NCT07147634

Outdoor Science Education and Child Well-being in Primary Schools: Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial on Learning, Connection to Nature, Eco-anxiety, and Stress

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 1,000 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Université de Sherbrooke · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: —
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The goal of this randomized controlled trial is to learn if an outdoor science education intervention can improve primary school students' learning and well-being when compared to an indoor classroom-based science education intervention. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Will students who engage in outdoor science learning produce higher-quality observations of living organisms than students who receive instruction exclusively in an indoor, classroom-based context, when both groups are invited to make observations in an unfamiliar natural environment? * Does an outdoor education intervention embedded within the science curriculum contribute to children's connection to nature, eco-anxiety and stress? Participants will: * Receive a science education intervention 2h/week for a total of 5 weeks, either indoors or outdoors * Answer questionnaires before and after the intervention * Participate in a field day-trip after the intervention where they will be asked to observe living organisms.

Conditions

• Healthy Children

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Outdoor science education	Following Québec's mandatory curriculum, primary school teachers will provide life science lessons 2h/week for a total of 5 weeks in an outdoor setting
BEHAVIORAL	Indoor classroom-based science education	Following Québec's mandatory curriculum, primary school teachers will provide life science lessons 2h/week for a total of 5 weeks inside the classroom

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-09-02
• Primary completion: 2026-11-01
• Completion: 2026-11-01
• First posted: 2025-08-29
• Last updated: 2025-12-31

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Canada