Outdoor learning may be more beneficial when concentrated in fewer, longer sessions rather than shorter sessions

Education Outside the Classroom (EOtC) is an educational approach that relocates standard curriculum teaching to settings outside the school building. This approach can be implemented for a single or a few days per week as a supplement to indoor classroom teaching.  While previous research has documented positive outcomes of this approach to teaching and learning, most studies on the impact of EOtC are qualitative and few have focused specifically on students' well-being. This study used a quasi-experimental design to investigate the association between the psychosocial well-being of Danish students and their participation in EOtC over a school year.

Data analyzed for this study was based on 34 classes (grades 3-6) from 16 different Danish public schools. Students in 27 of the classes participated in EOtC 2-7 hours per week over the period of a year. Students in 7 parallel classes participated in EOtC less than 2 hours per week. Results from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) completed at the beginning and end of the school year for all participating students were used as a measure of changes in their psychosocial well-being. The SDQ is a 25-item questionnaire addressing positive and negative psychosocial well-being aspects of children and adolescents. The questionnaire includes 5 scales: emotional problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity-inattention, peer problems, and prosocial behavior. There were  511 students in the EOtC group and 120 in the comparison group. The two groups were similar in sociodemographic characteristics; and their teachers had similar teaching experience.

Students in the EOtC group were exposed to an average of 2.4 - 6.7 hours of EOtC per week. Students in the comparison group were exposed to an average of 0.0 - 1.9 hours of EOtC per week. The difference in exposure to EOtC between the two group was approximately 4.1 hours per week. Results showed that students regularly exposed to EOtC made greater improvements in prosocial behavior over the school year than students in the comparison group. Results also showed that greater exposure to EOtC was associated with a decrease in hyperactivity-inattention and peer problems in students of low socioeconomic status (SES). These improvements were smaller when EOtC was spread over a larger number of sessions. In other words, exposure to EOtC was more beneficial when concentrated in fewer, longer sessions rather than more but shorter sessions. The gender of the students did not affect the outcomes.

This research supports previous studies showing that regular exposure to outdoor learning promotes students' social well-being. It adds to the literature by showing that the positive association between EOtC and psychosocial well-being is not dependent on gender. This study also lends support to the idea that EOtC can strengthen inclusion of pupils of low SES, who tend to be at risk of exclusion in school work and school life.