Examining the links between primary school landscape and children’s motivation to learn

Matluba KhanPhD Candidate

The University of Edinburgh

Presentation Outline

• Background

• Research Questions

• Methodology

• 3 phases of the research process

• Results/Outcome

• Recommendation

Background

More than 26% of children leave primary school before completion in Bangladesh (BANBEIS 2012)

63 million primary children are out of school around the world (Global Education Digestive 2012)

Image recreated from The Unesco Institute of Statistics

The Scenario is…

CLASS ROOM16'-11" X 19'-6"

CLASS ROOM17'-4" X 19'-6"

CLASS ROOM16'-11" X 19'-6"

TEACHERS'ROOM8'-3" X 19'-6"

VERANDAH

RAMP

W1 W1 W1 W1 W1 W1 W1

W1 W1 W1 W1

A

A

Classroom

31.4 m2

In the context of developing countries it is scarce.

Research reveals a positive association between outdoors and children’s development (Crompton and Sellar

1981, Tranter and Malone 2004, O'Brien 2009)

++

Few research on how the

outdoors can be designed for learning++

Classes in the

Outdoors

What are the criteria for designing

outdoor school environments for improving children’s

learning?

Formulation of Research Question

EnvironmentEnvironment Child BehaviourChild Behaviour

Co

nce

ptu

al L

evel

Built Environment: School Ground

Children’s learning

Op

erat

ion

al L

evel

Motivation

Conceptual Framework

Research Question

To what extent does a designed outdoor environment influence children’s motivation towards learning and their willingness to come to school?

Theoretical context: Motivation“Motivation is the study of why individuals think and behave as they do” (Gutman and Schoon, 2013, p 12).

It is important to consider both intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors in education (Hidi and Harackiewicz, 2000).

Motivation |Situational Interest

• Can be controlled and changed by creating appropriate environmental settings for learning

• Can have a long lasting effect on children’s learning by intriguing the individual interest in person (Hidi and Harackiewicz, 2000, Krapp, 1999, Schraw et al., 2001, Wu et al., 2013).

Methodology

Quasi-experimental Action Evaluation Research Strategy

Experimental/

Treatment Group

Comparison Group A Comparison Group B

Section B, Class IV

from School A

Section A, Class IV from

School A

Randomly selected from

School B

Intervention+Outdoor

learning+Outdoor Play

Intervention+Outdoor

Play (No Outdoor

Learning)

No Intervention

Phase I: ExplorationIdentified Behaviour SettingsEvidence for Design

- Natural Learning Area- Flat Surface for Learning- Wet Learning Area- Outdoor Classroom- Learning with Loose Parts- Growing Area/ Garden- Learning through Play

These are the principal learning areas.There are two additional settings-

- A shelter to protect from sun and rain- A pathway to connect these settings

Phase II: Experimentation

Before

After

Phase III: Evaluation• Questionnaire Survey

• Focus groups discussion with children

• Interview with teachers

• Discussion with parents

• Secondary data on children’s attendance

Results | Questionnaire Survey• There was significant difference in how much children reported

being motivated in the outdoors compared to indoors t(26)=3.095 and how much children reported having opportunities to explore in the outdoors compared to indoors t(25)=2.604.

Paired Samples Test

 

Paired Differences

t dfSig. (2-tailed)Mean

Std. Deviation

Std. Error Mean

95% Confidence Interval of the

Difference

Lower UpperPair 1 T3OMotiv - T3CMotiv

3.37037 5.65786 1.08886 1.13219 5.60855 3.095 26 .005

Pair 2 T3OPeerRe - T3CPeerRe

.536 2.950 .557 -.608 1.680 .961 27 .345

Pair 3 T3OBoAc - T3CBoAc.036 2.009 .380 -.743 .815 .094 27 .926

Pair 4 T3OExplo - T3CExplo

1.577 3.088 .606 .330 2.824 2.604 25 .015

Results | Feelings for learning in the school ground

Children feel better in the outdoor class. They love to have their classes in the outdoors because-

“Its dark in the classroom, but outside there is ample light.”

“We have fresh air"

“We love to sit there… We sweat in the classroom. Outdoor class is comfortable.”

“We can see the teacher explaining” (Visual transparency)

“We can understand better… learning becomes real..”

“We would still prefer the outdoors for our classes..” (asked what if the classroom had all the facilities- ample space, adequate light and air)

Results | Increased Motivation: Use of different Settings

• Children enjoy more in the outdoor class. Confidence level increased.

“Our motivation to study has increased. Even you can test”

“Of course their motivation has increased. Even it’s evident in their attitude… I ask Roni (code name) to explain something and after doing that he asked if he could make me ‘understood’ he is so confident…”

• The use of different settings and loose materials help children understand the subject matter more easily

“The teacher only uses the blackboard and book in the classroom…But she uses many different things in the outdoor class- seeds, sticks etc..”

"There is not much to do in the classroom..what I can do with a table and a few benches!... But in the outdoor class they can work on different things and then present it...such a nice environment.. I love the outdoor class..I get bored in the classroom.."

Results | Changes in overall behaviour and attitude

• Positive change in behavior

“We are not naughty in the outdoor class like we used to do sitting on back benches in the classroom. ”

"The children do not get into any mischief in the outdoors..poke each other sitting on back benches ..I did not observe anything like this in outdoors”

"Less complain from treatment group.. The whole class is like a team and co-operate each other…”

• Learn easily and remember things for long

“They might learn in the classroom but they never forget what they learnt in the outdoors..”

“Even if we forget something the settings remind us of the thing we have done.. So we can write..”

Results | Changes in overall behaviour and attitude

• They are more spontaneous and actively participate in all the activities.

“Not a single child is shy anymore…And when you are not shy, you have the courage to ask question and you learn..”

• Change in learning process

“They observe and think about different elements, they try even when we are not there..”

. “They ask me what they will need for the upcoming class..in fact they make my plans for the next class…”

• The underachievers are mostly benefitted.

“They can understand things easily in the outdoors and I can realize that from their attitude.”

It goes beyond school… (Parents’ feedback)

• Eager to come to school and spend more time than usual.

“My girl doesn’t ‘steal tiffin’ now (i.e. don’t escape during lunch)..she used to escape during lunch and play ..but..now she asks to prepare ‘tiffin box’(lunch box) for school..”

• Discuss with parents the subject matter studied in school.

“Yesterday she was telling they are going to learn the food values…She was telling me about food-value of different foods and asked for some food item like egg, potato so that she can demonstrate in her class…”

Results | Change in Attendance Rate

After intervention

Before intervention

Recommendations• Richness of the environment i.e. rich with diversified settings offer

children to explore more and the teachers to practice creative ways of teaching. Therefore the outdoor environment should be designed as a combination of various settings.

• The use of the outdoor environment for teaching requires training. The teachers should be equipped with sufficient knowledge. The environment can afford some opportunity for enhancement of existing knowledge.

• The implementation of the project in more schools will provide the opportunity to observe a much larger impact on children’s health, learning and wellbeing.

• Longitudinal study of this research can give insight how the project went in long run.

Thank You!

Summary• In the context of developing country this research applied an experimental

action research strategy with mixed methods to find out whether a designed school ground can have an impact on children’s motivation towards learning.

• Outdoor environment helps increase children’s motivation to learning- this evidence is strengthened by this research

• It was influenced by research to come out with a list of behavior settings for children’s learning. Policy decisions like ‘using the outdoors for learning’ in children’s policy and also national education policy in Bangladesh strengthened the case.

• This research aims to formulate some design guidelines for design professionals and personnel at policy level. Therefore it addresses the gap on design guidelines focusing on children’s learning

• The research is conducted in one school in Bangladesh. But this school is a proto-type of all primary schools there and its applicable in any country with same climatic condition. It will come up guidelines for different kind of behavior settings which actually can be applied all over the world.