First of all, let me express my gratitude to the editor for allowing me to retain such a corny title for my article. It’s a wicked corny title, as we’d say in Boston, but I believe it to be absolutely true. Having spent the last 20 years working on the design, installation, programming and sustainability of public schoolyards, I have become a fanatical true believer in the inherent value of these important open spaces.

As Executive Director of the newly formed Green Schoolyard Network, I’d like to speak here, to my colleagues in the design community, about our mission — to transform degraded schoolyards into active centers for health & fitness, teaching & learning, environmental literacy and community use. And for the sake of this article, I’m going to push past the generally accepted benefits of recreational facilities such as ball fields and courts, play structures, and exercise areas, and focus upon a schoolyard innovation that is directly linked to the core academic mission of our public schools — the outdoor classroom.

I know that many of you are already active in the green schools movement but let me briefly sketch out what we mean by an outdoor classroom. This is a designated area on school grounds that may include gardens, wild habitat areas, renewable energy demonstrations, water flow systems, compost bins, weather stations, bird feeders and so on. It is a mini-ecosystem with educational elements that help us observe and collect data, analyze impacts, and, most importantly, learn the fundamentals of systems thinking, a non-linear approach to problem-solving that will prepare students to address the many complex issues facing our society and the planet we live on. The outdoor classroom also provides an opportunity to use experiential teaching methodologies. In addition to accommodating children’s sometimes different learning styles, learning by doing has been shown to often result in greater retention rates among students. In the outdoor classroom students learn from interacting with primary source materials rather than through the osmosis of words and images generated by texts and other media. This is first hand learning.

So what is the state of the art and what is the evolving science with regard to outdoor classrooms on school grounds? I can tell you that there are active systemic initiatives in Boston, Buffalo, NYC, San Francisco, Denver, Houston, Chicago, Detroit, Washington DC and beyond. Interestingly, most of these programs have had their birth in inner city school districts where students’ exposure to the natural world is especially limited. I have been using Google Alerts, with the keywords green schoolyards and outdoor classrooms, to monitor activity across the country, and everyday receive numerous citations on newly installed outdoor learning areas. I should also mention that internationally there are comprehensive school grounds programs in England, Scotland, Sweden, Norway, Australia and Canada. Yes, there is already a movement — the next step is to organize ourselves as one. This is an objective of the Green Schoolyard Network.

From a design perspective, our knowledge base is expanding. Despite the persistent issues of liability, sustainability and cost containment, we have seen the installation of schoolyard areas and elements that provide solid, safe infrastructures while creating a broad range of teaching tools for educators. Historically, communication among schoolyard practitioners has been limited. I believe that we can accelerate the quality and quantity of outdoor classrooms by sharing our best practices (and failures!) and beginning to assemble a menu of options or kit of parts to jumpstart local efforts.

I would love to see a national design competition focused on the Outdoor Classroom - so if there are potential partners out there please let me know. I’m confident that I can find a sponsor willing to construct a flagship site based upon the most innovative design concepts. Perhaps it should be noted here, from an industry perspective, that there are well over 100,000 schoolyards in the United States and that the revitalization of these landscapes could provide thousands of jobs.

As to the educational benefits of the outdoor classroom, I said in my first paragraph that I think schoolyard open spaces have inherent value. Well, unfortunately, that statement and a buck and a half will get me on the subway. We live in a time when common sense and instinct must be bolstered with data and evaluation. Another activity of the Green Schoolyard Network will be to frame and conduct “hard” research on student achievement in the outdoor classroom. We already know that student engagement is off the charts through an empirical analysis of thousands of smiling faces. We know that class management fears have been largely unjustified and that teachers often find an exhilarating renewal and pedagogical excitement as they learn together with their students. Successful practitioners have managed to blur the boundaries between creative play and academic learning and find themselves rewarded with students who enjoy their educational experience. As far as I know there is no law, statute, or funded or unfunded mandate that outlaws having fun and learning at the same time!

We have made great progress in designing and productively using outdoor classrooms for teaching and learning. It’s a lot less lonely out here than it was 20 years ago. But we have not yet reached critical mass in terms of truly integrating outdoor classrooms into the culture of mainstream public education. Part of the Green Schoolyard Network’s Think Globally Act Locally strategic plan is to identify lead organizations in all 50 states that can help local projects get off the ground while using our collective voice to participate in broader public policy discussions. The design community has an important role to play in this effort and I look forward to working with many of you as we seek to improve public education in America. Peace, Love and Compost in 2010.

This short video (4.55 minutes) was produced by Ross Miller and Maura Cunningham to document an outdoor classroom at the Thomas Gardner Elementary School in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston. These relatively low cost installations can add a new experiential dimension to public education.

(For more information on the Green Schoolyard Network visit our blog at http://greenschoolyardnetwork.org )

Kirk Meyer/Executive Director
Green Schoolyard Network
http://greenschoolyardnetwork.org
kdmeyer@comcast.net
508-276-1747