The aim of this review study is to present the current state of pedagogical and psychological research in the field of outdoor education of primary school pupils (ISCED 1 & ISCED 2). The study seeks answers to three basic questions: i) What are the common characteristics of published studies devoted to the benefits of outdoor education of primary school pupils? ii) What benefits of outdoor education are monitored in these studies? iii) What conclusions did these studies reach in the context of the observed benefits?
MethodTo create a review study, a widely accepted Prisma 2020 model was used. The articles were searched in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The selection of keywords used for the search respected the needs of the survey study and consisted of two areas that were combined. The first one defined the area of interest (outdoor education, outdoor learning, fieldwork, nature connectedness, nature relatedness, connection to nature), the second defined the target group and the monitored qualities (primary education, primary school, elementary school, health, benefits, well-being). The number of keywords used reflects the terminological anxiety that prevails in the topic. The search was performed in the titles, abstracts and keywords of individual articles. All records from 2001 to 2020 were included, only reviewed articles were included in the search.Each selected database record was checked by two observers, in case of disagreement about the inclusion of the record in the survey study, the record was evaluated by a third observer. The criteria for including the text in the analysis were as follows: i) the article has a research character, or it is an overview study on a given topic, ii) the target group is primarily primary school pupils, iii) the article deals with the benefits of outdoor education and staying in nature. A number of categories was monitored for each of the articles included in the review study (journal, year of publication, research design, country, age, type of school, activity holder, form of outdoor education, place of outdoor education, monitored benefits, results). The results were analyzed in both quantitative and qualitative ways. From 3268 database records, 67 articles were selected for detailed analysis.
ResultsThe analyzed studies were published in a total of 41 journals. During the observed twenty-year period, an intensive increase in the number of published studies can be observed only in the last five years. Most studies were from the United Kingdom, Denmark and Canada. Qualitative and quantitative design studies were evenly represented, mixed design was significantly rarer. More than half of the studies focused on the evaluation of outdoor education directly at the school, the rest focused on excursions and residential programs of ecocentres. Most outdoor education interventions lasted weeks to months, with only two studies looking at outdoor education for more than a year. The monitored benefits were divided into: i) the area of emotions and attitudes (relationship t...
