The following story originally appeared on the website for the W&M School of Education. – Ed.
In a strategic collaboration between the William & Mary School of Education, the W&M Institute for Integrative Conservation, Richmond Public Schools (RPS) and the Richmond-based outdoor education nonprofit Blue Sky Fund, Assistant Professor Kathryn Lanouette is leading a research project to better characterize and refine what outdoor environmental education can look like in urban spaces and for whom it is designed.
Funded by a seed grant from the School of Education, Lanouette’s initiative supports studying outdoor learning for third through fifth graders across 12 Richmond elementary schools, bringing academic content to life through city-based field trips. In partnership with Blue Sky Fund’s “Explorers Program,” which provides elementary students with up to 14 outdoor excursions across the city by the time they complete fifth grade, the program strays from the traditional ideas of environmental education — focusing on youth engagement and identity with the outdoor world, rather than on preservation or calls for action.
Blue Sky Fund intentionally partners with schools that have fewer resources and students who are more likely to experience poverty, said Lanouette, introducing students, many for the first time, to Richmond’s green spaces and environmental assets.
“There’s a huge inequity in who gets to take field trips, who gets access to parks and other outdoor spaces, which Blue Sky Fund seeks to address” Lanouette said. “This project is about expanding that access. It’s also about challenging the assumption that outdoor environmental learning can only happen in pristine wilderness. We’re reimagining the city as a vibrant teaching and learning space.”
Learning beyond the classroom
During the 2024-2025 school year, in collaboration with RPS partner Fairfield Court Elementary, Lanouette, her research team and Blue Sky Fund Programs Director Josh Bearman worked intensively with Academic Dean Mr. Terrell Nichols and Elementary Science Teacher lead Ms. Janet Johnson. Students collected data on a range of science topics devised by Lanouette and Bearman which are related directly to Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOLs).
On each trip, third graders were asking: ‘Where are the squirrels in the city, and what do they need to thrive?’ and collecting data on squirrel observations. Fourth grade students were documenting weather data about temperature, windspeed and barometric pressure in different locations and examining how it changes over time. Fifth graders were collecting data on the different sounds of the city and asking how they vary by location.
Drawing on his time as a classroom teacher and science curriculum specialist with RPS, Bearman noted: “due to the time constraints of the classroom, students are rarely asked to collect and analyze their own data, and are even more rarely given the opportunity to experience the concepts and ideas they are supposed to learn about in science in the real world. Blue Sky Fund is working to remedy both of these circumstances, and Dr. Lanouette’s contributions have been invaluable in providing theoretical legitimacy and current best practices.”
When the program began in 2023, Lanouette and Bearman noticed that not all teachers were able to use the data collected, but a few were able to incorporate the children’s data into various classroom activities. The goal the following year was to support consistent classroom implementation. To this end, students now use paper journals before and after their trips, drawing, writing and capturing their observations and questions. Back in the classroom, teachers guide them in creating visual data displays, including bar charts and pictographs, and lead “data talks” where students analyze trends and patterns.
“This past school year we really focused on two things,” Lanouette said. “One was the data journals. The other was supporting teachers in leading data talks — so after a trip, they asked students: ‘What do you notice? What stands out in the data? Are there patterns?’ It’s a powerful way to connect outdoor experiences with academic math, science and literacy reasoning.”
A research-practice partnership in motion
Now in its third year, the project exemplifies what researchers call a “research-practice partnership,” a model where researchers and practitioners collaborate closely to address shared problems of practice. For Lanouette, it has meant tuning in to the needs and goals of Blue Sky Fund educators, RPS teachers and school administrators.
“I’m learning how to listen,” Lanouette said. “To ask about the goals of each partner and then deeply consider how our work can support those shared goals in meaningful ways.”
To evaluate the effectiveness of the project, Lanouette has also been leading a yearlong research study with ten RPS teachers who serve as liaisons for Blue Sky Fund trips. Through professional development sessions, interviews and surveys, the team is tracking how journals and data talks are being implemented, incorporating teachers’ feedback for improving these tools and tracking student response.
Lanouette is joined in her work by two William & Mary undergraduate students who are gaining hands-on experience in educational research and environmental education. Sydney Foxx ’28 is participating through the Institute for Integrative Conservation’s Conservation Research Program. Her work focuses on how children form connections to nature and how those connections can be nurtured through urban environmental experiences. Mandy Hoy ’27, a double major in History and Secondary Education, has been part of Lanouette’s research group since 2024. Through “EDUC 492: Research in Education,” a course Lanouette designed, Hoy is earning credit for her work analyzing teacher interviews and developing resources that connect Blue Sky Fund trips to broader city-wide citizen science initiatives.
“Sydney is exploring how to measure those inseparable emotional and cognitive connections — how we capture learning that isn’t just about a test score,” said Lanouette. “Mandy’s been essential in helping us make sense of what we’re hearing from teachers. She’s also helping shape the tools and materials that will make this work sustainable long-term.”
Looking ahead
Lanouette is pursuing additional funding to expand and sustain the work. The goal, she says, is not only to support students’ social and academic growth on outdoor environmental education trips, but to better understand and document how outdoor, experiential learning happens in real time and how to interweave it more widely across public schools.
As the partnership continues to grow, Lanouette envisions scaling this model of data-rich, urban environmental learning to schools across the Richmond City region, promoting equal access to hands-on science and data literacy for students throughout the Commonwealth.