Bring nature and nature-based pedagogy into mainstream formal education, with institutional support for outdoor classes and partnerships¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 6 claims (6 for) · 2 studies (1 causal, 1 review), q2 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 5 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The review concludes that it is time to take nature seriously as a resource for learning and to expand isolated nature-based efforts into increasingly mainstream practices. It recommends that "Principals and school boards should support, not discourage, teachers' efforts to hold classes outdoors, take regular field trips, and partner with nearby nature centers, farms, and forest preserves." It further recommends action research assessing school gardens, green schoolyards, and green walls, and that pioneering nature-based instruction teachers serve as models and coaches for others.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Institutional support from principals and school boards for teachers holding classes outdoors and taking field trips
• Partnerships with nearby nature centers, farms, and forest preserves

Constraints¶

• The review notes many existing studies of nature-based instruction used weak research designs, and calls for action research to assess the benefits of school gardens, green schoolyards, and green walls in classrooms

Target Learners¶

• all children in formal education, particularly students not effectively reached by traditional instruction

Target Learning Goals¶

• academic learning
• non-cognitive skills such as perseverance, resilience, leadership, and communication
• environmental stewardship

Affordances¶

• Eight Pathways Nature Learning Framework

Claims¶

• An emotional connection to nature, rather than conservation knowledge, is a powerful predictor of children's conservation behavior [+W]
• Classroom views of greenery improve children's concentration compared with built views or windowless classrooms [+W]
• Nature-based learning appears to work especially well for disadvantaged and disengaged students, potentially narrowing achievement gaps [+W]
• Contact with nature is generally tied to better impulse control and self-discipline in children, though effects are not always statistically significant [+W]
• Nature exposure relieves stress in learners, including experimentally demonstrated reductions in heart rate and self-reported stress [+W]
• Student motivation, enjoyment, and engagement are higher in natural learning settings, including spillover to subsequent indoor lessons [+W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Kuo M, Barnes M and Jordan C (2019) Do Experiences With Nature Promote Learning? Converging Evidence of a Cause-and-Effect Relationship. Front. Psychol. 10:305. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00305