School Grounds and Outdoor Spaces as a Research Niche: The Neglected Geography of Educational Environments
When researchers think about school space, they typically focus on classrooms, libraries, and laboratories, leaving the outdoor grounds—playing fields, gardens, courtyards, tupaiwin slot parking lots, and the edges between school property and surrounding neighborhoods—largely unexamined. Yet these outdoor spaces are integral to the experience of schooling, offering opportunities for play, respite, physical activity, and connection with nature, while also raising questions about safety, supervision, and the relationship between schools and their environments. A research niche centered on school grounds offers scholars the opportunity to examine an underexplored dimension of educational geography, one that connects questions of design, ecology, and social…