Outdoor as learning environment for children at a primary school of Bangladesh

Abstract

While much attention has been paid to the design and use of the classrooms of schools, little has been paid to the design and use of immediate surroundings of the school building i.e. outdoor environment. However, researches all over the world revealed that the school-aged children (from 7 to 11 years old) learn best when their learning is incorporated with natural environment. In Bangladesh, the rural primary schools having poor infrastructure- insufficiently lit and ventilated, inadequate classrooms have large open space available in the school premises. This thesis examines the prospects of this outdoor open space as learning environment for children. In the rural primary schools of Bangladesh, the average drop-out rate for children (45.1%) is very high whereas Bangladesh has adopted the CRC guidelines of which one is the right of every child to education for his or her total development. In order to check this drop-out, different programmes are taken by the Government to make children’s learning process delightful and interesting. Outdoor environment has attracted the attention of the researchers of developed societies for its contribution to improved cognitive competency and as such has been proven its potential as a solution. But few studies have been conducted in the context of developing countries. This study has been conducted through the design and construction of an outdoor class in a primary school of Bangladesh. The study has been conducted over thirty children from class IV of that school. Data collection occurred through multiple methods including achievement test of children, focus group discussion and in-depth interview with children and teacher. The findings show a significant difference between the achievements of children after they are taught in their indoor classroom and outdoor class. The difference is most significant at knowledge, analysis and application levels within cognitive domain of learning. Besides, the children showed increased engagement, motivation and enthusiasm about learning in outdoor environment of their school. Keywords: Children, outdoor environment, learning process, cognitive domain, intervention, Bangladesh