Learning in the Schoolyard: Designing Curriculum-Aligned Outdoor Playspaces

Group Submission Type: Workshop

Description of Session

Purpose: Providing young children with opportunities to play can help improve learning outcomes. Yet, in many places (rural areas, low-resource, and conflict settings), there are many challenges to implementing play-based approaches, including: overcrowded classrooms, limited resources, high teacher turnover, and teachers’ lack of training in play-based methods.

While integrating play into learning inside the classroom is critical, learning can also be enhanced through intentionally-designed outdoor play spaces. When designed with intention and an eye toward learning goals, outdoor spaces provide rich opportunities for social-emotional, physical, and cognitive development. When children engage in free play in these learning laboratories they naturally develop the skills and competences emphasized in the national curriculum.

Traditional schoolyards often focus on either games with rules (e.g. football) or repetitive play (e.g. swings, seesaws, slides). But, to support children’s learning across all developmental domains, they need opportunities to engage in more diverse forms of play, such as constructive play, challenging play, pretend play, literacy & numeracy play, etc. Providing opportunities for children to engage in diverse types of play can be particularly important in fragile and post-conflict contexts, where play provides stability and opportunities for processing and expressing emotions.

In this workshop, participants will design (elements for) their educational playscapes, which are aligned with learning goals, based on their local context, feasible within limited budgets, and will leverage their current programs.

Audience: This workshop is intended for individuals and organizations (government, non-governmental organizations, and researchers) who are implementing or planning to implement programs to enhance learning through play. This workshop will foster an understanding of how their programs can be strengthened by adding simple outdoor elements. Participants are encouraged to bring their learning goals (e.g. national curriculum documents / syllabus) or organization's vision & mission to use as a starting point for conceptualizing and designing the play space and its features.

Plan: Supported by two architects and an ECE expert, participants will engage in hands-on activities that support their understanding of: diverse types of play on a playscape, choosing elements that align with learning goals, and adapting elements to the local context.

The workshop will open with an interactive presentation about the role of different types of play in learning, nature play, and educational playscape examples from around the world. Then, working individually or in small groups, participants will identify the learning goals in their curriculum that can be fostered through free play outdoors and engage with sample elements that support those learning goals.

Next, participants will engage in a situation analysis to consider questions like: How does weather, culture, available materials, typical constructions methods, or attitude on maintenance, influence our opportunities? How can a playscape support children in emergency and post-conflict settings?

Participants will then develop initial designs for an educational playscape for their setting. After creating these designs, participants will share out with the large group. This will be an opportunity to get feedback and ideas from experts and peers, and to get further inspiration from others. The workshop will conclude with a brief discussion and opportunity for feedback.

Sub Unit

• Book Launches and Workshops / Workshop

Chair

• Bethany Wilinski, Michigan State University

Workshop Organizer

• Nancy Aikarua Arbogast, Ardhi University

Presenter

• Renet Korthals Altes, Space for Play