Outdoor Learning Environments Symposium

Portland, Ore. – Outdoor learning environments are important for encouraging healthy behaviors and improving the physical, educational and mental wellbeing of children. They provide a setting for exploration, inquiry and learning. Additionally, they empower environmental literacy and promote learning in many educational disciplines. 

Join A4LE in this two-day symposium where we will explore how to establish, gain and maintain community support for your programs. Experts in outdoor learning will present evidence regarding the components, programs, teacher training and capital improvements needed to install Green Schoolyards. We will also hear from districts as they share examples of exceptional outdoor environments.

The event will be held at the Leftbank Annex in Portland, Oregon and include site visits to schools in both Portland and Vancouver.

Go here for more information.

Featured

  • Designing for Every Mind

    Learning environments have the power to shape not just what students know, but who they become. When a school is designed with genuine empathy—for the full range of ways students think, sense, and engage with the world—it becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for growth, confidence, and belonging. That is the animating idea behind neurodiverse design, and it is one that is transforming how more architects and designers are thinking about school design.

  • Nashville Elementary School Receives LEED Gold Certification

    Goodlettsville Elementary School, part of Metro Nashville Public Schools in Nashville, Tenn., recently achieved LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), according to a news release. The 81,750-square-foot school opened in 2023 and was designed by Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC).

  • Big Horn Academy

    Big Horn Academy

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. Big Horn Academy has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Project of Distinction award in the category of New Construction.

  • California High School Opens New Classroom Building for 7th-, 8th-Graders

    Santa Rosa City Schools in Santa Rosa, Calif., recently announced the completion of a new classroom building for Piner High School. As the campus transitions to a Junior/Senior High School, the facility will play home to the school’s new population of seventh- and eighth-grade students.