When COVID-19 was declared a worldwide pandemic early in 2020, health officials provided direction to people about how to stay safe during the pandemic to prevent the transmission of the COVID-19 virus. They encouraged social distancing measures to limit the spread of the virus, and websites like that of the Mayo Clinic (2020) explained that being outdoors was quite safe if social distancing was maintained.
“When you're outside, fresh air is constantly moving, dispersing these droplets. So you're less likely to breathe in enough of the respiratory droplets containing the virus that causes COVID-19 to become infected,” the website states.
As the public health emergency was declared over, discussions then turned to how to resume more normal activities, such as students returning to public schools, which included the notion of classes being held outside. It is tempting to think that outdoor schools were a new creation, but in Western society, the idea of outdoor classes was first established in the early part of the 20th century during tuberculosis outbreaks.
On History.com, Sarah Pruitt (2020) writes that “the open-air school movement was launched in Germany in 1904, when Dr. Bernhard Bendix, a leading German pediatrician, and Hermann Neufert, a Berlin school inspector, opened the first Waldschule für kränkliche Kinder (or "forest school for sickly children") in Charlottenburg, near Berlin.” The idea proliferated across Europe and into the United States and Canada. However, Pruitt also points out that outdoor schools were not only for the sick, as “doctors and educators believed that the crowded classrooms and lack of fresh air in many schools helped spread the disease. To keep kids healthy, they decided to take school outside.”
...the idea of outdoor classes was first established in the early part of the 20th century during tuberculosis outbreaks.
In 1918, the Spanish flu was introduced by soldiers returning to Canada from World War I in Europe. An article published by the University of Toronto states that in the two years that ensued, the “influenza became one of the deadliest pandemics in history, killing 50,000 Canadians and an estimated 20 to 40 million people worldwide, particularly those who were young and healthy,” (Mlynaryk and Makovac 2020). Again, schools were charged with ensuring that the conditions at schools were safe for children, and this included the establishment of outdoor classrooms for students.
While outdoor schools can be beneficial for many reasons, including student well-being, in times of pandemic, both past and present, outdoor schools provide safe settings where students can learn together with their classmates and their teachers.
References
Mayo Clinic. 2020. “Safe Outdoor Activities during the Covid-19 Pandemic.” Mayo Clinic website. www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/safe-activi… (accessed February 4, 2021).
Mlynaryk J., and D. Makovac. 2020. “Looking Back: The 1918 Flu Pandemic and its Impact on Education in Ontario.” Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto website. www.oise.utoronto.ca/oise/News/2020/The_1918_flu_pandemic_and_education… (accessed February 4, 2021).
Pruitt S. 2020. “When Fears of Tuberculosis Drove an Open-Air School Movement.” History.com website. www.history.com/news/school-outside-tuberculosis (accessed February 4, 2021).