NatureScot’s Learning in Local Greenspace project evaluation report is now available on the NatureScot website, along with a shorter overview report.

This article describes an approach to describing Outdoor Learning that honours the term's historical roots, is informed by researchers in the field, offers clarity, and responds to individuals, organisations and stakeholders asking: • What opportunities are there in Outdoor Learning? • Is what I/ we do Outdoor Learning? • Why should we bother about Outdoor Learning?

The school is one of the most important settings and mechanisms through which we can address the health and wellbeing of children and young people. As a result, there is interest in identifying effective interventions and in understanding how educational cultures, practices and environments can be modified or used to support the equitable physical, social, cognitive, and academic development of children and young people.

A growing body of evidence suggests that the use of natural environment is associated with better health outcomes and may potentially be of value as a resource in tackling some of our most intractable health issues [2, 3]. There is increasing interest as to how the natural environment could be utilised as a health promotion tool, setting or context in which to address the increasing burden of health problems. Many types of natural environment - from the National Parks, with their protected environments with high levels of biodiversity and culturally important spaces, to urban greenspaces, close to large populations offering spaces for physical activity and stress relief - could have a role in public health promotion or as a therapeutic setting. 

Do experiences with nature – from wilderness backpacking to plants in a preschool, to a wetland lesson on frogs—promote learning?