Learning Grounds - School Ground Naturalization Evergreen Foundation
Elements:
Strategy,Skill
Year: 1996
355 Adelaide Street W. Toronto Ontario M5V 1S2 (416) 596-1495 (416) 596-1443
WINNER FOR 1996
Today our city schools are surrounded by concrete pavements, asphalt roads and high-rise buildings. It's a long way from the colossal breadth of nature and the sweet breadth of our land.
Yet as we cluster in crowded cities, there is a community need to seed nature back into our environment and provide the lessons of nature's great meaning to those who are in their springtime years of learning. Schoolchildren spend a significant portion of the day outside - studies indicate as much as 25 percent - yet school grounds have not been designed with learning in mind.
In the fall of 1994, Evergreen created an innovative national program to transform school grounds from prison-like environments into outdoor classrooms. At the grassroots level these hard yards have been flowering back into natural learning areas where children can discover a path back to nature and discover some of its many wonders.
Since that time Evergreen has expanded their program to educate communities, schools and project coordinators about the issue and process of school ground naturalization. Evergreen has also created partnerships at the local and national level, networking experts to share ideas and develop resources to support the work of schools and communities across Canada.
All too often, school grounds are landscaped asphalt or concrete surrounded by institutional chain link fencing. These areas provide little educational and play value, few social or community advantages and no environmental or health benefits.
School grounds can be an important educational resource, providing hands-on learning experiences vital to school life. School boards, teachers and parents at hundreds of Canadian Schools have recognized this, and want to transform their school grounds into healthier, more natural areas of educational value. This program provides training, resources and information in order to facilitate learning about this process.
