Ain Shams Engineering Journal (Apr 2024)
Outdoor learning environment as a teaching tool for integrating education for sustainable development in kindergarten, Egypt
Abstract
Despite the importance of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), there is a lack of emphasis on integrating ESD principles into the learning/physical environment, particularly in early childhood education. Underutilized school grounds and limited outdoor learning opportunities, uninvolved school stakeholders and community hinder the realization of the full transformative potential of education and disconnect learners from real-world experiences. Thus, this study explores how to transform the school grounds into outdoor learning that teaches ESD. To achieve this aim, a quasi-experiment method approach was implemented at Gamal Abdel Naser experimental school in Egypt based on a proposed theoretical framework. The framework adopts UNESCO roadmap for ESD, and integrates it with adaptation in the built environment to reach a “Whole-Institution Approach” indicated in Anne Taylor’s theory “Learning Environment as a 3D Textbook”. The findings demonstrate the transformation of the existing traditional school from individual decision-making to whole institution stakeholder participation including schoolchildren, from subject matter discipline to integrated SDGs 7, 12, 17 within the existing curriculum utilizing the outdoor learning environment as a teaching tool, where enhancing active learning experience in the real context compared with previous passive learning. It also emphasizes the crucial role of architects beyond design in shaping the learning environment and educating the teachers and schoolchildren. The study contributes practical insights for the collaboration of architects, policymakers, and educators involved in early childhood education. It proposes the revision of the codes and standards of to the General Authority for Educational Buildings to integrate ESD in the existing school buildings.
