Environmental Education in the Schoolyard: Learning Styles and Gender

The author examined the impact of environmental education lessons in a study that compared activities conducted in the schoolyard with traditional classroom activities involving elementary school boys and girls. Participants were 109 4th- and 5th-grade students. Researchers conducted a 2 (group: traditional/treatment) X 2 (gender) multivariate analysis of variance with gain scores for environmental (a) knowledge, (b) attitudes, (c) behaviors, and (d) comfort levels as dependent variables. Boys demonstrated statistically significantly greater gain scores in the outdoor treatment group than in the traditional classroom curriculum for all 4 outcome variables. Boys also scored statistically significantly greater in the treatment group on attitudes and behaviors than did girls in that treatment group. The author discusses the unique learning styles of girls and boys and the findings that indicate the potential for schoolyard lessons to enhance instruction, meeting the needs of boys and girls.