Between Two Pines

John Muir’s famously scribbled marginal note “Between every two pines there is a door leading to a new way of life”(Wood par.10) embodies the spirit and goal of Forest Schools and Outdoor Education. These alternative methods of teaching are increasing in popularity, with Scandinavian concepts like Wildschooling and Forest Schools spreading beyond the Nordic countries of Europe, into the UK and North America. In this paper I will focus on the benefits of these emerging educational philosophies that are geared towards engaging children through the natural environment and providing greater opportunities for cognitive, social and motor development. 

 

Tori Derr in her review of Sara Knight’s book, Forest Schools and Outdoor Learning in the Early Years, discusses the popularity and success of Forest Schools and the benefits of children learning in outdoor environments. Knight’s book acts as an introductory manual, including the history of Forest Schools in the UK, an implementation strategy for curriculums and compatibility with other alternative teaching methods, such as the educational philosophies of Froebel, Steiner, Montessori and others (Derr par.2).

Although the field is lacking in “substantive research”, Derr acknowledges the fruits of Knights labor, concluding “Overall, children and parents find the forest kindergarten to be a positive experience, with most children and parents reporting increases in confidence, social skills, physical skills, and environmental knowledge, as well as ripple effects of being outdoors with family”(Derr par.4).

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Both Der and Knight lament the lack of tangible evidence and empirical research, particularly on the benefits to preschool aged children. Since the publication of Forest Schools and Outdoor Learning in the Early Years and Derr’s subsequent review, there have been several studies done on the benefits of an outdoor education, even some concentrating on the effects in preschool aged children. One such study, conducted by the Psychology Department at the University of Bologna (Agostini, Minelli and Mandolesi) used the perceptions of teachers to determine the effects of Outdoor Education in Italian kindergarten children. Agostini, Minelli and Mandolesi chose preschool age children because that developmental period includes the gain of play and imagination based skills, such as differentiation between imaginary and real theory, story-telling and symbolic play.  The comparative study focused specifically on Outdoor Education and proving previously perceived benefits such as improved cognitive abilities, social skills, and motor development. 

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Two kindergarten classes were used, one that embodies the principles of Outdoor Education (EO) and one characterized as using traditional teaching methods (TG).  The sample consisted of 20 teachers, 13 traditional teachers evaluating 52 children and 7 OE teachers evaluating 41 children. Since this study focused on teachers' perceptions, for the sake of conformity all teachers were required to complete training on the Kuno Beller Developmental Tables to be able to accurately describe and analyze the children's behavior. This one month training consisted of education on the test, coding children’s behavior and proper supervision of activities. The Kuno Beller analyzes 8 developmental areas: Domain of Body Function, Awareness of the Surrounding Environment, Social and Emotional Development, Play, Language, Cognitive Development, Gross and Fine Motor Skills. (Agostini et al. Par.27)

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Additionally, all teachers were required to keep an “Outdoor Activities/Trips Diary” and record trips taken throughout the 2 year study. Teachers answered questions pertaining to group size, weather, season, location, and the specific activity engaged in, such as free play, guided play, free exploration, guided exploration, physical education, guided trip, and other. The difference in these activities is partially teacher involvement, with “free play” allowing children full choice over their play. Exploration is broken into two categories: “free exploration” consisting of one simple instruction for children to follow and “guided exploration” consisting of specific task based directions by the teacher to guide exploration. An important distinction among places is that the kindergarten schoolyards had very different features, with the traditional schoolyard consisting of only grass and cement; while the OE schoolyard had no play structures, it contained a green park with plants, flowers and “centuries-old trees”.

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Based on the results of a previous study done comparing Outdoor Education and traditional educational methods in nursery schools, Agostini et al. hypothesized that “children aged 3–5 years old attending an OE kindergarten would demonstrate greater improvement in development compared to children in a traditional kindergarten”(Agostini et al. par.19). Data was collected in 4 sets over 2 years: T-1 in January 2014, T-2 in May 2014, T-3 in October 2015 and T-4 in May 2015. Contrast analysis of this data showed that the OE children were perceived to have higher scores in their developmental areas than the TG children during sets T-1 and T-2, but not T-3 and T-4. The conclusion drawn from this study suggests that Outdoor Education offers “ greater opportunities to promote the child's development at different levels, especially when children are younger” (Agostini et al. Par.1).

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Like Derr and Knight, the authors of this study acknowledge the lack of research and empirical evidence available on Outdoor Education. In contemporary society, there's always been a vague sort of understanding that being outdoors is great for children, but tangible evidence and measured facts about the effects on education are few and far inbetween in this rapidly growing field. However, there is literature that provides general evidence of the health benefits of children spending large amounts of time outside, such as improved neuronal plasticity, bone density, blood pressure and cholesterol; as well as a lower risk for developing chronic illness and mental health issues. (Agostini et al. par.4)

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Similarly, an actual definition of Outdoor Education is a bit vague, but is generally defined as an environment based teaching method that focuses on developing social and personal education through exploration of the natural environment.  This method of teaching allows for exploratory play in nature, which has been shown to foster creative knowledge as well as strengthen locomotor and immune systems. Outdoor Education is also known to aid in social and cognitive development. (Agostini et al. par.6).

Agostini et al. addresses the moderating factors of their study, such as family socioeconomic status, child temperament and class sizes.  There was never a specific baseline taken of the developmental progress of the children prior to commencing the study, however the researchers are confident that each group did not differ regarding common socioeconomic status. Most importantly, parent and teacher perceptions are an important consideration because they affect the implementation of Outdoor Education.  Of the teachers interviewed, most considered outdoor play crucial for children's development, but considered it a free play activity and didn't realize the full potential of the natural learning environment. (Agostini et al. par.14)

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Analysis of the data collected showed that OE teachers perceived children’s development to be more positive than TG, but only in data sets T-1 and T-2, shown by the converging slopes of OE and TG (Agostini et al. Figure 1, 2&3). Agostini et al. posited that there are several ways this data can be interpreted: that OE is more effective for younger children vs older; that there are sensitive periods of development when children are more likely to benefit from OE; that OE has the most noticeable influence early in the “intervention” process, resulting in the slowed rate of development seen in the OE group for data sets T-3 and T-4. Another concern that addresses this trend is that teachers may be more likely to perceive developmental improvement in younger children because of the fast rate of development that naturally occurs in this time period. (Agostini et al. par.44)

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In conclusion, Derr, Knight, and Agostini et al. stress that further research must be done to study the developmental benefits of Outdoor education and Forest Schools. Indeed, with growing concern about healthy learning environments and the plausibility of maintaining social distancing in schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, there should be a global interest in studying and incorporating natural environments into our education system. 

 

Works Cited

Agostini F, Minelli M and Mandolesi R (2018) Outdoor Education in Italian Kindergartens: How Teachers Perceive Child Developmental Trajectories. Frontier Psychology 9:1911. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01911

 

Derr Tori. (2011) Forest Schools and Outdoor Learning in the Early Years. Children, Youth and Environments, 21(1), 349-351. Retrieved July 9, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/10.7721/chilyoutenvi.21.1.0349

Wood, Harold. “Quotations from John Muir.” Quotations of John Muir - Writings - The John Muir Exhibit - Sierra Club, 2019, vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/favorite_quotations.aspx.