Children and youth have a legal obligation to attend school. School environments, especially public schools, should be designed and managed for this special population as high-quality environmental equalizers for students from a range of socio-economic backgrounds, including the growing population of pre-K children. As this ideal is far from being realized, it begs the question: is a school just the buildings? Outdoors is fundamentally different to indoors, in the way it is perceived and used by students. Outdoors can be designed to offer a broader range of attractive behavioral affordances than indoors. A rapidly growing body of research sheds light on those differences. This session will demonstrate how to translate research findings into actionable design and management approaches that could radically change ways in which student, parents, and teachers perceive and use schools. Varied approaches to new construction and renovation will be discussed. System-level policies will be discussed to promote school grounds as healthy, educational places for enjoyment, positive social relations, and learning about ecosystems and human dependency on nature.
Learning Objectives:
- Consider school environments as varied systems of both indoor and outdoor spaces.
- Recognize climatic and geographic factors related to design and management of school grounds and promote sustainable practices for nature-based outdoor play and learning.
- Promote the outdoor environment-behavior needs of different age groups from pre-K to 12th grade.
- Support design and management of school outdoor spaces as places for play, learning, education, and community use during non-school hours. Use research translations to influence school system supportive policy change.
This session is developed by The Natural Learning Initiative, a research and design extension program of the College of Design, NC State University.