'I'll take care of the flowers!' Researching agency through initiatives across different learning environments
A case study found one primary pupil's agency varied between classroom, garden and farm, so varied contexts matter.
Research, reports and guidance on education outside the classroom and outdoor education, with a plain-English summary of each and a link to the original. New items are added every week.
The library began with Education Outside the Classroom: Applied Research Readings 2010–2017(McNatty & Boyes, University of Otago, 2017). Later items were found, summarised and checked with AI assistance using the same method: every reference is checked against the publisher's record, every summary against the published abstract, and only items rated high confidence by two independent relevance checks are published. Summaries are a guide: read the original before citing it.
Research library
20 items
School-based experiential outdoor education: A neglected necessity
The study supports school-based experiential outdoor education as a way to engage students in meaningful, memorable and motivating learning.
Service learning as holistic values pedagogy
The article draws together evidence linking service learning to the goals of education, including personal, social and academic achievement.
Students' experiences with/in integrated Environmental Studies Programs in Ontario
Canadian students in interdisciplinary environmental studies programmes changed their environmental attitudes and behaviours.
Empathy and critical thinking: primary students solving local environmental problems through outdoor learning
The study explores outcomes of teaching primary children empathy and critical thinking to solve environmental problems.
Service-learning: Implications for empathy and community engagement in elementary school children
Findings suggest service-based learning supports young students' academic and social learning and civic efficacy.
Critical thinking assessment across four sustainability-related experiential learning settings
The project examined critical thinking in four experiential sustainability courses and discusses a conceptual model of integrated planning, design, content and scaffolded application.
Outdoor adventure education for children in Scotland: quantifying the benefits
A project tried to quantify the personal and social benefits of outdoor adventure education and got mixed results.
Fostering experiential self-regulation through outdoor adventure education
Two linked studies examine whether outdoor adventure education can affect students' ability to regulate interest and goal direction.
Improving school attendance: can participation in outdoor learning influence attendance for young people with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties?
A one-year outdoor programme in an English special school improved attendance, though attendance is complex and gains may stay within the programme.
An investigation of participants' intended and actual transfer of learning following an Outward Bound wilderness experience
A retrospective study compares what students intended to take home from an Outward Bound course with what they actually carried two years later.
Learning Away final evaluation report
An independent evaluation finds residential learning has a positive effect on engagement, achievement and relationships.
Five days at outdoor education camp without screens improves preteen skills with nonverbal emotion cues
After five days at an outdoor camp without screens, preteens improved at reading nonverbal emotional cues.
High school teachers' experience of the educational potential of outdoor teaching and learning
A longitudinal study found teachers who taught regularly in the school grounds reported more student motivation, communication and participation.
'Did you enjoy your holiday?' Can residential outdoor learning benefit mainstream schooling?
The paper examines how residential outdoor learning relates to mainstream schooling in Scotland and how qualitative and quantitative studies fit together.
Place-based education
The chapter describes two successful place-based education projects and the principles they share, with early insights into the effect on academic engagement and citizenship.
The desire to learn as a kind of love: Gardening, cooking, and passion in outdoor education
A Danish organic school gardens project built students' desire to learn and their knowledge of nature, farming and food.
Learning biology and mathematics outdoors: effects and attitudes in a Swedish high school context
Swedish pupils who learned biology and maths outdoors retained knowledge better in the long term and valued the social interaction.
Woven into the fabric of experience: residential adventure education and complexity
The paper asks how pupils change after a residential adventure education experience and how that change relates to what they experienced.
Exploring the long-term effects for young women involved in an outdoor education program
A study looks at the effects on adolescent females of a ten-day journey-based outdoor programme, six to forty-two months afterwards.