Making outdoor learning a regular part of school curricula could be an inexpensive way to improve children's psychological wellbeingRecent public health reports note a decline in the mental health status of children and suggest that social media and economic uncertainty may be contributing to this decline. Another possible factor -- which is often overlooked -- relates to rising urbanization and disengagement from the natural world. This study addressed this concern by exploring whether engaging children in the natural world over a period of time results in positive psychological outcomes.
Over 400 children from 11 different schools in the United Kingdom participated in this study. Some of these children participated in a weekly, year-long outdoor learning program. A smaller number of children, serving as a control group, were not involved with outdoor learning during this time. All of the children completed well-being and connectedness to nature assessments at the beginning and end of the year. The purpose of the nature connectivity measure was to demonstrate affinity and desire to connect to nature. The study was based on the understanding that greater connectivity would be associated with greater improvements in mood and well-being. The Nature Connection Index (NCI) was used to measure connectivity, and the KIDSCREEN-27 to measure well-being. Children participating in the outdoor learning program completed a mood assessment before and after each weekly outdoor learning session.
Assessment results at the beginning of the year showed no difference in the mental health and connectedness to nature scores of the outdoor learning and control groups. In the outdoor learning group, mood assessment results showed improved mood after each session. Results at the end of the year showed that children who participated in the outdoor learning sessions had significantly higher well-being than children in the control group. For both groups, connection to nature only improved for children whose scores were initially lower. However, those children in the outdoor learning group that did demonstrate an improvement in connectedness to nature also demonstrated greater improvement in wellbeing. The fact that, overall, there was no significant improvement in connectivity for both groups of children may be due to the fact that the vast majority of participating children had higher connectivity scores at the outset of the study resulting in a "ceiling effect."
This research found that participation in an outdoor learning program one hour per week produced significant immediate improvements in children's mood and longer-term improvements in well-being, and that these results were sustained across the academic year. This research also found that children with initially lower connection to nature became more connected over the course of their participation in an outdoor education program, with associated benefits to wellbeing. These findings suggest that engagement with nature may produce sustained improvements in mood and well-being. This research calls attention to the fact that making outdoor learning and engagement with nature a regular part of school curricula could be an inexpensive way to improve children's psychological well-being.
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