A North Carolina Principal’s Outdoor Classroom Gives Students A Breath Of Fresh Air

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Students at Foust Elementary School in Greensboro, North Carolina gather in an outdoor classroom.

Nicholas L. Dixon

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Nicholas L. Dixon

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Students at Foust Elementary School in Greensboro, N.C., enjoy a lesson outside.

Nicholas L. Dixon

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Nicholas L. Dixon

Students at Foust Elementary School in Greensboro, N.C., enjoy a lesson outside.

Nicholas L. Dixon

Dixon hopes that this is just the beginning

Research has shown that being outside can positively affect students. Learning outside can improve children’s performance and behavior and can lead to strengthened connections among families and the community, according to a report issued by the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point. Outdoor learning also has benefits for students with learning disorders: a 2009 study showed that just being outside and taking a walk in a «green space greatly reduced symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children, regardless of age, gender or income level.

With students returning to in-person lessons amid a pandemic, Dixon saw a potential challenge in helping kids adjust and the opportunity for a creative solution.

«The pandemic allowed us to reinvent, reimagine and redo things, he explained. «And so we wanted to make sure when kids came back, they felt like there was [not just] something new, but something new and exciting for them, something that really feeds into their social and emotional wellness.

«There’s a lot of research about the traumatic effects of the pandemic and how we can meet those therapeutic needs and the outdoor space … Just being out there, even if we’re just out there meditating, sitting, listening to music, it just does something for us and for our kids, he explained.

The school district is a huge supporter of outdoor learning spaces and would like to see more schools, from elementary to high schools, outfitted with more outdoor spaces, Dixon said. Foust Elementary in particular is set to be rebuilt in the coming years. It’s on the cusp of entering the design phase and Dixon hopes that that will be the perfect opportunity to incorporate more hybrid spaces: picture a covered outdoor classroom to protect students from the elements or classrooms that, say, have a retractable wall or are able to otherwise open up to be partially outdoors, providing flexibility to a traditional classroom setting, Dixon explained.

For now, teachers are constantly innovating with the space that they do have. Foust’s outdoor classroom is a great space for students to perform experiments, Dixon said. Music teachers are even considering how they can incorporate the natural sounds of birds singing into their lessons. The options are virtually endless.

Educators have continued to excel amid increasingly difficult circumstances

The pandemic has been hard on educators, but teachers across the country have been finding unique solutions to the problem of how to teach and engage students during a global pandemic.

Earlier this year, a kindergarten teacher in Seattle was applauded on social media after a heartwarming video circulated that showed him taking his class on an online field trip to the zoo. Another teacher in Iowa came up with a series of special greetings to help her students get excited about coming to school every morning even while having to social distance.

For Dixon, as difficult as this pandemic has been, it’s an opportunity.

«I think this is the time to innovate … to reimagine, Dixon said. He added later, «I’d push every educator to think about the fact that [the] outdoors will always be here for us. There are spaces everywhere that we can transform into a learning environment. You just look at the research that supports learning outside — it supports the development of our kids’ awareness, socially and emotionally — and I say make it happen.

«Even if you have a lean budget or a budget that has a countless amount of cash, you can make an outdoor space happen for you and your students and teachers will really appreciate it.