Although the earliest schools were certainly located in the open air, it has long been taken for granted that school-age learners spend most of their time in classrooms, insulated from the wind, rain, sunshine, and other whims of nature. Only recently has the idea begun to spread that such insulation hinders important aspects of learning. Lacking contact with the natural world, children are unable to expore their connectedness with nature and with the complex network of relationships that surrounds, interweaves with and supports human societies. In the present day in particular, when children play less often out of doors and spend little time in genuinely natural settings, educators run the risk of reinforcing this cultural tendency towards alienation from the ecological basis of our existence.

So what is to be done? Over the decades there have been experiments in a number of countries with schools and programs in which nature plays a more central role. A few of these attempts will be reviewed in the lecture, with an emphasis on the positive potential of such efforts, but also on the various barriers and traps that undermine their impact or stand in the way of more widespread adoption. Subsequently, the talk will focus on a new project in British Columbia, Canada, which I helped to plan and launch in collaboration with a school district outside of Vancouver. This is a “school without walls”, in which some 60 students spend their days learning in woods, on riverbanks, in municipal buildings, and in various other places unconnected to traditional school infrastructure. The entire curriculum for the year – the same as is taught in traditional classrooms – thus unfolds in close contact with the natural and human histories of the area.

The school opened (so to speak) in September 2011, so that it is possible to report on its first year of operation in addition to the prior three years of preparation. A team of researchers has observed and documented the learning experiences of the children, the professional development of the teachers, and the evolving opinions and observations of the parents. Positive experiences and indications abound, but so do significant challenges where the adaptation of teaching methods and the assessment of learning “in place” are concerned. A few conclusions will be drawn as to the most urgent priorities for further research and practice, and advice will be offered