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The Impact Of Implementing Core Curriculum In An Outdoor Classroom On Primary-Aged Students’ Academic Achievement, Meghan Best, Claire Dickinson, Courtney Hugstad-Vaa Leer, Molly Kalina

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

This paper explores the impact teaching core curricula outdoors has on primary aged students’ academic achievement. A four-week study was conducted in eight primary aged classrooms found in four Minnesota public schools. The study, featuring students in kindergarten, second grade and third grade, was conducted in both mainstream classrooms as well as gifted and talented classrooms. The study compared students’ academic achievement after being taught core curricula in the outdoor classroom to their peers in a control classroom that received the core instruction inside. The experimental design of the study included various forms of qualitative and quantitative data including pre- …