Current research suggests that time spent in nature benefits all aspects of children’s development. However, children are spending little time outdoors. Additionally, there are few preschool programs that recognize the outdoors as an extension of the traditional classroom and even fewer college courses and training programs that specifically address outdoor education. The purpose of this project was to educate early childhood teachers about nature’s benefits and provide them with the knowledge necessary to implement their own outdoor classrooms. The trainings focused on seven topics related to the importance and development of an outdoor classroom: introduction to the outdoor classroom, benefits of nature and the consequences of its removal, developmental theories related to children’s learning outdoors, outdoor curriculum and activities, teacher engagement, outdoor assessment, and implementing an outdoor classroom. Pre- and post‑training assessments indicated that the training increased teachers’ perceived knowledge about outdoor classrooms, their likelihood of engaging in positive teaching behaviors outdoors, and their confidence regarding the implementation of an outdoor classroom. Overall, the trainings accomplished the desired effect of educating teachers on the importance of an outdoor classroom. However, few of the teachers who initially signed up for the training completed the four sessions. Future trainings might consider offering larger incentives, condensing the number of sessions and information provided, and/or including center directors and administrators as participants in order to recruit more participants and increase the likelihood that outdoor classrooms will be implemented at more centers.

Numerous research studies have shown that when teachers take children outdoors to learn, children show an increase in cognitive, physical, social, and emotional skills. Few researchers have focused, however, on teachers and their decision to use the outdoors as a way of teaching. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore whether life experiences impact a teacher's choice to not use the outdoor environment. Ham and Shuman's model of environmental education commitment and Kaplan and Kaplan's environmental cognition theory served as the conceptual frameworks for this study. The research question was designed to explore the experiences and barriers of teachers and how these experiences and barriers affected a teacher's decision to use or not use an outdoor classroom when one was available. Data were obtained using individual interviews of a purposeful sample of seven elementary teachers from a large school district in the U.S. state of Georgia who were not using outdoor classrooms at the time of the study. Themes that emerged from data analysis were lack of time in tightly controlled class schedules, lack of administrator support, lack of staff development for teachers, weather, and lack of time to research and prepare lessons. Study findings have the potential to engender positive social change by increasing insight about the barriers teachers perceive to using the natural environment in instruction. With more knowledge about such barriers, administrators may able to encourage teachers to use the natural environment as an extension of the indoor classroom to increase academic achievement and lifelong behaviors in nature among students.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the state of outdoor education in preschool classrooms in Northeast Tennessee, with a specific focus on preschool teachers’ attitudes toward outdoor education. This comparative, mixed-methods study focused in part on teachers’ current beliefs about outdoor education, how they use the outdoor environment, and whether their attitudes influence their lesson planning for outdoor education. Participants were preschool teachers in public, private, church-affiliated, and Head Start preschools in 4 counties in northeast Tennessee. The study sample consisted of 81 participants (80 female; 1 male). Ages ranged from 20-65 years (M = 40.76). The survey consisted of 42 questions, including demographics, outdoor education experiences, and attitudes toward outdoor education. Teachers were compared on several factors: attitudes toward outdoor education, their early experiences in the outdoors, and how they use the outdoor environment. Thirty-three outdoor environments in the aforementioned preschools were assessed using the Preschool Outdoor Environment Measurement Scale (POEMS) (DeBord, Hestenes, Moore, Cosco, & McGinnis, 2005). Eight preschool teachers from the pool of 81 participants were selected at random based on their school’s playground/outdoor environment assessment (high vs. low quality) and their own attitudes (positive vs. negative) toward outdoor education. Interviews were conducted to give a more complete picture of preschool outdoor education. Results showed that preschool teachers had relatively high attitudes on outdoor education (M = 75.86, SD = 7.99) on a scaled score where 100 was the highest possible. Teachers who reported planning lessons for outdoor learning had slightly higher attitudes (M = 76.9, SD = 7.6) toward outdoor education than those who do not plan (M = 74.1, SD = 9.0), although differences were not significant F(1, 76) = 1.134, p = 0.29. Most teachers referred to the outdoor area as a playground (84%) and used it used it most frequently for supervised play (99%). These findings, along with others reported, indicate that although preschool teachers see the benefits of outdoor learning, there are still barriers to outdoor education.