Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture, Regional and Community Planning / Mary Catherine (Katie) Kingery-Page / Man has been learning in the outdoors since the beginning of humankind. Modern
times have reduced the amount of time people spend learning and exploring
outside. This causes humans to be disconnected from the natural environment.
By making schoolyards more environmentally focused, conducive to outdoor
education and play, formal education can return to the original classroom–nature–
and inspire people to reconnect with their environment.
Much literature supports the ideas of aligning the efforts of play and education,
environmental interpretation and education, and outdoor education with formal
education; by incorporating all of these elements in a schoolyard, the potential for
enriched learning is greatly increased.
This project explores nature interpretation strategies used by public botanic
gardens and translates these strategies to an ecological schoolyard. At Northview
Elementary School in Manhattan, Kansas, the students face a simple, sterile play-yard
with flooding limiting site use after storm events. The design for Northview
Elementary will integrate stormwater features with school needs into a new
ecological master plan for campus. Interpreting this landscape using the strategies
adapted from botanical gardens for educational approaches, methods, and
interpretive displays, provides the school and community a resource to enhance
their lives, education, and the environment.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:KSU/oai:krex.k-state.edu:2097/13767 |
| Date | January 1900 |
| Creators | Weatherholt, Laura |
| Publisher | Kansas State University |
| Source Sets | K-State Research Exchange |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Report |
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