The outcomes of nature-based learning for primary school aged children: a systematic review of quantitative research

Abstract

The time children spend in nature has severely decreased. While nature-based learning at school is considered an important strategy in addressing this, numerous knowledge gaps continue to remain. To address these, a systematic review was undertaken. Nine commonly used health and education databases were searched from inception to January 2019. To be included, study participants were required to be children aged 4 to 12 without health or developmental conditions with a focus on nature-based learning. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed, followed by a descriptive synthesis. Out of 4703 results, 20 quantitative studies were included. There was a lack of universal definition of nature-based learning. This resulted in heterogeneity in how interventions were delivered, and outcomes measured. Overall, nature-based learning had varying levels of positive impacts across a range of outcomes. Despite these positive findings, the evidence base is constrained by some methodological issues.

Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2021.1921117 .

Keywords:

• Nature-based learning
• outdoor learning
• children
• education

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the University of South Australia library staff for their assistance in developing and testing the search strategy.

Disclosure statement

We are not aware of any conflicts of interest associated with this publication and there has been no financial support for this work that could have influenced its outcome.

Notes on contributors

Data curation: Nicole C. Miller, Saravana Kumar, Karma L. Pearce and Katherine L. Baldock

Formal analysis: Nicole C. Miller

Investigation: Nicole C. Miller

Methodology: Nicole C. Miller, Saravana Kumar, Karma L. Pearce and Katherine L. Baldock

Supervision: Saravana Kumar, Karma L. Pearce and Katherine L. Baldock

Writing- original draft: Nicole C. Miller

Writing- review and editing: Nicole C. Miller, Saravana Kumar, Karma L. Pearce and Katherine L. Baldock

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Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The lead author is a doctoral student and supported by the Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) fee offset scholarship.