In this chapter, the authors present an intervention that was aimed to increase the realization of outdoor education practices (OEP) and, using the scientific method, they evaluate the effects of such practices on both teachers and students. The incorporation of OEP in the teaching-learning process and the perception of teachers toward its effects on the students were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed through semi-structured interviews and using a teacher diary. Such approach began with a diagnostic questionnaire designed to reveal the use that the teachers make of this type of practices, their degree of training regarding these practices, the opinion of the teachers about the educational potential of OEP, limiting factors and propositions to improve their incorporation. From the results of the diagnosis, methodological guidelines were established between the early childhood education teachers and the researchers to quantitatively and qualitatively improve OEP.
TopIntroduction
The conviction of the authors about the impact of teaching methodologies and attitudes on student behavior led them to focus their research on the analysis and promotion of outdoor education practices (OEP), since they consider that these allow students to acquire positive conducts known as “sustainable behaviors”.
From the fusion of physical activities in the natural environment and early childhood education, the term OEP emerged, which can be contextualized in different educational stages. Caballero and Lasaga (2018) used this term to encompass those educational practices carried out with students outdoors.
In the Spanish context, the analysis of the early childhood education curriculum, in general, and of the methodological guidelines for these stages, in particular, was the spark that initiated the research on OEP; this also occurs in other European countries, where the traditional outdoor learning focus shifted “from environmental, personal, social and health perspectives toward curricular perspectives” (Bentsen, Mygind & Randrup, 2009). It is worth mentioning the intrinsic justification that accompanies the convenience of carrying out this type of practice, backed by a large number of educational references along history, which have shown the educational potential of nature, especially as a privileged context for the development of children and young people through movement, e.g., Montaigne, Rousseau, Basedow, Pestalozzi, Amorós, Hébert (Pérez & Caballero, 2009), as well as contemporary authors, such as Freire, Corraliza, Bruchner, Cornell and Hueso, among others. Barfod & Daugbjerg, 2018, state that education outside the classroom has been recognized to benefit pupils’ cognitive, social and physical outcomes (Bamberger & Tal, 2008; Becker et al., 2017; Rickinson et al., 2004; Schneller et al., 2017).
Based on this, the research exploring teachers’ perceptions following the implementation of OEP is essential and contributes to decreasing the research deficit about this topic, but still poor (Agostini, Minelli & Mandolesi, 2018). It is also relevant to investigate how they promote outdoor activities, structure play and outdoor environments for different child age ranges, according to different environmental places (Hu et al., 2015).
Regarding the methodology, it is worth highlighting that the approach presented in this study began with a diagnostic questionnaire, which was designed to reveal the state of OEP in certain contexts, specifically the use that teachers make of this type of practices in their teaching activity, the degree of training regarding these practices, their opinion about their educational potential, limiting factors and improvement propositions for the incorporation of OEP.
From this questionnaire, an intervention proposition was contextualized to increase the use of OEP with the support of the appropriate educational institution, evaluating its effects on the teachers and students using a scientific method. Specifically, the authors of this study analyzed, quantitatively and qualitatively, the incorporation of OEP in the teaching-learning process and the perception of the participating teachers about the effects of applying such practices on their students, on the process and on the teachers themselves, using tools such as the semi-structure interview and the teacher diary.
Based on the results obtained in the diagnosis phase, a set of methodological guidelines was established between the early childhood education teachers and the researchers. These guidelines were designed to increase OEP quantitatively and qualitatively.
The effects perceived by the teachers, after implementing the intervention program, indicate both a quantitative increase in the OEP performed and a qualitative increase in the implementation of these (developing specific contents of the stage) and in the priority use of the schoolyard as an OEP space, as well as the consolidation of the schoolyard as a space for OEP development, both in directed sessions and free play in recess, although different urban and natural spaces were incorporated as educational environments.