The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between type of social play and "involvement" on the part of preschool children in the outdoor school environment. Children with a high level of involvement are deeply absorbed by their activity, which for preschool children often takes the form of play. High involvement play includes a considerable amount of exploratory activity enhancing the learning and development of the child.
This study was conducted with 173 children (age 3-6) attending 19 different preschools in the Basque Country of Spain. A total of 51 teachers also participated. The Preschool Outdoor Environment Measurement Scale (POEMS) was used to measure the quality of the outdoor school environment. POEMS addresses five domains: (a) Physical Environment, (b) Interactions, (c) Play and Learning Settings, (d) Program, and (e) Teacher/Caregiver Role. Two experts in early childhood education used POEMS to rate the quality of each of the 19 playgrounds as very low, low, medium, high or very high.
Recordings of the children's free play in the outdoor school environment were viewed and evaluated using two different scales: (1) the Play Observation Scale (measuring social participation and cognitive quality of play) and (2) Leuven Involvement Scale for Young Children (evaluating the degree of a child's involvement in a given activity).
Results indicated that, while the overall quality of the schools' outdoor environments was moderate, there were low levels of environmental diversity, natural elements, and contact with nature. Additionally, teachers indicated that they saw little of educational value in the outdoor environment and viewed their role while outdoors in terms of supervision. An analysis of children's play indicated a relationship between social participation and involvement, with group play being the best predictor of greater involvement. There was a gender difference in that even though girls were somewhat less likely to engage in group play, group play and involvement were more strongly associated for girls than boys.
The authors conclude that preschool outdoor environments should be designed to promote social participation, especially in the form of group play. They also recommend greater access to nature and multiple opportunities for play.
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