The Outdoor Learning Project
The Outdoor Learning Project
Project overview
The Outdoor Learning Project aims to understand the impact of indoor and outdoor learning environments on the stress, behaviour and attention of primary school children in Newham.
![Reception children at Sandringham Primary School sit down for their outdoors Maths session, March 2022](/sites/default/files/styles/image_1266x712/public/reception-children-at-sandringham-primary-school.jpg.webp?itok=zRO1hdBJ)
Participating children wore head mounted cameras and wearable heart rate monitors whilst learning in their normal indoor classroom and in an equivalent ‘outdoor classroom’. The children’s arousal, behaviour and attention were then compared across indoor and outdoor conditions.
![Child with head mounted camera](/sites/default/files/styles/image_1266x712/public/child-with-head-mounted-camera.jpg.webp?itok=FHXPM4Sa)
Participating primary schools belong to the organisation Newham Learning, which is a partnership of over forty schools in Newham, and largely serves children who experience early life adversity in high levels of child deprivation before starting and throughout their school careers.
![Reception children at Woodgrange Infant School head out for an outdoor learning session, June 2022](/sites/default/files/styles/image_1266x712/public/reception-children-at-woodgrange-infant-school-head-out-for-an-outdoor-learning-session-june-2022.jpg.webp?itok=kvZdYOHH)
The project aims to understand how to best support these children who have experienced early adversity reach their maximum potential at school starting with how their primary school classroom environment can be adapted to best support their social, emotional and learning needs.
![Reception children at Winsor Primary School](/sites/default/files/styles/image_1266x712/public/reception-children-at-winsor-primary-school.jpg.webp?itok=GEdub7kM)
Project leads
- Professor Sam Wass
- Gemma Goldenberg
- Molly Atkinson