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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

NCT07147634 · Status: RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 1000

Last updated 2025-12-31

No results posted yet for this study

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

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

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Université de Sherbrooke

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Jean-Philippe Ayotte-Beaudet, PhD · Université de Sherbrooke

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
OTHER
Masking
DOUBLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2025-09-02
Primary Completion
2026-11-30
Completion
2026-11-30

Countries

  • Canada

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07147634 on ClinicalTrials.gov