In the early years of the 20th century, tuberculosis devastated American cities, causing a particular and often fatal cost to the poor and youth. In 1907, two Rhode Island doctors, Mary Packard and Ellen Stone, had an idea to mitigate transmission among children. Following educational trends in Germany, they proposed the creation of an outdoor classroom. Within months, the floor of an empty brick building in Providence turned into a space with ceiling-height windows on either side, open almost at all times.
The ensuing New England winter was especially unforgiving, but the children were kept warm in portable blankets known as “Eskimo seatbags” and with warm soapstones placed at their feet. The experiment was successful on almost all measures: none of the children became ill. In two years there were 65 open-air schools across the country, either established on the Providence model or simply kept outside. In New York, Horace Mann Private School taught on the roof; Another school in the city took shape on an abandoned ferry.
It is worrying that little of this kind of ingenuity has received the effort to reopen schools amid the current public health crisis. The Trump administration has insisted that schools fully open this fall, and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos did not propose any plans on how to do so safely.
In New York, the nation’s largest school system, students will attend live classes just a few days a week, a policy that has angered both exhausted parents, who feel it is not enough, and many teachers, that they also fear it. much.
At the same time, one of the few things we know about the coronavirus with some degree of certainty is that the risk of contracting it decreases abroad: A review of 7,000 cases was recorded in China. only one instance fresh air transmission. While this should have activated a focus in the war room toward the goal of moving as much teaching as possible, none of that has happened.
“Instead, what I hear is that people are looking at plastic shields around desks,” said Sarah Milligan-Toffler, executive director of an organization called Children & Nature Network. “That’s our creative solution?
Needless to say, bureaucracy is not inherently creative. And despite its self-image as an engine of innovation, the Wall Street-backed education reform movement tends to back down from everything that reeks of bohemia. No fund founder, obsessed with Apple’s metrics, achievement gaps, and free products, has ever sat down and wondered, “Hey, I wonder how they do it in Norway?”
However, learning outdoors is not a fantasy of wood nymphs; The body of evidence suggesting the ways in which it benefits students, particularly younger ones, is constantly growing.
A 2018 study conducted over an academic year looked at the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral challenges facing 161 fifth-grade students. She found that those who participated in an outdoor science class showed more attention than those in a control group who continued to learn conventionally. At John M. Patterson, an elementary school in Philadelphia, suspensions went from 50 a year to zero after a playground was built where students maintain a rain garden and take a gym and some science classes, the director Kenneth Jessup told me.
Recently, an examination of three groups of students in Bangladesh found that those who studied mathematics and science in a transformed schoolyard performed better academically than those who were contained within. Beyond that, hundreds of studies over the years have shown a positive correlation between engagement with nature and academics; Some researchers have found that outdoor learning can improve standardized test scores and graduation rates.
It is difficult to imagine similarly motivated students learning about the Civil Rights movement in an empty WeWork. While some have talked about using vacant offices or commercial spaces for school, that would mean expensive leases and few opportunities for fresh air.
So what might outdoor education be like in New York City? It wouldn’t mean sending the 1.1 million children in the system to Central Park every day (although Central Park, which housed hospital tents during the height of the pandemic, could easily host some class tents with many other parks as well, such as Adrian Benepe , recommended the former city parks commissioner).
It is also possible that all kindergarten, first and second grade classes are held outside, with the natural environment deployed as a resource for math and science education, as proposed by a public school teacher. Those scores represent nearly a quarter of all students in the system. Alternatively, schools could use as much outdoor space as possible to reduce the number of students in a building at any given time, thus allowing for adequate social distancing. Instead of alternating between live school and remote learning, children could alternate between indoor and outdoor work throughout the day. As Ms Milligan-Toffler of the Children and Nature Network has argued, reading, reflective writing, and the gym lend themselves to being experienced outside.
While inequality has meant that schools in wealthier neighborhoods are located closer to parks than those in poorer parts of the city, infrastructure for outdoor learning already exists, even in many low-income neighborhoods. . Between 2007 and 2013, in partnership with the Trust for Public Land, the city converted more than 250 schoolyards into green spaces for student and community use. The New York City Housing Authority has 1,000 playgrounds that could be seized. And the Parks Department, as noted by Mr. Benepe, who is now with the Trust, has 35 recreation centers, already equipped with gyms and restrooms that could accommodate a few thousand children.
As the city has done for restaurants, it could cordon off streets and sidewalks for schools to expand their footprint.
But as we get closer to the end of July, there is no indication that the de Blasio administration is looking for any of this with a sense of urgency. In response to questions about plans for any overseas movement, Jane Meyer, the mayor’s assistant deputy press secretary, responded by email to say, “We are looking at all possible spaces, including outdoors, to see if learning it can happen there. “
Michael Mulgrew, president of the local teachers union, who maintains that there is still a good chance that the school will not open in September, however, seemed much more excited about that idea. When I called him on the phone, he was reading air exchange reports. Teacher safety is paramount to him, and he was concerned about windowless schools near busy roads, which had been built to prevent contamination. “The best thing you can do is open a window,” he said. The idea of teaching in outdoor spaces with cover to protect yourself from the rain is extremely promising in your mind.
Obviously, the transition to this approach entails challenges in terms of responsibility, curricular flexibility, etc. But the reality of losing a generation of students to Zoom’s deficiencies seems far more troubling. On Thursday, Mr. de Blasio announced that the city was working on a plan to provide childcare to 100,000 students in libraries, community centers and other places on the days they are learning remotely, something that would seem less necessary if it were provided. More attention. to learn outdoors.
Teachers, who are most at risk of getting sick when schools reopen, appear to be the most vocal advocates. “I think it’s doable,” said Liat Olenick, a Brooklyn school teacher who has advocated for outdoor learning during the pandemic.
“I think it will be easy? No. But since all of our other options are terrible, they are worth considering. ”
