Hybrid instruction refers to students returning to campus for in-person instruction for part of their time while also spending a portion of their time in remote learning. There are many approaches to hybrid learning. Health and learning outcomes for all the various approaches can be improved by incorporating outdoor learning. This tool is intended to support district and school leaders to develop plans for robust, high-quality outdoor teaching and learning that is integrated into any approach to hybrid instruction at the school site. 

Use this tool in conjunction with instructional materials supports for outdoor science learning and with schedule examples to engage leaders and teachers in outdoor learning. This document provides key recommendations for consideration, including communications, instructional improvement, and professional learning. These recommendations incorporate the key capacities to prioritize science, utilize outdoor spaces, consider staffing, prioritize communication, invest in professional learning, and design at the margins. Building these key capacities and putting them into action will ensure that teachers and administrators can take advantage of their unique local resources and provide equitable outdoor learning experiences across their school or district when implementing hybrid instruction.

Concurrent and Nonconcurrent

The goal of this tool is to include outdoor learning whenever possible when students are in person on campus and to replace as much of the remote learning time as possible with in-person, outdoor learning. Hybrid instruction schedules have many configurations. In this tool, we consider concurrent models and nonconcurrent models.

Concurrent hybrid instruction. This model represents a teacher teaching a mixed class of in-person and remote students simultaneously for some portion of time (i.e., “roomers” and “zoomers”). 

Nonconcurrent hybrid instruction. This model represents a teacher working with in-person students only for a portion of the day or week and working with remote learners only for a portion of the day or week. 

In both concurrent and nonconcurrent hybrid models, whenever students are on campus for in-person instruction, there is the opportunity to take the learning outdoors. Taking learning outdoors may require devices and access to Wi-Fi for traditional classroom learning in outdoor spaces. In addition, community-based partners, such as zoos, museums, nonprofits, and other environmental education organizations, can provide critical support to your school or district’s in-person instructional goals. Community-based partners can support teacher professional learning, facilitate outdoor classroom setup, or provide direct student support, depending on your needs. 

Remote learners. Hybrid-model teachers may also teach an additional cohort of 100 percent remote students. While there are great benefits for in-person student groups learning outdoors, leaders and teachers must attend to providing an equitable experience for any students engaging virtually during an outdoor lesson. For example, additional adult support for remote learners, hands-on natural materials delivered to remote learners ahead of the lesson, live webcams, and/or asynchronous activities can further engagement during an outdoor lesson.

Key Recommendations

To support the development of key capacities for equitable, high-quality outdoor learning, here are a set of overarching recommendations applicable to all phases of school reopening (small cohort, hybrid, or 100 percent in person).

Prioritize science. Allocate equal amounts of time to science as for other core academic subjects in the elementary grades. Being outdoors lends itself to science, so take advantage of that opportunity. 

Utilize outdoor spaces. Incorporate multiple opportunities for every student to learn outdoors, including bringing instruction of “core” subjects outside.

Consider staffing. Utilize classified staff, paraprofessionals, non-certificated staff, expanded learning providers, or contracted outdoor educators to provide outdoor instruction.

Prioritize communication. Establish regular, consistent channels of communication and feedback among classroom teachers, school leaders, resource specialists, small-cohort educators, and students/families. Switching students between indoors and outdoors, on campus and off campus, online and in-person learning is potentially confusing and disruptive. Redundant communication through a variety of media is necessary to ease the anxiety of continuously changing routines.

Invest in professional learning. Invest in “just-in-time” professional learning for school leaders, teachers, and staff. Consider more flexible uses of district and school professional learning and collaboration time; for example, teachers engaging in asynchronous online professional learning or shorter, more frequent professional learning sessions.

Design at the margins. Center plans for hybrid instruction on the particular needs of the most vulnerable students in the system. If you design for the most vulnerable, your plans will work for all students.

COMMUNICATIONS

Communication builds consensus about the purpose, characteristics, and outcomes of outdoor learning at the site and will reassure team members that they have regular access to information and resources. Communication with teachers, site administrators, principals, parents, and students should include what good outdoor teaching and learning look like and the agreed-upon approaches to support every student via hybrid learning.

Share goals. Set and communicate goals for the use of outdoor spaces and outdoor instruction. Share the plan for using science curriculum resources for outdoor science.

Onboard. Onboard educators and staff with appropriate information on health and safety, culture of the school, shifting student rosters, and additional components that will maximize trust and relationship-building within the constrained settings in which many districts/schools find themselves.

Identify a champion. Identify a “champion” for outdoor learning at each site who can support logistical planning, vision setting, communications, instructional and professional learning support, and drive ongoing improvement of the hybrid approach.

Define responsibilities. Ensure that there is clear definition of responsibilities among classroom teachers, school leaders, other educators (community-based organizations), and resource staff (e.g., what flexibilities of roles exist among leaders and educators within the hybrid model that allow for increasing the amount of outdoor learning students receive; what flexibilities are there in hybrid schedules). This is especially important when replacing as much of the remote learning time as possible with in-person, outdoor learning. 

Coordinate. Coordinate instructional staff with facilities staff to ensure adequate support for setup, maintenance, and use of outdoor spaces. Create a system for classes to reserve outside spaces for instruction. Coordinate the learning goals and curriculum at each grade level to identify a common science strand (life science, physical science, earth and space sciences) that will be the focus of outdoor learning.

Elevate stakeholder voices. Use student and family surveys, focus groups, and/or advisory boards to build empathy and understanding among school leaders and educators about how students and parents are experiencing outdoor learning. Are students comfortable outdoors? Do parents understand that time outdoors is “real school,” not “time off”?

INSTRUCTIONAL IMPROVEMENT SUPPORT

Clear expectations for outdoor teaching and learning build a shared understanding of what is to be taught; how it is to be taught; and how much is to be taught indoors versus outdoors and online versus in person during hybrid instruction. Here are some steps you can take to ensure uniform expectations across learning groups.

Inventory learning spaces. An inventory (including Wi-Fi accessibility) and a map of the outdoor spaces on and nearby the school site will ensure that each teacher and class has access to a space for learning. Consider a system like the Walking Field Trip Framework (Coming soon!) to provide teachers with guidance on locations, walking routes, and activities. 

Access instructional materials. Educators need access to high-quality instructional materials for outdoor learning. An inventory and check-out system for different types of equipment may also be needed for outdoor learning (e.g., hand lenses, clipboards, materials carts and bins, backpacks, portable chairs, warm clothes) to support instruction.

Expand opportunities for common planning time. Teachers in grade-level or span groups can support one another to meet the needs of students if they have organized opportunities to reflect and plan out their learning goals. Grade-level groups can create week by week outdoor learning plans and, ultimately, map a scope and sequence of outdoor learning goals to the goals of English Language Arts and Mathematics.

Engage science leaders. Establish routines for the district or school science and environmental literacy lead(s) to work with educators on increasing the quantity and quality of outdoor learning for science and other subjects (e.g., supporting speaking and listening time outside or grade-level/grade-span commitment to do all writing time outside). 

Engage additional content leaders. Establish routines for the district or school content lead(s) to work with educators on increasing the quantity and quality of content area learning outdoors (e.g., supporting speaking and listening time outside, amplifying history-social science connections, or grade-level/grade-span commitment to do all writing time outside).

The implementation of outdoor instruction during hybrid learning will inevitably evolve and improve over time and will provide insights for ultimately incorporating and developing a plan for outdoor learning into a school’s 100 percent in-person phase of reopening.

“JUST-IN-TIME” PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

Ongoing, “just-in-time” professional learning addresses both predicted and emerging needs of the implementation of hybrid outdoor learning in a targeted way. 

Underscore the benefits of the outdoors. Offer professional learning to build understanding of the benefits of outdoor spaces for the learner (e.g., physical health and safety; sense of well-being in the outdoors; connection to nature; increased engagement in learning). 

Highlight outdoor teaching competencies. For professional learning, emphasize increasing the level of comfort and preparedness of educators in teaching students in outdoor spaces (e.g., managing groups outside) and, in some cases, while also including remote learners in the lesson.

Create communities of learning. Support professional learning communities that focus on maximizing student engagement and learning in the outdoors. Consider setting up coaching in both indoor and outdoor classrooms on a regular basis to provide short cycles of instructional support. Teachers will need time for input (guidance, learning about new resources and approaches) as well as time for reflection, sharing, and discussing with colleagues.

Affirm social-emotional learning. Provide professional learning on embedding social-emotional learning strategies into hybrid instruction.