What is Outdoor Learning?
Outdoor learning is a process that deepens students’ personal relationship to place through experiences that connect to locally relevant content or engage them in activities that benefit from being in the outdoors and nature.
Examples of what outdoor learning is:
- Calculating the number of seeds needed to correctly plant an area of the garden.
- Making nature observations as part of a creative writing exercise.
- Participating in an out-of-school-time club that takes action to protect the local watershed such as increasing pervious surfaces and planting native species.
- Developing a better understanding of an environmental issue - such as water quality or air pollution - and then generating ideas for how to create change locally.
Examples of what outdoor learning is not:
- Recess.
- Eating lunch outdoors.
- Units on the rainforest or other topics not connected to local community.
- Any lesson taught outdoors that does not include connections to the surrounding location through observations of nature or using the outdoor area as context for learning.
DC Outdoor Learning Data Visualization Tools
- Outdoor Learning ArcGIS Map intends to help visualize where outdoor learning is taking place in the District, types of outdoor learning features that may be present in schools, and environmental education partners.
Tutorial | Instructions - Outdoor Learning Dashboard uses self-reported data collected in 2022 to visualize outdoor learning and environmental education experiences in public and public charter schools in the District. (coming soon!)
Getting Started
- Review the Outdoor Learning Frequently Asked Questions.
- Reference this materials checklist and these tips for outdoor learning.
- View photos from District schools of various elements of outdoor learning spaces, such as outdoor classroom structures, meeting areas, seating and more.
- Check out funding resources for supplies, field experiences, and more.
- Join the Sprout it Out online forum to learn more and ask questions related to Outdoor Learning efforts in the District.
- Register here to receive OSSE's Division of Health and Wellness newsletter, Thriving Together: Fostering Student and Staff Wellbeing.
- Learn more about Outdoor Learning Gatherings.
- Check out the OSSE School Gardens and Environmental Literacy Programs
Additional Information
- Outdoor Learning Resource Archive (compiled from 2021-23)
- Department of Energy and the Environment’s (DOEE) RiverSmart Schools Program
- RiverTools Field Manual
- DC Coalition for Equitable Outdoor Education website
- Chesapeake Bay Program’s resources for action projects on Bay Backpack
- Green Schoolyards America’s National Outdoor Learning Library
- Urban Adventure Squad's Guide to Outdoor Learning
- Conservation Nation’s Educator Guide to Exploring Nature in Washington, DC