Teaching and Learning Science Outdoors in Schools’ Immediate Surroundings at K-12 Levels: A Meta-Synthesis
Jean-Philippe Ayotte-Beaudet 1 * , Patrice Potvin 1, Hugo G. Lapierre 1, Melissa Glackin 2
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1 Université du Québec à Montréal, CANADA2 King’s College London, UNITED KINGDOM* Corresponding Author

Abstract

This literature review synthesizes empirical data of 18 articles published between 2000 and 2015 about teaching and learning science outdoors from kindergarten to secondary levels (K–12). We asked four questions: (1) What are the general characteristics of the corpus of studies on teaching and learning science outdoors in schools’ immediate surroundings at K–12 levels? (2) What are the authors’ aims for conducting studies about teaching and learning science outdoors? (3) What are the main outcomes related to teaching and learning science outdoors in schools’ immediate surroundings? (4) What further studies should, according to the selected articles, be conducted in the future? We identified three categories of authors’ aims: environmental education, science education, and outdoor education. The main outcomes are classified into four categories: 1) learning, 2) student attitude or interest, 3) other students’ perceptions, and 4) challenges to outdoor science teaching. Finally, in light of the review, we discuss how further studies should consider learning outcomes, students’ attitudes, challenges, and methodological guidelines.

License

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, 2017, Volume 13, Issue 8, 5343-5363

https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2017.00833a

Publication date: 15 Jun 2017

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