Peer-reviewed article
Interdisciplinary Academic and Community Partnerships to Promote Child Well-being at School: The Outdoor Classroom
Erin Largo-Wight, Katrina Willard Hall, Caroline Guardino ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study describes a community-based participatory research project where academic and community partners collaborated to design and build an outdoor classroom at an elementary school. The aim was to improve the school environment and support child health and learning. Before full implementation, a two-week pilot period was conducted and feedback was gathered from school staff, which revealed concerns about environmental conditions, timing, and materials that were then addressed.
Key points
- Academic-community partnerships were used to co-design and implement an outdoor classroom intervention
- A two-week pilot period with formative research preceded full implementation
- Initial concerns were identified regarding environmental conditions, program timing within the school day, and outdoor classroom materials
- Participating teachers reported satisfaction with the partnership
- The study offers lessons learned for public health practitioners and applied researchers
Limitations
This report describes formative research and a pilot phase rather than a full evaluation of outcomes. No data are presented on the actual impact of the outdoor classroom on child health, learning, or well-being outcomes.
Abstract
This community-based participatory research (CBPR) project involved academic-community partners working together to design, build, and implement an outdoor classroom at a local elementary school to improve the school environment and foster child health and learning. A two-week pilot period took place prior to implementation and formative research was gathered. The formative research findings revealed that the school partners had initial concerns with the environmental conditions and outdoor classroom space, timing of the program within the school day, and materials in the outdoor classroom. The concerns were reported and addressed. The participating teachers completed a survey and reported satisfaction with the partnership and offered further suggestions for the future. This partnership provides important lessons learned for public health practitioners and applied researchers.