Outdoor Education and Play Benefit All Education

The following is taken from here. 

A new report from the National Wildlife Federation, Back to School: Back Outside, shows how outdoor education and time is connected with wide-ranging academic benefits including:

• Improved classroom behavior
• Increased student motivation and enthusiasm to learn
• Better performance in math, science, reading and social studies
• Reduced Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• Higher scores on standardized tests (including college entrance exams)
• Help under-resourced, low-income students perform measurably better in school

This corresponds with research and studies that the Children & Nature Network has synthesized in its report, Children’s Contact with the Outdoors and Nature: A Focus on Educators and Educational Settings.
The report reviews research focused on the physical, mental, and social benefits that contact with the outdoors and nature provides to children. There is a lot of information on the relationships between children’s outdoor-related behavior and their school performance and learning. Topics covered include such important programs and attributes as:

• Recess
• School gardens
• Field trips and hands-on outdoor learning
• Natural views

Also included in the report are academic benefits from outdoor learning and play, such as:

• Academic achievement
• Higher test scores
• Increased responsibility
• Community benefit

It’s wonderful to have additional research that strengthens the case that outdoor education and time in nature benefits all education.

Click here for the full report.