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Courtesy of Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for American Education:
Education Dive
Outdoor learning is safer, but how are schools doing it?
Approaches to taking classes outside to prevent the spread of COVID-19
can vary depending on a variety of factors, including location and
resources.
Shawna De La Rosa
Sept. 9, 2020
As schools ease into the new academic year, many district
administrators are sending students and educators outside to abide by
social distancing rules and minimize the risk of coronavirus
transmission.
Although the Center for Disease Control recently urged schools to look
for ways to utilize outdoor spaces for expanded learning opportunities,
outdoor classes are nothing new: Open-air learning spaces were
successfully used in the early 1900s to prevent the spread of
tuberculosis. Current studies show COVID-19 is also less likely to
spread outdoors. One such study in China, for example, revealed only
one out of 7,000 coronavirus cases was caused by outdoor transmission.
How outdoor lessons are accomplished in practice, however, varies depending on factors like location and resources.
Learning in the woods of Vermont
This fall, students at White River Valley Middle School in Bethel,
Vermont, will attend school in-person on a staggered schedule and
completely outdoors until at least Thanksgiving.
“Outside seems like the safest way to start school,” said the school’s principal, Owen Bradley.
The outdoor environment will also be reflected in the year's
curriculum. Each student will participate in a “passion project,” which
could be something like building a park bench or a picnic table for
community use. They will also build weather-proofed learning benches
with storage cubbies to use as a seat or a desk.
Students in this rural school are already used to learning in the
elements, Bradley said, and they spend a couple of days out of the week
outside unless it becomes prohibitively cold.
To accommodate the full-time outdoor learning experience this fall, the
school purchased 14 20-by-20 tents for $1,400 each. Despite the
pandemic, it’s important to get students outside, Bradley said.
“Some kids thrive outside,” he said. “Everyone should have a little
outside time. We teach students to pay attention to where they are and
to learn to sit quietly in the woods and be by yourself. That’s
especially important in this ‘go-go’ world.”
Rotating classes to outdoor spaces
At Suntree Elementary in Melbourne, Florida, new outdoor spaces will
allow for individual classes to learn outside, mask-free, while still
keeping a six-foot distance.
The outdoor upgrades cost about $15,000, which was raised through a
GoFundMe account. The funds were enough to purchase picnic tables,
umbrellas for shade, trash receptacles, borders and mulch. The new
space is large enough for one class per grade to use, and teachers can
sign up for specific times.
“The outdoor area is between two buildings, so it has shade from the
buildings as well as umbrellas,” said Principal Shari Tressler. “It’s
an area where they don’t have to wear their masks and they can interact
with nature.”
The efforts to improve outdoor learning spaces was underway long before
the pandemic, but the urgency to implement social distancing sped up
the process, Tressler said.
So far, the outdoor space has been working well. “It’s nice to see the kids outside and happy about being at school,” she said.
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Outdoor solutions in San Mateo County
Ten school districts in San Mateo County, California, are actively
developing outdoor learning spaces, said Andra Yeghoian, environmental
literacy and sustainability coordinator for San Mateo County Office of
Education. Yeghoian is working with districts to develop outdoor
learning sites.
“In some cases, the districts need shade structures. At other sites,
they can use trees for shade,” she said. “Schools need outdoor teaching
tools, like a whiteboard, and the students need something to draw on.”
When Yeghoian taught school, she brought her students out every Monday and Friday year-round.
“Kids need to be dressed for outdoor learning, and schools may need to
provide something like sweatshirts,” she said. Other needs include a
bench, table and other "simple infrastructure," she said.
Shade structures are the most expensive component of outdoor learning,
she said, adding the efforts will be worth it. In her experience as a
teacher, she noticed many students were able to focus better outside.
“There is wind and leaves are moving, there is a lot to look at, and
it’s all natural,” she said. “Classrooms are so static. Being outside
isn’t so boring."
And for students with disabilities like ADHD, Tessler added that being
outside isn't always distracting and actually helps them focus.
Informal educators can help
In Seattle, informal educators from the city’s aquarium are offering to
provide educational opportunities to small groups of at-risk students.
Informal educators are trained to teach students at museums, zoos,
aquariums and parks.
Pre-pandemic, the Seattle Aquarium’s education team regularly led field
trips and dispersed around the community bringing marine life to
schools. In January, the aquarium had a team of 25 educators. Now, it’s
down to six.
Leaders at the aquarium are offering to provide free and supervised
outdoor education, along with social-emotional mentorship to the most
vulnerable students.
“We are working to identify what type of specific needs there are in
the social-emotional sense,” said Sean den Bok, Seattle Aquarium school
and public programs manager. “The social-emotional mentorship is a big
piece that’s being missed.”
The aquarium is looking for outdoor sites where students and staff can meet, whether it be the nearby park or a marina.
The services could be funded through grants and would be free to
schools, den Bok said. The partnership would also help the aquarium
continue to employ its education staff, many of whom have been
furloughed.
Nationwide, the 30,000 informal educators who work in museums,
aquariums, zoos and similar facilities have been subject to mass
layoffs in the wake of COVID-19.
“This could be a mutually beneficial opportunity,” said Craig Strang,
co-chair of the California Environmental Literacy Initiative at the
University of California, Santa Cruz, and associate director of the
Lawrence Hall of Science at University of California, Berkeley. “The
unemployed, informal educators could help the education system by
bringing the students back for in-person learning.”
A recent survey indicated 38% of the informal education institutions,
such as botanical gardens and outdoor learning centers, don’t expect to
be able to reopen, Strang said.
Allowing these informal educators to contribute to safe, in-person
learning in outdoor environments could be a win-win, Strang said.
“Outdoor learning can be better than indoor learning, especially for
students coming from communities of color, or without a parent at
home,” he said. “COVID became a huge equity issue that must be
addressed."
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