The Urgent Case for Green Schoolyards During and After COVID-19
The following article was published in the September 2020 issue of Green Schoolyards Catalyst Quarterly, a publication of the Green Schoolyards National Network dedicated to the advancement of green, healthy, sustainable K-12 schools. GSCQ is a peer reviewed, high interest digital magazine that highlights evidence-based practices for replication in green, healthy, sustainable schools.
Choices made in response to change can transform crisis into opportunity. The outbreak of COVID-19 across the globe has radically impacted our lives, creating significant shifts in routines and behaviors and upending our ideas of a “normal” we can never go back to. From the climate crisis, to a global viral pandemic, to protests erupting around the nation in a fight to end systemic racism, it has never been more critical to invest in education that supports well-being, justice, and resiliency for students, teachers, communities, and the natural environment which sustains life.
COVID-19 has taught us we are capable of rapid change. The closing of school buildings and the move to online learning this spring was tremendously challenging for many families to navigate. While there are many benefits to online learning, especially for older students, teaching and learning happen best in relationship with others and the rest of the natural world. How can we leverage the momentum of this time of massive disruption to shift to a more mindful, sustainable, and equitable model of public education that addresses new and deeply embedded threats and injustice?
We can start by turning education inside out. Green schoolyards, forest preschools, and outdoor early childhood programs have been around for decades, but now their practices seem prescient: they call for ample outside time, natural play, and exploration, all of which support the physical distancing measures that will be needed moving forward. An article in the New York Times reported that there is “growing consensus among experts that, if Americans are going to leave their homes, it’s safer to be outside than in the office or the mall. With fresh air and more space between people, the risk goes down” (Levenson, Parker-Pope, and Gorman, 2020). Outdoor classrooms also employ enthusiastic educators who enjoy helping children learn in and from nature, a critical skill as we become more keenly aware of our interconnectedness with nature and the need for thinking ecologically – to understand how nature supports our health and how we can support the health of the natural world.
We have the land we need. Public schools are one of the top three land holders in most communities. This points to a great and often underutilized resource that can be reimagined to support student achievement and community well-being, as well as mitigate the effects of climate change. School grounds and the natural infrastructure that exists in every community can be activated for effective learning, dovetailing with professional development for teachers and school staff on how to move learning effectively and safely outside.
It is time to call on school districts and community leaders to invest in green schoolyards and other nature-based learning environments as we continue to adjust to the presence of COVID-19 in our lives. Let’s create a new normal of equity, peace, and health. We need schoolyards packed with trees, native plants and grasses, and gardens where children can explore and learn in spaces that encourage creativity, solution-oriented thinking, and an ethic of reciprocity for the gifts we receive from the natural world. Imagine how a foundation like that can shape the lifelong learning of engaged citizens working to make the world we live in the best it can be. NOW is the time – here are three reasons why.
Green Schoolyards Foster Resiliency and Equity Which Translate to Better Test Scores
Studies show that exploring, playing, and learning in nature improves academic achievement more than indoor classroom instruction. In a brief integrative review of the research, Kuo, Barnes, and Jordan (2019) found that positive shifts occur in perseverance, problem-solving, critical thinking, leadership, teamwork, and resilience – skills that are essential in overcoming the unprecedented challenges we face today.
Researchers have also found that outdoor learning can improve standardized test scores and graduation rates. Current longitudinal studies offer encouraging data. A six-year study of 905 public elementary schools in Massachusetts found that third-graders who attended schools that were closer to natural areas got higher scores on standardized testing in English and math (Leung et al., 2014). Likewise, preliminary findings of a 10-year University of Illinois study of more than 500 Chicago schools, comparing green schools with more typical schools, indicate similar results, especially for the most challenged learners (Kuo et al., 2018). While all students benefit from outdoor learning, the outcomes are relatively greater for those who are negatively impacted by economic disadvantage, systemic racism, trauma, and other challenges, suggesting that green schoolyards are a smart strategy for addressing education gaps (Kuo, Barnes, and Jordan, 2019).
Outdoor learning also supports the health and well-being of educators. One study (Paddle and Gilliland, 2016) suggests that educators who have the opportunity to take students outdoors to learn are less likely to burn out. Improving teacher retention and the quality of educators attracted to the profession can have profound effects on student success. One of the best choices we can make this school year is to equip a new generation of teachers with the knowledge and confidence to take students outdoors to learn.
Green Schoolyards Reduce Stress and Support Well-Being
The stress and social isolation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic is taking a toll on our collective mental health. Teachers are going to need strategies to support themselves and their students this year, whether learning occurs virtually or in-person.
When children, or adults for that matter, are overloaded with stress hormones, their stress response systems kick into high gear. Cortisol is dumped into the bloodstream, negatively impacting sleep, metabolism, and other physical systems. This dramatically impacts a child’s ability to learn and develop healthy, trusting relationships with adults and peers (Felitti et al., 1998).
We know that outdoor learning helps reduce stress. In an experimental study, views of green landscapes from classroom windows helped high school students recover more quickly from stressful events (Li and Sullivan, 2016). In another study, 11-year old students in Germany were either taught indoors or spent a day a week over the course of a year learning outside in forest school programs. The forest school students showed a normal, healthy decline in cortisol levels over the course of the morning. This decline in cortisol was not found in the indoor control group, suggesting a more chronic level of stress in students taught indoors (Dettweiler et al., 2017). A 2020 report of peer-reviewed studies found that as little as 10 – 20 minutes in nature daily may serve as a preventative measure for stress and mental health strain for people between the ages of 18 – 22 (Meredith et al., 2020).
Physiological health markers of stress associated with time in nature included decreased heart rate and blood pressure. Psychological indicators of reduced stress associated with time in nature included less depression, anxiety, and fatigue and increased vigor, positive affect, and feelings of calm (Twohig-Bennett and Jones, 2018). The natural world is abundant in healing qualities that we can make more accessible to teachers and students by implementing green schoolyards and outdoor education programs.
Green Schoolyards Promote Environmental Stewardship and Climate Action
The typical public schoolyard includes turf grass, impervious surfaces, aging playground equipment, and athletic facilities, all of which provide little to no benefit to the natural environment. Current schoolyard conditions unintentionally contribute to flooding, loss of pollinator habitat, and heat island impacts. A lack of nearby natural amenities limits the ability of schools to better integrate environmental education, use the outdoors as a classroom, and foster next generation environmental stewards.
Green schoolyards are a solution to this problem. By reimagining how we use public land around schools in every community, we can reduce the risk of flooding, keep communities cooler, and create places where birds and pollinators find refuge. With outdoor classrooms, students can learn about the natural world all year long, which encourages pro-conservation behaviors and stimulates interest in and work for the creation of a more positive future for all life (Hughes, Richardson, and Lumber, 2018).
From Ideas to Action
Green schoolyards and other natural learning environments are essential elements in what must be a well-coordinated response to the threats currently facing our global society – a climate crisis of unimaginable proportion; the current pandemic and the inevitability of similar, perhaps even more deadly, viral outbreaks in the future; and large-scale civic unrest due to deeply embedded racial and economic inequities.
In this crucial time, we need integrated approaches to ensure the health of people and communities, our fellow species, and the planet as a whole. Green schoolyards address these areas on a fundamental level and make possible a new normal in which all people and the planet flourish as one. Here are some ideas to get you started.
Healing Hikes
Outdoor Afro, a Black-led organization that celebrates the history and contributions of Black people to environmental causes, offers healing hikes for Black people and allies to help deal with the trauma of racism in America. Chapters are located throughout the country.
Scavenger Hunts
Scavenger hunts are a great way to connect a group through a themed activity while promoting physical distancing. You can make scavenger hunts a regular part of outdoor learning by creating lists of natural elements (flowers, birds, animals, etc.) for students to search for. You can integrate different core subjects too. For example, you can do a counting exercise involving the collection of pinecones or ask students to find something in the environment that reminds them of themselves and write a poem to describe how and why.
Pulse of the Group
Each student has an instrument of some kind. They can be “found objects” like a bucket and a wooden spoon. Have students spread out in a circle standing six feet apart (break larger groups into smaller clusters if needed but be sure there is good distance between each group). Prompt the group(s) to explore their instrument and make noise. After a time, ask the group what it would take to make music. Facilitate discussion and emphasize the role of “the pulse” of the group…and the underlying common beat we can tune in to even while we express individual rhythms. Demonstrate a few different rhythms while the group claps the pulse/beat. Then have them use their instruments to keep the beat and call on different students to vary their individual rhythm. Then open it up and see how long it takes the group(s) to listen for the pulse and play their own rhythms.
Movement and Stillness
Students stand six feet apart and are given the prompt to “move their bodies as much as they can while standing in one place” when a certain cue is given (the cue can be music playing, a whistle blowing, or a certain hand gesture). They are given the second prompt to become as still as possible when an alternate cue is given. Then the facilitator transitions between the activities of “movement and stillness” giving prompts for students to notice if their eyelids are moving; if their heart is beating; if their blood is flowing; if they feel different the more still they become…in what ways? (This is a good activity to start incorporating mindfulness practices in outdoor classrooms.)
Compost Transformation
Students are instructed to wander through nature and collect elements they can use to make a sculpture of a time when they had a strong feeling: happiness, sadness, anger, whatever they choose. After collecting materials, students settle into workstations equipped with glue, string, and other bio-degradable craft supplies (individual craft kits would help support good social distancing). Students are prompted to remember the feeling they chose and make a sculpture with their found objects. Later, each student has a chance to say “thank you and goodbye” to that feeling, letting it go into a compost pile where it will be regenerated into new energy.
Imagine a Future with Green Schoolyards at Every School
Now and in the months ahead, we encourage school districts, educators, parents, and students to imagine what school could look like with the inclusion of more natural learning environments. Imagine schoolyards packed with trees, native plants and grasses, and gardens where children can explore and learn about the birds, pollinators, and other critters in their neighborhoods. Imagine children learning in outdoor classrooms, growing food and other plants, playing in nature play areas, and exploring trails. Imagine spaces that encourage creativity and problem-solving while serving as places of refuge and solitude for students and educators alike. Green schoolyards encompass these and so much more.
There are many resources for educators and parents who want to establish a green schoolyard program. Children & Nature Network (C&NN) has collected many of the best resources from across the field in its online Green Schoolyard Resource Hub. For other tips, see C&NN’s Finding Nature News articles.
Works Cited
Dettweiler, U., Becker, C., Auestad, B., Simon, P., and Kirsch, P. (2017). Stress in school. Some empirical hints on the circadian cortisol rhythm of children in outdoor and indoor classes. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(5), 475. doi: 10.3390/ijerph14050475
Felitti, V., Anda, R., Nordenberg, D., Williamson, D., Spitz, A., Edwards, V., Koss, M., and Marks, J. (1998). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: The adverse childhood experiences (ACE) study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14(4), 245-258. Retrieved from: https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(98)00017-8/fulltext
Hughes, J., Richardson. M., and Lumber, R. (2018). Evaluating connection to nature and the relationship with conservation behaviour in children. Journal for Nature Conservation, 45, 11-19. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2018.07.004
Kuo, M., Barnes, M., and Jordan, C. (2019). Do experiences with nature promote learning? Converging evidence of a cause-and-effect relationship. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 305. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00305
Kuo, M., Browning, M., Sachdeva, S., Lee, K., and Westphal, L. (2018). Might school performance grow on trees? Examining the link between “greenness” and academic achievement in urban, high-poverty schools. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1669. doi: http://dx.doi.org//10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01669
Leung, W., Tam, T., Pan, W-C., Wu, C-D., Lung, S-C., and Spengler, J. (2019). How is environmental greenness related to students’ academic performance in English and mathematics? Landscape and Urban Planning, 181, 118-124. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2018.09.021
Levenson, M., Parker-Pope, T., and Gorman, J. (2020). What we know about your chances of catching the virus outdoors. The New York Times. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/us/coronavirus-what-to-do-outside.html?referringSource=articleShare
Li, D. and Sullivan, W. (2016). Impact of views to school landscapes on recovery from stress and mental fatigue. Landscape and Urban Planning, 148, 149-158. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2015.12.015
Meredith, G., Rakow, D., Eldermire, E., Madsen, C., Shelley, S., and Sachs, N. (2020). Minimum time dose in nature to positively impact the mental health of college-aged students, and how to measure it: A scoping review. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2942. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02942
Paddle, E. and Gilliland, J. (2016). Orange is the new green: Exploring the restorative capacity of seasonal foliage in schoolyard trees. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 13(5), 497. doi: 10.3390/ijerph13050497
Twohig-Bennett, C. and Jones, A. (2018). The health benefits of the great outdoors: A systematic review and meta-analysis of greenspace exposure and healthy outcomes. Environmental Research, 166, 628-637. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2018.06.030
Sarah Milligan-Toffler (sarah@childrenandnature.org) is Executive Director of the Children & Nature Network, which is working to ensure equitable access to the health and well-being benefits of nature everywhere children live, learn, and play. She serves as an advisor to the Blue Sky Funders Forum and is a member of the State of Minnesota’s Outdoor Recreation Task Force.
Richard Louv is a journalist and author of ten books, including Our Wild Calling: How Connecting with Animals Can Transform Our Lives – And Save Theirs and Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. His books have been translated and published in 24 countries, and helped launch an international movement to connect children, families, and communities to nature. He is co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Children & Nature Network.
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Thank you for this its so inspiring to see people want this, really want this for children. I trained as an MPT a year ago and never looked back as a teacher http://www.themuddypuddleteacher.co.uk has free stuff all the time.
Hi Karen. Thanks for your comment. We agree — the growing interest and commitment to green schoolyards and outdoor learning is inspiring. We’d love to learn more about the Muddy Puddle approach. Thanks for sharing this great resource.