This 2023 qualitative study by Samuel Dennis, Jr., and Emma Castiblanco of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Christine Kiewra, University of Nebraska, investigated the perceived impacts of Nature Explore-designed natural outdoor classrooms in Los Angeles Unified School District. It builds upon two previous studies, including Natural Outdoor Classrooms: A National Survey, in 2019, and A Post-Occupancy Study of Nature-Based Outdoor Classrooms in Early Childhood Settings, in 2014. The team conducted focus group interviews with parents, teachers, school principals from Los Angeles Unified School District, and design team members from the district and from Nature Explore.
Background
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) began working with Nature Explore in 2009 to create natural outdoor classrooms for young children throughout their urban district. The LAUSD Division of Early Childhood Education and at the time of the study, served over 21,000 income-eligible families in 88 early education centers for two- to five-year-old children. At the time, eighteen Nature Explore classrooms were in the design process or under construction, while sixteen had been installed and are currently in use.
Research Design
This study involved four focus group discussions, including representative parents, teachers, principals, and the design team, conducted in an LAUSD facility on March 1, 2023, facilitated by Nancy Rosenow, Dimensions Education Research Foundation, and Samuel. Each group was asked a set of questions covering topics tailored to that group. These discussions were recorded, then transcribed, and finally independently analyzed by two UW Environmental Design Lab researchers, who identified emerging themes. In comparing the analyses, the few differences that emerged were discussed and reconciled. Few differences emerged in the two researchers’ analyses, leading to high confidence in these results.
Key Findings
Themes emerged from each group supporting the overarching premise that creating nature-rich outdoor classrooms benefits parents, teachers, school principals, and the design teams in supporting young children.
- Participants reported working with Nature Explore increased communication and collaboration, contributing to enhanced learning environments, experiences, and positive school communities.
- Parents discussed children’s learning, including social-emotional development such as self-regulation, excitement for nature, especially plants, and how this Nature Explore project helped foster their school community, including home-school connections.
- Teachers noted children’s learning, including social-emotional learning, the crucial role of nature, and an enhanced sense of community.
- Teachers also noted enhanced inclusion in the natural outdoor classroom of children with special needs.
- School principals described advantages they observed from teachers’ apparent reduced stress, increases in collaboration, and ways in which Nature Explore professional development supported teachers.
- The design team members, including Nature Explore staff, LAUSD administrators, and facility directors, noted themes of decreased behavior and safety challenges, benefits of following the Nature Explore design principles, and a renewed commitment to equitable school environments.
