Merging Playfulness with the Formal Science Curriculum in an Outdoor Learning Environment

Abstract

We explored the particular ways in which curriculum materials can be designed and developed to provide simultaneously engaging, playful, and educational experiences in the context of learning science. The study described in this paper included control and experimental groups, and involved two stages: 1) the design, development, and enactment of an elementary school curriculum that includes an educational field trip to a prehistoric cave; and 2) data collection and content analysis using a story-writing instrument. Salient findings from students’ stories provide a window into the positive cognitive and affective contributions of role-play activities during a field visit to students’ science learning and long-term memory. The context of the cave visit as either educational or recreational seemed to influence the nature of students’ memories, with the educational context leading to students citing a greater number of concepts related to the curriculum, with less frequent mention of unrealistic fears.