Why do children not play in nearby nature? Results from a Norwegian survey
A national survey of 3160 parents found time pressure was a bigger barrier to children playing in nearby nature than accessibility, safety or landscape quality.
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
356 items
Place-based curriculum making: devising a synthesis between primary geography and outdoor learning
The article argues for blending place, space and sustainability in primary geography and outdoor learning.
A surprising discovery: five pedagogical skills outdoor and experiential educators might offer more mainstream educators in this time of change
The research suggests outdoor educators have pedagogical skills that mainstream educators could use to teach outdoors or be more environmentally focused.
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.
Outdoor education and school curriculum distinctiveness: More than content, more than process
The paper argues outdoor education's distinctiveness in the school curriculum lies in neither content nor process but in ways of being.
Outdoor education in rural primary schools in New Zealand: A narrative inquiry
The article examines how New Zealand primary teachers teach, programme and understand outdoor education.
In and out of place: exploring the discursive effects of teachers' talk about outdoor education in secondary schools in New Zealand
Interviews with eight NZ secondary outdoor education teachers show adventure and learning discourses sit side by side in how they talk.
The return home: Transitioning from a 28-day remote outdoor education programme
The research stresses supporting students through the transition home after a long outdoor programme, including assessing learning through project work.
Social contexts of development in natural outdoor environments: children's motor activities, personal challenges and peer interactions at the river and the creek
Observations show time outdoors helps young children's physical and social development, including confidence in the face of risk.
Predictors of change in body image in female participants of an outdoor education program
The study looks at what predicts positive change in body image for females in an outdoor programme who started with a negative body image.
A retrospective study of social relations in a Danish primary school class taught in 'udeskole'
The study looks at how teaching a class outside one day a week influenced pupils' social relationships.
Curious play: children's exploration of nature
The article uses 'curious play' to understand children's free play in nature, seeing children as active explorers who build knowledge.
Adventurous learning: A pedagogy for a changing world
The book outlines the key elements of a pedagogy of adventurous learning that educators can adapt to their own contexts.
Student Outcomes and Natural Schooling. Pathways from evidence to impact report 2016
The report summarises research on how social and economic factors shape children's access to the natural environment and what policy could change.
Safety cultures in water-based outdoor activities in Denmark
The authors analyse safety cultures in small boat fishing, sea kayaking and kite surfing and argue for a broad managerial approach at many levels.
Children's views and preferences regarding their outdoor environment
Children who helped decide how their school ground was built wanted challenge and security, exploration, contact with others, and natural features.
Learning with nature and learning from others: nature as setting and resource for early childhood education
Case studies and discussion with Scottish and Nordic teachers give positive examples and challenges of nature-based early childhood education.
Tenuous affair: Environmental and outdoor education in Aotearoa New Zealand
The authors look at education for sustainability within outdoor education and how meaning is, and can be, given to outdoor experiences.
'Touched by the Earth': a place-based outdoor learning programme incorporating the Arts
Working with young adolescents, the study found the Arts play a crucial role in embodied, multi-sensory learning that nurtures nature awareness and attachment.
An Australian perspective of a forest school: shaping a sense of place to support learning
A forest school in a Western Australian primary school promoted a sense of self, belonging and place attachment.
Students' experiences with/in integrated Environmental Studies Programs in Ontario
Canadian students in interdisciplinary environmental studies programmes changed their environmental attitudes and behaviours.
To be in the garden or not to be in the garden: that is the question here: some aspects of the educational chances that are inherent in tamed and untamed nature
The paper explores children's lack of opportunity to engage with nature and the educational value of tamed and untamed gardens.
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.
Connecting to the Good Life through outdoor adventure leadership experiences designed for Indigenous youth
A research collaboration with the Wikwemikong people looked at how a ten-day leadership experience promotes resilience and wellbeing for Indigenous youth.