Outdoor Learning Environments

Outdoor learning offers a variety of engaging learning experiences and methods for integrating standards-based knowledge and skills with environmental education. The California Department of Education (CDE) supports outdoor learning environments (OLEs) that foster hands-on learning, improve student health and achievement, and optimize in-person learning.

What are Outdoor Learning Environments?

Outdoor learning environments provide flexible spaces for diverse learners, on or off campus, and are possible for all student populations in urban, suburban, and rural settings. While taking learning outside can be as simple as utilizing green spaces and school gardens, local school communities often formally embed OLEs in their learning programs in a variety of ways. Examples include:

• Service-learning projects
  
• School and community garden projects
• Recycling Clubs
• Schoolyard habitat restoration/creation
• Interdisciplinary project-based learning
• Campus and community improvements
• Schoolyard tree planting projects
• Local ecosystem support
• Field trips

Benefits of Outdoor Learning

Research shows that outdoor learning improves student achievement, health, wellness, and more.

• Outdoor learning offers opportunities for students to engage in physical activity and teambuilding.¹
  
• Outdoor learning improves access to nature, which is beneficial to mental health, reduces stress, increases student engagement, and improves cognitive function.^2,3
  
• A study of outdoor education programs showed improvements for at-risk youth in self-esteem, conflict resolution, relationships with peers, problem solving, motivation to learn, and behavior in class.⁴
  
• Children who attended outdoor science school significantly raised their science scores by 27 percent and the increase in science knowledge was maintained six to ten weeks after program participation.⁵ 

Equity of Access to Outdoor Learning

Outdoor spaces should be safe and flexible to meet the needs of different activities and learning styles. The guiding principles of California’s Blueprint for Environmental Literacy include equity of access to outdoor and informal education, experiences in green school buildings and grounds, in students’ local parks, and in residential outdoor science programs.⁶

Prioritizing students with special needs is essential when designing outdoor spaces so all students have access to the benefits of the great outdoors and green schoolyards. Inclusive outdoor learning environments use universal design, incorporate students’ Individualized Education Program (IEP), and consider equipment and assistive technology needed by students. Designing and planning for inclusivity also means involving support staff, parents, caregivers, and district personnel in the process.⁷

Planning and Designing Outdoor Learning Spaces

Outdoor learning environments and green schoolyards involve community participation. A planning committee can begin by walking the school grounds to help assess the needs and goals of the school community before exploring outdoor learning options and strategies, such as:

• Selecting the classes or programs that will be conducted outdoors;
  
• discovering comfortable and creative seating options;
  
• researching shade and shelter options; and
  
• providing teaching supplies, adequate storage.⁸

When schools want to conceptualize the design of outdoor learning environments, there are free tools and strategies that can help.

1. Green Schoolyards America provides a start-up toolkit that includes an outdoor learning diagram template and an augmented reality visualizer for schools that assist with designing and budgeting outdoor learning environments to meet project goals.⁹
   
2. Outdoors for All: Providing Equitable Access to Parks and Nature is a California initiative that encourages coordination with school districts and regional governments to enhance green schoolyards and to fill park gaps outside of school hours. Local education agencies may consider entering into shared or joint-use agreements by opening access to green schoolyards to increase community access to outdoor spaces.¹⁰
   
3. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service offers a free Schoolyard Habitat Guide for creating schoolyard habitats and outdoor classroom projects. The guide gives step-by-step details on forming a team, developing master plans, creating maintenance plans, and designing and installing projects to help transform school sites into spaces that encourage student inquiry, discovery, and environmental stewardship.¹¹
   
4. Outdoor learning environments are supported by CDE programs, including the California Green Ribbon Schools Awards program, which honors schools who demonstrate excellence in resource efficiency, health and wellness, and environmental and sustainability education. Award winning schools also serve as models for green schoolyards, outdoor classrooms, and school gardening projects.¹²

Access to outdoor learning is achievable through the collective efforts of schools, communities, governments, and nonprofit agencies. By leveraging available research and resources, schools can design outdoor learning environments to improve student engagement, environmental literacy, and outcomes in standards-based subjects. These objectives align with the CDE vision that California school facilities will enhance the achievement of all students and are learner-centered, safe, sustainable, and centers of the community.

Notes

1. Kevin E. Finn, Zi Yan, and Kyle J. McInnis, “Promoting Physical Activity and Science Learning in an Outdoor Education Program (PDF),” Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, Volume 89, no.1 (2018): 35-39.   
2. Ming Kuo, Mathew H.E.M. Browning, and Milbert Penner, “Do Lessons in Nature Boost Subsequent Classroom Engagement? Refueling Students in Flight ,” Frontiers in Psychology, Sec. Educational Psychology, Volume 8 (2018).
   
3. Louise Chawla, “Benefits of Nature Contact for Children (PDF),” Journal of Planning and Literature, Volume 30, no. 4 (2015): 433-452.
4. American Institutes for Research. "Effects of Outdoor Education Programs for Children in California (PDF)," (Submitted to the California Department of Education, January 2005).
   
5. See note 4.
   
6. Californians Dedicated to Education Foundation, A Blueprint for Environmental Literacy: Educating Every California Student In, About, and For the Environment (PDF), Redwood City, California, (2015).
   
7. Kimberly E. Hale and Kathy Provenzano. Inclusive Design for Outdoor Spaces , Green Schoolyards America, (2021-2023).
   
8. Green Schoolyards America, Where Do We Begin? A Toolkit to Move Learning Outdoors , (2013-2023).
   
9. See note 8.
   
10. California Natural Resources Agency, Outdoors for All: Providing Equitable Access to Parks and Nature (PDF), (2023).
    
11. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Schoolyard Habitat Project Guide: A planning guide for creating schoolyard habitat and outdoor classroom projects (PDF), (2011).       
12. California Department of Education, California Green Ribbon Schools Awards Program.