Most schools and school districts begin their planning process for outdoor learning by considering the spaces available on their own grounds, right outside their classroom buildings. School grounds are a logical first choice for many schools, since they are conveniently located close to teaching supplies, Wi-Fi, meal service, and other resources that are generally stored inside school buildings.

As schools and districts consider how best to take learning outside during the pandemic, many will find that their own campus cannot accommodate all of the students or programs they wish to have outdoors. In those cases, it is important to think beyond the campus boundaries, to imagine new possibilities in the wider community.

Parks, public lands, closed streets, and other outdoor spaces offer valuable opportunities to extend learning beyond the school site, into the neighborhood. This is a particularly useful approach for schools with limited footprints, dense multi-storied classroom buildings, few existing outdoor facilities, or sites at which space is shared by multiple school partners with competing demands. Schools with the least amount of resources and smallest campuses are poised to benefit the most from moving offsite into parks and other public spaces.

It is important to recognize that not everyone has the same access to well-maintained parks and other places that support learning. Many cities have an uneven distribution of parks and other outdoor spaces, limited public transportation, and wide variation in the accessibility, size, and quality of available spaces. In addition, not everyone feels welcome and included in public spaces. Historically, white supremacy culture and ableism determined who had access to, is welcome, safe, and has a voice in these spaces, even in instances where BIPOC, people with differing abilities, and LGBTQ+ communities have long traditions of connections to the land. Outdoor learning presents an opportunity to reinvigorate local communities’ connections to outdoor spaces. 

Each school and community is unique, and may be starting from a different place. There is no one-size-fits-all model for outdoor learning and many different solutions are possible. Creative thinking outside the campus opens doors (literally!) for many schools and districts that would otherwise be unable to access the fresh air as well as the benefits for learning and mental, physical, and emotional health that nature affords.

Outdoor classrooms do not always need complicated infrastructure to be able to move to a park.

Underused parking lots and open spaces, like this one in Highland Park, Illinois, provide opportunities to move learning outside.

EXPAND AVAILABLE OUTDOOR SPACE 

Not all schools or districts have enough appropriate outdoor space to support the scale of outdoor learning that they would need to be able to accommodate all of their classes and programs. Nearby parks and other outdoor public spaces in the local community can greatly increase the options and allow districts to take outdoor learning to scale.

SEPARATE OUTDOOR activities

Outdoor spaces on school grounds usually have a lot of competing demands, which may have increased during the pandemic as many more classes and programs need to move outdoors to access fresh air. Activities like school meals, recess, physical education, and music classes need a spatial buffer from traditional outdoor classrooms where teachers are engaging their classes in academic instruction. Making use of parks and other outdoor spaces off campus provides additional space that can also help create more distinct separation between these different types of activities.

ACCESS ADDITIONAL ASSETS

Parks and other outdoor spaces may have additional resources that teachers can use. Perhaps the neighborhood park has access to a creek that can be used for scientific study? Or maybe the parking lot nearby has some nice, deep shade under large trees that can provide shelter from the sun. Perhaps a local civic space includes amphitheater-style steps that can be used as seating, so a school does not need to buy more portable chairs to use on campus.

CREATE OPPORTUNITIES TO INCLUDE ADDITIONAL PARTNERS

Additional space in parks and other outdoor locations also may provide expanded opportunities to work with community-based partners. Community-based organizations may have educational programming and affiliated educators who can provide additional engaging learning opportunities for students. For example, education staff from a local science museum or parks department may be able to work with teachers to expand their curriculum into the local environment, adding place-based learning elements to the school’s existing curriculum. Consider all of the resources available in your community and how they might be used to build or enhance partnerships for your schools and district that will be helpful during the pandemic, and into the future.

Some Urban Schools, like this one in New York City, have limited outdoor space which makes it more challenging to accommodate all of the classes onsite.

Nature centers, like this one in Denver, Colorado, sometimes have outdoor classroom infrastructure already installed in beautiful, natural settings.

Museums and other organizations in the community, like this one in San Francisco, California, might be able to collaborate and/or provide additional space for classes to meet on their grounds.

Moving school classes and programs offsite and into outdoor spaces in the community is useful and rewarding, but also takes some specialized planning to accomplish efficiently. We recommend that plans to move learning offsite be undertaken at the school district level, rather than by individual schools, so that a whole school district may partner with the local parks department or another city agency to seek integrated, systemic solutions that will create consistent, equitable outcomes for all students. 

The first option that many school districts consider is to partner with their local parks department, particularly if the city has public parks that are located near their schools. Some school districts already have existing relationships with their parks departments that allow for joint use of park and school lands. Others may take occasional field trips to local parks but may not have a formal relationship established. 

Park space is not always equitably distributed, so not all communities have the same level of access to safe, clean, nearby outdoor spaces. If you do not have a nearby park that would be a good fit for an outdoor classroom, think expansively about which other outdoor spaces are nearby. In addition to city and county parks, take a look at greenbelts, parking lots, parklets, college campuses, lawns around public institutions (museums, libraries, public offices, universities), public quads of businesses, parking lots at sports arenas, shopping areas, private spaces that are open (such as neighborhood front yards, churchyards), sports fields and courts, or even neighborhood streets that are closed to traffic. 

With thoughtful planning and preparation, many types of outdoor spaces can become important places for helping children continue to learn with their peers and offer the added bonus of connecting with nearby nature in their own communities. 

While these offsite arrangements can be beneficial during the pandemic, they also present opportunities to establish connections between school districts and other land managers that can connect students with the outdoors in the years to come for ongoing outdoor learning opportunities.

This park in Highland Park, Illinois has many permanent picnic tables that would be ideal locations for outdoor learning during the pandemic. Photo was taken Pre-COVID.

Families use this park in the Washington, DC area for informal lessons during the pandemic.