EDUCATION PROGRAM

EDUCATION ON SCHOOL GROUNDS
The goal of the Boston Schoolyard Initiative is to design and build multi-use open spaces that complement the primary mission of the school: to preserve and foster children's innate sense of curiosity and give them the tools and skills needed to become lifelong learners. The BSI helps in-school and out-of-school teachers work with students to design and build schoolyards that provide a rich environment for teaching and learning. School grounds that are designed with care and attention provide students with real-world opportunities to observe, interact with, and contribute to the world around them

A rich outdoor environment on school grounds significantly enhances formal and informal learning opportunities for children in both the school and community. The BSFC education program offers access to resources, professional development and technical assistance to help educators:

• Design school grounds that provide a rich environment for learning.
• Incorporate use of the school grounds into the core curriculum to deepen student understanding of key concepts (such as those outlined in the BPS Citywide Learning Standards.)
• Develop out-of-school programs that maximize use of the school grounds to support student learning, foster a sense of stewardship among youth, and engage young people in making a concrete contribution to their community

Curricular resources and professional development programs are structured to reflect the full range of learning opportunities presented by the school grounds including:

• The Natural Environment
• The Built Environment
• Human Communities - the Neighborhood and the City
• Principles of Design: Art and Engineering
• Community Service
• Play: Active Spaces, Quiet Places, and Accidental Discovery

Curricular resources include: curriculum guides, Internet links, print and audio-visual materials, local expertise, organizational resources, funding opportunities, local, national and international projects that invite participation, model sites for schoolyard design and development, and opportunities to exchange information and learn from other BPS teachers.

Professional development programs can be tailored to focus on any one aspect of schoolyard use (as described by the categories below) or may combine several aspects into an integrated context for learning. Professional development programs are available for grade-level teams working on integrating content areas or cross-grade teams of teachers developing a thematic study or cross-grade articulation in a particular content area.

THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT: includes the study of biodiversity in the schoolyard, flora and fauna native to Massachusetts, landforms of New England, characteristics of water, weather patterns, how living things grow and change, how living things interact, ecosystems, earth's surface, light and shadow, the moon and sun, gardening, and microorganisms.

THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT: includes an exploration of how communities are designed, changes in communities over time, people and places, the interaction between human activities and the natural environment; and visual environmental literacy.

HUMAN COMMUNITIES - THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND THE CITY: includes researching neighborhood history and culture, getting to know people in the community, mapping the geography of the neighborhood and the city, understanding the relationship of the local community to the city of Boston.

PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN (ART AND ENGINEERING): covers mapping and measuring, scale and structure, patterns, shapes and materials in natural and built environments, playground physics, how space is organized, uses of color, pattern and form, landscape architecture, and model building.

COMMUNITY SERVICE: engages students in contributing directly to the school community by helping to design and build a new schoolyard, on-going care and stewardship of the school grounds, and contributing to the neighborhood through gardening projects, community events, performances and recycling programs.

PLAY: ACTIVE SPACES, QUIET PLACES AND ACCIDENTAL DISCOVERY: examines the range of physical and social needs that unstructured play provides including providing room to run, physical challenges, opportunities for group games, and team sports; ensuring room for quiet time, solitude or reflection, providing places for cooling off, talking to a friend, or observing the world; and reinforcing children's exploration of social interactions through structured and unstructured play.