Planting an Interest in STEM Outdoors

12/29/2023

Planting an Interest in STEM Outdoors

Open-ended loose parts and inspiration that nature provides enhance the freedom and opportunities for children’s inventiveness to flourish.
Christine Kiewra and Ellen Veselack

“Anything we can do to help get kids to see science and STEM as things that are useful to them and things they can interact with and they can do, or recognize things around them in the world that are happening — that’s going to be really valuable,” said Indiana University professor Adam Maltese in a story from the Hechinger Report. Maltese co-authored a 2017 study which found most respondents became interested in STEM prior to sixth grade.

The study also found that, “after an innate interest in science, women in STEM-related fields were more likely to point to playing or spending time outdoors as the spark for their initial interest in STEM than other activities.”

The outdoors offers natural opportunities to explore most facets of science and engineering, especially when children have access to a variety of ‘loose parts’ both large and small that they can explore and manipulate. Gardening also invites direct connection with scientific and mathematical concepts.

According to a 2019 survey of 279 natural outdoor classrooms, “Natural outdoor classrooms have the added benefits of improved acoustics, generous space for movement, beautiful but not overwhelming visual stimuli, and abundant materials that enhance opportunities for children to make choices and exert their will.”

The report identified these positive outcomes in nature-rich spaces that “(1) maximized choices, (2) provided many distinct spaces, especially child-sized ones, (3) embedded play affordances within pathways and borders, (4) encouraged spatial evolution, and (5) supported ongoing stakeholder engagement.”

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