This presentation summarizes the action research project I conducted last spring. The findings of this action research project will be taken into consideration when creating Garland's new Outdoor Club and Outdoor Classroom!

1. Michelle Vogt
Garland Elementary School
Special Education, 1 st -3 rd grade
May 21, 2012

2.  This presentation will…
 Provide a brief rational and literature review further
justifying this action research project
 Describe the plan of action
 Discuss the data collection process
 Offer a data analysis and discussion regarding the
recommendations and implications of this action
research project
 Examine the need for future action research

3.  About Hamlin Garland Elementary School
 Garland is a K-5 Milwaukee Public School. Milwaukee Public
School’s mission is to educate all students for success in higher
education, careers and responsible citizenship so that MPS is the
first choice for families.
 Populated with 45% minorities (African
American, Hispanic, Muslim), 15% special education, 10% ESL, and
63% free and reduced lunch.
 Mission: Develop young minds with a strong academic foundation
for independent thinking, a love for lifelong learning, and the
necessary social skills to be responsible citizens in today's diverse
society.
 Values strong partnerships with families, which enrich the
development of all children.
 Upholds high expectations in all subject areas
 Blue Ribbon School
 New Wisconsin Promise School (seven years in a row)
 Spotlight Grant Recipient

4. • Why Garland? Why Now?
– Garland is moving to a new location in time for the 2012-
13 school year.
– Currently Garland has an under-utilized garden space
which staff, parents, and students have expressed
interest in having at the new location.
– Garland has a dedicated staff and strong connection to
the community.
– Students attending Garland live in an urban setting and
could benefit from more outdoor experiences.

5. • There is “importance in bringing natural habitats to
school grounds as places for natural learning…
Schoolyard habitat projects [provide] places of natural
and rich learning, integral to the curriculum, and a
respite for teachers, students and the community
overall.” ( Rivkin, 1997)
• There is a “need to understand and incorporate
children’s ideas and preferences into the planning and
design of spaces.” (Moore & Marcus, 2008)

6. 1. Think deeply about what I could do to ensure a
highly utilized green space at the new location; 2-3
weeks
2. Create surveys for staff, students, and parents
regarding the outdoor space design, utilization, and
maintenance; 1 week
3. Collect and analyze data; 2-3 weeks
4. Begin developing a plan for the new green space
based on data analysis and Garland’s relocation
timeline; work in process!

7.  Create surveys for parents and staff
 Distribute staff survey to each staff member’s
mailbox along with a letter explaining this action
research project and their associated
responsibilities
 Distribute a parent survey to each student’s nightly
take-home folder along with a letter explaining the
action research and a permission slip allowing
students to be in a focus group
 Create focus groups of approximately five students
from each classroom to discuss ideas for the green
space regarding design, utilization, and
maintenance

8. 1. What would you need an outdoor space to provide in order to feel
more compelled to teach in it? (ex: desks, benches, a way to
communicate with the office, etc.)
2. What is your greatest barrier to teaching outside? Why don’t you
teach outside more often?
3. What grade do you teach? What science curriculum do you use?
4. Are there any topics in your science curriculum that you would
like to teach in an outdoor space? If so, what are they? (ex:
water cycle, plant stages, particular insects, etc.)
5. What other subjects, besides science, would you like to teach in
an outdoor space and what would you need an outdoor space to
provide in order to do so?
6. Would you be willing to volunteer one hour/week to help
maintain the outdoor space?
7. Are you interested in helping manage an outdoor club?

9. 1. . Do you have any concerns regarding your child(ren) learning in an outdoor
space? (Check as many as you need.)
_____ injury _____ allergic reaction
_____ weather _____ sunburn
_____ getting dirty _____ adequate supervision
_____ other concerns:
2. Are there any academic subjects or other topics you would like your
child(ren) to learn in an outdoor space? (Check as many as you’d like!)
_____ gardening skills _____survival skills
_____ weather identification _____ ecology
_____ art _____ music
_____ writing _____ math
_____ reading _____ science
_____ other:
3. What would you like your child(ren)’s experience in an outdoor space to be
like?
4. Would you be willing to volunteer one hour/week to help maintain the
outdoor space?
5. Are you interested in fundraising and/or donating money or supplies to an
outdoor space?
6. Are you interested in helping manage an outdoor club?

10. • Focus groups (5 students from each grade) ate lunch with
me and discussed the following questions:
– If you could have one subject per day taught outside, which
would it be? Why?
– What are three skills you’d like to learn about outside? (ex:
plant identification, building a garden, writing a
paragraph, etc)
– If you were designing an outdoor classroom, what would you
put in it? (Try to list and explain 3 things!)
– If the school started in outdoor club, would you be interested
in joining? What kinds of things would you like to do with
the outdoor club? (ex: garden, canoe, camp, etc.)
– Would you be willing to work in our school’s outdoor space
one time/week after school to help plant, water, clean, etc.?
• I took notes during of our discussions and later analyzed
them for recurring/important themes

11.  What would you need an outdoor space to provide in order
to feel more compelled to teach in it? (ex:
desks, benches, a way to communicate with the office, etc.)
 Blankets
 Clipboards
 Benches or Rocks
 Shade
 Lots of grass
*Also mentioned: dry erase boards with
markers, communication with office, confined
area, tables, curriculum related materials, pencil cases

12.  What is your greatest barrier to teaching outside? Why
don’t you teach outside more often?
 Lack of shade
 Materials needed
 Noise
 Bugs
 Weather
*Also mentioned: No place that is condusive, not enough
to look at, time, hard to keep children located in one
area, distracted with outdoors and enviromental sounds
(birds, planes, cars, etc)

13.  Are there any topics in your science curriculum that you
would like to teach in an outdoor space? If so, what are
they? (ex: water cycle, plant stages, particular insects, etc.)
 Plant stages
 Water cycle
 Insects
 Weather
 Seasons
*Also mentioned: Lifecycle of
bugs, conservation, temperature, life science, earth
science, climate

14.  What other subjects, besides science, would you like to
teach in an outdoor space and what would you need an
outdoor space to provide in order to do so?
 Reading
 Social stories
 Movement/Gym
 Writing/Journaling
 Art, sketchbooks
 Math, measurement
 Drama

15. Would you be willing to Are you interested in helping
volunteer one hour/week manage an outdoor club?
to help maintain the
outdoor space?
Yes 1
Yes 3
Maybe 3
Maybe 5
No 5
No 1

16.  Do you have any concerns regarding your child(ren)
learning in an outdoor space? (Check as many as you
need.) Injury
Alllergic
Reaction
Weather
Sunburn
Getting Dirty
Adequate
Supervision
No Concerns

17. Are there any academic subjects or other topics you
would like your child(ren) to learn in an outdoor space?
Gardening Skills
Survival Skills
Weather Identification
Ecology
Art
Music
Writing
Math
Reading
Science
Other

18.  What would you like your child(ren)’s experience in an outdoor space to be
like?
 Fun
 Inviting
 Calming
 Creative and educational
 …Feel like they can be themselves and feel like they belong
 Help kids from being afraid of “hands-on experiences” (like dirt)
 Worthwhile and well organized
 Structured, but relaxed and educational
 Rich and fulfilling
 Adventurous
 Interactive
 Relaxing
 Wilderness

19.  Would you be willing to  Are you interested in
volunteer one hour/week to help fundraising and/or donation
maintain the outdoor space? money or supplies to an outdoor
 Yes 18 space?
 Maybe 8  Yes 32
 No 18  Maybe 11
 No 9
 Are you interested in helping
manage an outdoor club?
 Yes 3
 Maybe 15
 No 33

20.  If you could have one subject per day taught
outside, which would it be?
 K5: Math, Art, Music, Reading
 1st: Reading Math, Science, Art, Playworks
 2nd: Science
 3rd: Science: Art, Social Studies
 4th: Science: Art, Math
 5th: Science, Reading, Art, Math

21.  What are three skills you’d like to learn about
outside?
 K5: Plants/flowers; bugs; butterflies; insects; daddy long-
legs
 1st: Gardening; bird watching; planting flowers and trees;
using an easel and paints; fishing
 2nd: Identifying snakes and spiders; harvesting apples;
gardening/flowers; find, capture, study, and release
different animals
 3rd: Planting a garden/trees (for more oxygen!), writing
(fresh air for thoughts); identifying plants
 4th: Gardening, poetry writing, drawing
 5th: Plant identification, survival
skills, gardening, reading, studying animals

22.  If you were designing an outdoor classroom, what would
you put in it?
 K5: Tea party stuff, snacks, toys, books, paper
 1st: Garden, flowers, grass, a hole with water and fish, race
track, bushes
 2nd: Cooking area, arts and crafts area for animal
drawing, writing station, animal cages, jars for bugs, table
 3rd: Picnic tables, petting zoo, small space for the little
kids, garden with tulips and dandelions, snack bar
 4th: Couch with a TV, chalkboard, science and math video
games, insect room, book shelf, airplanes, mining
tools, Smartboard
 5th: Bean bags, gardening books, bug-catching nets, work
tables, pencils/paper, cushions on
ground, jars, lights, blankets

23.  What kinds of things would you like to do with the
outdoor club?
 K5: Hiking, camping, jump and skip, paint, write
 1st: Canoeing, fishing, boating, gardening, sell lemonade and
cookies, play army, camping, give away flowers
 2nd: Plant trees and pick their fruit, grow a garden and make our
own salad, look at insects, hiking, canoeing, play on playground
 3rd: Have a gardening contest, make salads, listen to music, take
field trips, go on a treasure hunt, arts and crafts
 4th: Go on learning field trips, hiking, camping, fishing, help
clean-up parks, archery practice, go hunting
 5th: Lock-in, build a tree-house, use water to clean
rocks, survival trip in the woods, biking trip, fort
building, climbing trees, hiking, bird watching, gardening
competition

24.  Teachers
 Comfortably fits their class and has writing surfaces
 Access to supplies that fit with the curriculums in a variety of
subjects, not just science
 Students and Parents
 Provide instruction in science, math, and art
 Interested in learning or doing activities involving
hiking, camping, plant and animal identification, and water related
activities
 Visions for Green Space
 Experience more than just “science” in the green space
 Interactive, structured and education, and rich and fulfilling.
 School Community Supports Addition of Green Space
 Volunteering their own time or making donations
 Adding an outdoor club would be well received

25.  Designing and actually creating a green space based on
the data collected
 Create a plan of the area (See next slide)
 Have school community help edit the plan
 Create a scale model of the green space, including how it
will interact with the new schoolyard
 Display plan and model at our schools’ Spring Fling, to
allow for feedback from the school community and to
showcase what has resulted from their participation
 “Move-In Day” celebration at our new school…use
volunteers to begin creation of the green space

27.  How can the green space created be utilized to
increase academic performance with students with
special needs?
 Can this green space be utilized as a basis for a school
project or community Farmer’s Market, run by
students?
 How can I involve more teachers and/or parents in
maintaining the green space?

28. • Charles, C., & Loge, Alicia. (2012). Children’s contact with the outdoors
and nature: a focus on educators and the educational setting. New
York, NY.
• Kuo, F. E. (2010). Parks and other green environments: essential
components of a healthy human habitat: National Recreation and Park
Association.
• Moore, R. C., & Cooper Marcus, C. (2008). “Healthy planet, healthy
children: Designing nature into the daily spaces of childhood.” In S.
Kellert, J. Heerwagen & M. Mador (Eds.), Biophilic design:
Theory, science and practice. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Rivkin, Mary. “The Schoolyard Habitat Movement: What It Is and Why
Children Need It.” Early Childhood Education Journal. Volume 25, No.
1, 1997.
• Townsand, M., & Weerasuriya, R. (2010). Beyond blue to green: the
benefits of contact with nature for mental health and well-being.
Melbourne, Australia.