmental Cognition’, this paper explores the question: What is the role of school grounds as sites for teaching and learning? Observation and interview data for five Australian primary schools displayed large differences between schools in the types of play that 8- to 10-year-old children engaged in. In particular, play behaviours categorised as involving environmental cognition were not observed at all in one school, yet were the dominant play behaviour observed in another. The paper explores the relative importance of the school ground environment and the (outdoor) educational philosophy adopted by the school.
Geographies of environmental learning: an exploration of childrenʼs use of school grounds
Childrenʼs Geographies, 2004
There has been limited recent geographic research on children’s use of school grounds. This study explores the impact of school grounds on the play behavioursof children in primary schools. It examines the way in which some features of school grounds stimulate more of the type of play that is likely to produce environmental learning. The paper reports on research findings from two primary schools in Canberra, Australia. At each school, multiple research techniques were employed, including behaviour mapping of children’s play, interviews with children, and analysis of children’s drawings of their school grounds. Children’s play in one school displayed high levels of interaction with the natural environment. The paper provides insights on the potential of school grounds as sites for environmental learning.
Abstract: This paper describes a small experiment conducted in collaboration with Scottish Outdoor Education Centres (SOEC) at one of their Centres to clarify the predisposition of children using the Centre for Outdoor or Indoor play environments. The experiment involved two different schools, A and B, using the Centre at the same time (June 2009). A total of 54 children, aged 11-12 years, were surveyed at the beginning and end of a 5 day residential course. The method of Discrete Choice Experiments (DCE) was used to establish the children’s choice of Outdoor or Indoor environments. The method is described and the data analysed for individual schools and also aggregated. The following preliminary conclusions are drawn. Children already have a predisposition for outdoor play and this is enhanced slightly over a 5 day residential course. However, it would seem that the effect does not persist on return to their normal school environment. The paper concludes with a brief discussion for extending this work. Key words: Play, Learning, Sustainability, Design, Nature, Outdoor Activities.
Young Children in Outdoor Education
‘Play’ and ‘Place’ are two increasingly prominent ‘theoretical’ terms in outdoor education for young children, however there has been little empirical research to inform a ‘play‐place-responsive’ approach and programming design for outdoor educators. ‘Play-Place-responsive’ pedagogy is a term coined by the researcher team to symbolize the combined principles in design and practice of play ideology (Fisher, 1992; Hughes, 1999; Isenberg & Quisenberry, 2002), the ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 1989, 1993), and the pedagogy of place (Wilson, 1997; Woodhouse & Knapp, 2000). This research investigated, how and in which ways, young children respond, or do not respond to the Open Green Minds (OGM) programmes. The OGM programme was the result of the researchers’ combined experiences and knowledge, and the designs were supported by principled-based and theme-based methodology to inform a ‘play-place-responsive’ approach.
Play' and 'Place' are two increasingly prominent 'theoretical' terms in outdoor education for young children, however there has been little empirical research to inform a 'play‐place-responsive' approach and programming design for outdoor educators. This research investigated, how and in which ways, young children respond, or do not respond to the Open Green Minds (OGM) programmes. Field notes were recorded by six researchers (who were also the designer of the OGM programmes) observing 302 young children in the programmes. The observations sought to capture stories of lived experience of the young children and these stories of learning experiences were interpreted and themed. Heuristic contributions were drawn from the researcher's own journal and observations. This study made three significant contributions. Firstly, it proposed eight design principles for educators on how to make outdoor learning 'stick' for young children. Secondly, it reco...
2020
The human innate tendency to interact with the natural environment has been proven by psychologists. This interaction should be placed in educational environments (schools). Unfortunately, interaction with nature is not considered in schools today, and the schoolyard, a place where students can interact with open space and nature, is designed to be completely separated from the classrooms. That means the schoolyard and the classrooms should be designed in harmony with each other. Students spend a majority of their educational period in classrooms, so to create diversity and increase student's productivity, it is necessary to combine outdoor natural spaces with indoor educational areas. So, the schoolyard plays a complementary role to the classroom. Additionally, the natural environment can be considered as another educational setting option. The major goal of this review paper is analyzing the impact of the school's outdoor and natural spaces on enhancing students' learn...
2014
The authors take a reflective journey to explore the research methodology utilised in a multi-method, multi-site research study of children's environmental learning in schoolgrounds in Australia. Informed by an extensive literature review and dialogue with researchers around the world, the study constructed a research design and procedure that could be utilized by practitioner researchers and academic researchers as the foundation for further research on children's learning in schoolgrounds. This paper has the specific task of sharing our research story and lessons learnt as a conversation to those who intend to conduct future research with children on schoolground greening projects. Résumé Les auteurs prennent un séjour de réflexion pour explorer la méthodologie de recherche utilisée dans un projet multiméthodes, un projet de recherche réparti sur plusieurs emplacements, un projet de sensibilisation des enfants à l'environnement dans les cours d'école en Australie. Éclairée par une recension exhaustive des écrits et par un dialogue avec des chercheurs du monde entier, l'étude a échafaudé un plan de recherche et de procédures qui pourrait être utilisé par des chercheurs praticiens et par des chercheurs académiques comme le fondement d'une recherche future sur l'apprentissage des enfants sur les cours d'école. Cet article a la tâche spécifique de partager nos textes de recherche et les leçons apprises en conversant avec ceux qui ont l'intention de mener des recherches futures avec des enfants sur des projets d'écologisation de cours d'école. Children's environmental learning in their local environment has been a key area in the multidisciplinary field of children's environments (Hart, 1979; Moore, 1986). Building on this tradition, our schoolground research project, Children's Environments, applied research methods from the UNESCO Growing Up In Cities project (Malone, 1999; Malone & Hasluck, 1988) alongside methods adapted from "playground research" projects to develop a multimethod approach to researching children's experiences of their school environment.
Proceedings of 2nd Early Childhood Care & Education International Rendezvous 2016, (ISBN 978-967- 13960-2-5), 2016
This paper explores the use of nature elements and nature environments within the school grounds in learning activities and its potentials to strengthen children's learning and development in the context of a primary school in Malaysia. Employing a case-study method, one-to-one interview session was conducted with two informants, an 8 and 9 a year old child to explore their learning experiences with and in nature, to understand the perceived benefits acquired through learning activities with and in nature, as well as to discover the contributing factors of the implementations in school. An analysis of these interviews yields two school subjects are dominantly associated with learning activities with and in nature namely Physical Education, and World of Science and Technology (Dunia Sains dan Teknologi). Findings supported that nature elements and settings within school grounds have potentials to increase children's physical fitness, promote social-emotional enrichment, enhance enthusiasm and independent learning, improve academic performance, empower collaborative learning between teacher and students, and foster experiential learning through real engagement with nature elements. According to the informants, contributing factors for the use of nature elements and nature settings in the school by teachers were first, their function as useful learning resources for children's conceptual understanding and task assessment, and secondly the convenience of using them for physical activity and socialization. Finally, implications of this study for primary school education in particular were discussed.
Children’s Adaptive Behaviour In Performing Outdoor Play And Learning In School Grounds
The European Proceedings of Multidisciplinary Sciences, 2019
Children's outdoor play in school grounds is commonly restrained due to limited spaces and landscape features offered at schools, as well as restrictive school regulations. This research explores children's adaptive behaviour in performing their play activities in school grounds environment. Fieldwork was conducted with 80 children aged 8 to11 years old from two primary schools in the state of Johor, Malaysia. A qualitative, child-centred approach of data collection was employed to elicit data on children's behavioural and perceptual responses regarding their play in school grounds. The study revealed different play behaviour patterns and preferences among children regarding the use of school grounds during non-formal and informal learning sessions. The children's behavioural and perceptual responses showed that they coped with and adapted to the potentials and constraints of their school grounds environment in order to increase play opportunities. It highlights how children used communal and alternative spaces within school grounds, imagined and reinvented the spaces for play, and manipulated the environmental features found as their play tools. The findings indicate the children's abilities to fit with the environmental discrepancy in order to fulfil their physical, communal, emotional and educational needs through play. This paper argues that children's adaptive behaviour in performing their outdoor play in school grounds environment involved children's autonomy, creative thinking, social interaction and problem solving skills, which contributed to children's environmental learning