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.
52 items
An On Country Learning project offers preliminary evidence for the efficacy of learning on Country, based on comparing children's involvement there and in the classroom.
A short park visit built on a German teaching programme improved Brazilian students' attitudes, emotions and biological understanding about invertebrates compared with a control group.
Weekly Forest School and outdoor sessions over three years were linked to better attendance and academic attainment for disadvantaged young children. The authors also link emotional learning and wellbeing developed outdoors with academic development.
After a six-week bird-feeding and monitoring project in school grounds, primary children showed gains in knowledge of local birds and in attitudes towards them. The largest gains were for children with little prior nature experience.
A review of international research on learning outside the classroom finds a bias towards hard-to-measure outcomes and weak attention to theory and philosophy.
On a residential science week in a German national park, students felt more competent outdoors, and this appeared to have the biggest impact on their higher intrinsic motivation.
A case study found one primary pupil's agency varied between classroom, garden and farm, so varied contexts matter.
The study supports school-based experiential outdoor education as a way to engage students in meaningful, memorable and motivating learning.
Students in one-semester outdoor education programmes showed gains in self-authorship, which they linked to their instructor and to the outdoor experiences.
Children were more physically active on weekly learning-outside-the-classroom days, but the gain depended on the class that used a nature setting.
The article draws together evidence linking service learning to the goals of education, including personal, social and academic achievement.
Canadian students in interdisciplinary environmental studies programmes changed their environmental attitudes and behaviours.
The study explores outcomes of teaching primary children empathy and critical thinking to solve environmental problems.
Findings suggest service-based learning supports young students' academic and social learning and civic efficacy.
The project examined critical thinking in four experiential sustainability courses and discusses a conceptual model of integrated planning, design, content and scaffolded application.
A project tried to quantify the personal and social benefits of outdoor adventure education and got mixed results.
Two linked studies examine whether outdoor adventure education can affect students' ability to regulate interest and goal direction.
A one-year outdoor programme in an English special school improved attendance, though attendance is complex and gains may stay within the programme.
A retrospective study compares what students intended to take home from an Outward Bound course with what they actually carried two years later.
An independent evaluation finds residential learning has a positive effect on engagement, achievement and relationships.
After five days at an outdoor camp without screens, preteens improved at reading nonverbal emotional cues.
A longitudinal study found teachers who taught regularly in the school grounds reported more student motivation, communication and participation.
The paper examines how residential outdoor learning relates to mainstream schooling in Scotland and how qualitative and quantitative studies fit together.
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.