A growing body of research points to the importance of direct exposure to nature for healthy childhood development and physical and emotional health, so it was a pleasure to explore this concept at the A4LE Association for Learning Environments 2022 Annual Regional Conference last week.

Together with Janice Szymanski, AIA Executive Program Manager of DCPS Modernizations Capital Construction Services, DC Department of General Services, and Nicholas Williams, AIA Director of Facility Planning and Design for District of Columbia Public Schools, we took part in the “Learning in the Great Outdoors: Lessons from an Urban Campus” session. The discussion explored the design of our Capitol Hill Montessori at Logan school and the lessons the project provides in how outdoor education and nature-oriented play spaces can be introduced into traditional K-12 educationl settings through direct application of Montessori Design Principles.