Hanging Out in the Schoolground - A Reflective Look at Researching Children’s Environmental Learning

Oct 15, 2026

The paper presents a reflective examination of research methodology used in a multi-method, multi-site study of children’s environmental learning in Australian schoolgrounds. Guided by an extensive literature review and international dialogue, the authors build a research design and procedures intended for both practitioner and academic researchers. The work shares the authors’ research story and the lessons learned to support future studies with children in schoolground greening projects.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Literature on Research on Children, Play, and Schoolgrounds

Research Aims and Design

“Hanging Out in the Schoolground”: A Reflective Look at Researching Children’s Environmental Learning Karen Malone, University of Wollongong & Paul Tranter, University College, University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy, Australia Abstract The authors take a reflective journey to explore the research methodology utilised in a multi-method, multi-site research study of children’s environmental learning in schoolgrounds in Australia. Informed by an extensive literature review and dialogue with researchers around the world, the study constructed a research design and procedure that could be utilized by practitioner researchers and academic researchers as the foundation for further research on children’s learning in schoolgrounds. This paper has the specific task of sharing our research story and lessons learnt as a conversation to those who intend to conduct future research with children on schoolground greening projects. Résumé Les auteurs prennent un séjour de réflexion pour explorer la méthodologie de recherche utilisée dans un projet multiméthodes, un projet de recherche réparti sur plusieurs emplacements, un projet de sensibilisation des enfants à l’environnement dans les cours d’école en Australie. Éclairée par une recension exhaustive des écrits et par un dialogue avec des chercheurs du monde entier, l’étude a échafaudé un plan de recherche et de procédures qui pourrait être utilisé par des chercheurs praticiens etpar des chercheursacadémiques comme le fondement d’une recherche future sur l’apprentissage des enfants sur les cours d’école. Cet article a la tâche spécifique departager nos textes de recherche et les leçons apprises en conversant avec ceux qui ont l’intention de mener des recherches futures avec des enfants sur des projets d’écologisation de cours d’école. Children’s environmental learning in their local environment has been a key area in the multi-disciplinary field of children’s environments (Hart, 1979; Moore, 1986) . Building on this tradition, our schoolground research project, Children’s Environments , applied research methods from the UNESCO Growing Up In Cities project (Malone, 1999; Malone & Hasluck, 1988) alongside methods adapted from “playground research” projects to develop a multimethod approach to researching children’s experiences of their school environment. 212 Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 10, Spring 2005 Children’s opportunities to engage in environmental experiences in their local neighbourhood are becoming circumscribed (Satterthwaite et al. , 1996; Tranter & Doyle, 1996; Tranter & Pawson, 2001) . Hence the significance of schoolgrounds for children’s environmental learning is increasing. While having green schoolgrounds has intrinsic aesthetic value and educational potential, the researchers believed this potential was unlikely tobe fully realised unless children were supported to engage in free play in schoolgrounds. While schoolgrounds can be used for formal teaching activities (e.g. , science, mathematics) and our study did consider the use of the schoolground for such teaching/learning—the formal educational curriculum—the main focus of the study was on situations where learning through environmental interaction occurred via unregulated exploration and play. Titman (1994) has referred to this as the “hidden” or “informal” curriculum. An important component of the research method involved the categorisation of play behaviours and the identification of behaviours that were of most value in environmental learning, or in what we refer to as “cognitive play.” Our paper explores and reflects on the research methods used to examine whether schoolgrounds included “space for creative self-development”(Ellis, 2004, p. 96), and whether school policies encouraged playful learning opportunities in the environment. Literature on Research on Children, Play, and Schoolgrounds To build a framework for our research, a literature review on curre

FAQs

What is the main focus of the paper?

The paper reflects on the research methodology used to study children’s environmental learning in Australian schoolgrounds and shares lessons for future research.

How do the authors connect children’s learning to schoolground design and policies?

They build on prior research showing that learning, especially through play, is shaped by the design and policies governing schoolgrounds, and they emphasize supporting free play for realizing educational potential.

What role does the literature review play in the study?

The literature review helps frame the multi-method design at each school site and supports development and modification of research instruments by analyzing methods used in previous studies.

Oct 15, 2026

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