The Impact of Outdoor Science Instruction on Middle School Students' Understanding of the Science Process

The Kids in the Woods program in Gainesville, Florida delivers science instruction to middle school students through a series of hands-on activities outdoors on the school campus and in a nearby nature park. This article reports on the results of a 10-question pre-post assessment of students’ knowledge of the scientific process. Participants included 201 6th grade students at a public middle school participating in the Kids in the Woods program. Students improved significantly on four of the ten questions after participation in the program, indicating that students learned important terminology related to the scientific method and how to interpret a graph. The positive results suggest that using the outdoors as a platform for science education can be a valuable tool for improving the learning experience for students.