Effects of Regular Classes in Outdoor Education Settings: A Systematic Review on Students’ Learning, Social and Health Dimensions
Primary school (grades 1–6) Lower secondary (grades 7–9) Learning outside school
Links to claims
Limits (1)
| Claim | Basis |
|---|---|
| C28 | Systematic review, 13 studies of regular curriculum-based outdoor teaching (≥ 4 h a week for ≥ 2 months): mostly case studies, no randomised trial; only one controlled study used a standardised achievement test (90 US fifth graders, reading/writing higher, p = 0.03, no effect size, maths not reported); no delayed tests; quantitative quality low (0.18). Bounds how much weight the pooled g ≈ 0.5 can bear for outdoor teaching. Full text read 2026-11-02. |
Review state: first-pass draft, pending human review.
Source note
Syntes: Becker et al. (2017) — a systematic review finding the evidence for regular outdoor teaching mostly weak
Källa: Becker, C., Lauterbach, G., Spengler, S., Dettweiler, U. & Mess, F. (2017). Effects of Regular Classes in Outdoor Education Settings: A Systematic Review on Students’ Learning, Social and Health Dimensions. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 14(5), 485. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14050485
Verified content
- [abstract] 13 studies of regular, compulsory, curriculum-based outdoor teaching; most were case studies, mean about 62 participants.
- [abstract] Methodological quality: moderate for qualitative studies (0.52), low for quantitative studies (0.18).
- [abstract] 7 studies reported learning outcomes; 11 of 13 studies reported positive effects overall, one mixed, one negative.
- [abstract] The authors speak only of "tendencies" and ask for more quasi-experimental and longitudinal studies.
Limits
- [full text] Eligibility: at least four hours a week of compulsory outdoor teaching for at least two months, so one-off field trips are excluded. No randomised trial; three quasi-experiments. Only one included study compared standardised achievement tests with a control group (Ernst et al., 90 US fifth graders, a one-year outdoor science programme): reading and writing scores were higher (p = 0.03), no effect size was given and maths results were not reported. No study used a delayed achievement test. The one Swedish study (230 primary pupils) measured parent-rated mental health: no overall effect, boys improved relative to girls.
- [assessment] Full text read 2026-11-02 (study mining). For regular weekly outdoor teaching, controlled achievement evidence up to 2016 is close to none.
Why it is in the library
Gives the quality picture behind C28's half-a-standard-deviation average: the outdoor-teaching studies are small and mostly low quality. Includes Nordic outdoor teaching close to Swedish practice.
Added 2026-11-01 by the project (weekly source sweep, kind: old; read: abstract). Full text read 2026-11-02 (study mining). [abstract] = from the published abstract; [full text] = read in the full text; [assessment] = the project's own assessment.
Metadata as recorded
- ID
- OUT-005
- Tier
- review
- Titel
- Effects of Regular Classes in Outdoor Education Settings: A Systematic Review on Students’ Learning, Social and Health Dimensions
- Författare
- Becker, C., Lauterbach, G., Spengler, S., Dettweiler, U. & Mess, F.
- År
- 2017 (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 14(5), 485)
- Källa/DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14050485
- URL
- https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/5/485 (open access); Europe PMC PMC5451936
- Typ
- systematic review of 13 studies on regular, compulsory, curriculum-based outdoor education programmes
- Åldersgrupp
- grundskola-lag;grundskola-hog
- Teman
- larande-utanfor-skolan
- Hämtad
- 2026-11-01
- Paywall
- open access (CC BY)
- Tillagd
- source sweep 2026-11-01 (kind: old); links pending human review
The original files (PDF or abstract) are kept in the project archive and are not published here.