2024 / Children, Participatory Design, School

Participatory Design for Community Schoolyards: Mixed Methods Reveal Positive Engagement Despite Measures Limitations

Citation

Wolf, K. L., Senturia, K., Simmons, C., Hafferty, K., Faino, A. V., Garrett, K. A., & Tandon, P. S. (2024). Participatory design for community schoolyards: Mixed methods reveal positive engagement despite measures limitations. Ecopsychology, 16(4), 315–332. doi.org/10.1089/eco.2023.0075

Link to file

Research consistently shows that parks matter for human health and well-being at every stage of life, yet access to them is far from equal. Across and within U.S. cities, under-resourced communities often have fewer green spaces, and the ones they do have tend to be smaller and lower in quality. One promising idea is to reimagine the outdoor spaces at public schools as community parks, open to the public after hours and on weekends. The Trust for Public Land’s Community Schoolyards initiative does exactly that, working with school districts and park systems to expand park access in underserved urban communities.

This study took an engaged, team-based approach to evaluate a schoolyard-to-park transformation program in Tacoma, Washington, with a particular focus on civic intelligence — how children learn to think about and shape their shared spaces. Researchers combined community engagement with evaluation to see how elementary school students responded to participating in the design process for their own schoolyards. A pre-post, mixed-methods study of two intervention schools and one control school was carried out, though the COVID-19 pandemic forced closures, remote teaching, and multiple adaptations along the way.

Using student surveys alongside teacher interviews, the team found that quantitative measures showed little change from baseline, while the qualitative findings pointed to substantial positive developmental outcomes. Though more research is needed — especially in times less extraordinary than a global pandemic — the results suggest that an early experience in design can introduce children to new ways of thinking about their school, their community, themselves, and why parks matter.

Abstract

Extensive research demonstrates that parks are important for human health and well-being across the human life span. Research also reveals disparities in park distribution both across and within cities of the United States, with under-resourced communities often having fewer green spaces, and ones that are smaller and of lower quality. Outdoor spaces at public schools can be reimagined as community parks to welcome public use after-hours and on weekends. The Community Schoolyards initiative of The Trust for Public Land promotes engagement with school districts and park systems to expand park access in urban underserved communities. Our engaged team science approach used a natural experiment situation to evaluate multiple aspects of a schoolyard-to-park transformation program in Tacoma, Washington (USA), with a focus on civic intelligence. We combined community engagement with evaluation to understand how elementary school students responded to participatory design when generating ideas for their local schools’ schoolyard renovations. A pre–post, mixed-methods study (two intervention schools and one control school) was conducted despite COVID closures and remote teaching, requiring multiple study adaptations. Combined quantitative (student surveys) and qualitative (teacher interviews) methods were implemented to understand the impacts of a participatory design process for children. Quantitative results indicated little change from baseline, while qualitative results suggest substantial positive developmental outcomes. While additional research is needed, particularly in less extraordinary times than those presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, we found that an early design experience can introduce children to new ways of thinking about their school, their community, themselves, and the importance of parks.