By Thomas Patti, Communications Coordinator

Update (9/6/2023): The outdoor classroom is officially complete! Thank you to all who helped us with this project, including students and families from the George School who came out to volunteer on August 16. See the gallery at the bottom of this page for new photos.

If you're anything like the Wildlands staff, your fondest childhood memories might revolve around the shortest part of the school day—recess. Fresh air, green grass, and warm sunlight kindled moments of profound joy and discovery. Yet when classes resumed minutes later, your window for natural exploration would close, as quickly as it had opened. Why cut this formative period short? 

A deluge of new research confirms what we’ve intuitively known to be true since we were schoolchildren ourselves, pleading with our teachers to hold class outside on a beautiful spring morning—that learning is best when it’s done outdoors. From mental and physical health to social behavior and academic performance, hundreds of studies highlight the benefits of nature-based classrooms to the well-being of students and teachers alike. 

The promise of outdoor learning peaks in urban neighborhoods, where a lack of green space has historically excluded low-income, racially diverse communities from the public health benefits of access to nature.  

This summer, Wildlands Trust and our partners started to address this need in the largest Environmental Justice community we serve. Our staff and volunteers have been hard at work building an outdoor learning space at the Manthala George Jr. Global Studies Elementary School in Brockton. Centered on the George School’s community garden, the outdoor classroom will include five recycled-plastic picnic tables in front of a foldable whiteboard, as well as a woodland sitting circle, a weather station kiosk, and an interchangeable story walk.  

The construction effort was spearheaded by the Green Team, a joint initiative between Wildlands Trust and Manomet that pays Brockton-area teens to advance environmental stewardship in their home city, all while building knowledge, skills, and professional connections in the conservation field. Over two Tuesdays in July, the Green Team visited the George School to restore the community garden beds, install gutters for rain barrels, weatherproof tree stump stools for the sitting area, and level a pathway to the learning space. On Tuesday, August 15, teachers and students from the George School will volunteer to add finishing touches to the outdoor classroom, including by planting a native pollinator garden and filling the garden beds with organic soil for students to plant seeds in next spring. The learning area will be ready for the school community to enjoy when classes resume in the fall. 

The work is part of Brockton Kids Lead the Way, an initiative developed by Dr. Molly Jacobs of Manomet and supported by Wildlands Trust and Brockton Public Schools that strives to foster city students' connection to nature. Two more outdoor classrooms will come to Brockton elementary schools by 2025 as part of this NOAA-funded initiative. The next project site is Hancock Elementary School, where Wildlands and Manomet will spend the upcoming school year gathering input from teachers and students before building an outdoor learning space in summer 2024. 

Stay tuned for updates as our work continues this summer and beyond!  

Click through the slideshow below to view more photos from the George School outdoor classroom project.