school yard a place where learning makes fun national and cultural legacy
Do you want to know how can you enjoy and learn though subjects like math, construction, mining, welding etc.? Well come to our future school yard where we will have a classroom near a water fountain and lots of greens whose color will relax and calm students down while they smell some beautiful flowers and learn things needed for their future. After the though work they will able to relax, chat and make new friends or loves on the banks in the park under the shade of beautiful trees.
Local
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Zenica-Doboj Canton, Municipality Kakanj
Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
Yes
As a representative of an organization, in partnership with other organisations
Name of the organisation(s): Vocational highschool Kakanj Type of organisation: Other public institution First name of representative: Almir Last name of representative: Delić Gender: Male Nationality: Bosnia and Herzegovina Function: School director assistant Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Šehida 32 Town: Kakanj Postal code: 72240 Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina Direct Tel:+387 32 465-278 E-mail:msskakanj@gmail.com
Municipality Kakanj has very few green areas, as it is mainly industrially oriented small town in the heart of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this small town we have three highschools, one of them is ours Vocational. In it, students learn for different trades that will be needed for the future of this town. In order to motivate these students, to make their learning experience more relaxing and to make them be more interested in green and our planet we decided to turn our devastated schoolyard into an open classroom. By doing this we would increase the quality of the time spent by students at school and satisfy the needs to spend time outside for the students as well as the teachers. The idea is to make students also learn by doing this transformation as it will be done by the students that are educating themselves for construction technicians , mechanical trade (welders and locksmith) and electrical trade and all the greens will be planted and nourished by our ecological group, who will be in charge to take care of the yard in the future. The aim of this project is to, also, change the monotony of the teaching and learning process, raise the students´ awareness by educating them how important is to protect nature and cultural legacy and to spend time outdoors in the nature. Students will be able to learn through the method of observation, they will be able to notice the changes in the nature and interdisciplinary approach will help students to understand and deal with problems in a better way and get to easier problem solving. Through this project students will be able to see what we have done to our nature and how can we help her and do what it takes to have the greens rule the town again. This schoolyard will also enable students to spend their free time
, on breaks, in a secure and peaceful area and thus will help them to relax and get ready for the obligations that follow. Their parents will also be serene knowing that their children are safe and secure.
Education
Nature
Awareness
Safety
Legacy
At this time the only schoolyard we have is asphalt-covered area near the bussie street and is not safe or secure or attractive for students that will make them get out of the school. Also, continuous learning in indoors classrooms is creating monotonous and boring atmosphere that does not help the learning nor teaching process. If we turn devastated area near our school into a green oasis it will improve children´s well-being, learning and off-time while contributing their communities´ ecological health and climate resilience. We want to work to change the paradigm for school ground design, use, and management so all students will have access to the natural world in the place that they already visit on a daily basis. We will try to infuse outdoor learning and ecological design into the education system. We would like to teach the next generation to live more lightly on the Earth-shaping places where urbanization and nature coexist and natural systems are prominent and visible, for all to enjoy. This area will be used for our green club that can start small, recycling the waste in the park, planting the flowers and greens and then even go big like solar panels that will charge the lamps used for lightening of the schoolyard. Later we can even plan to build a vegetable greenhouse and our students that learn how to become kitchen chefs can use the vegetables to prepare their meals that they make in a practice class. We can also start composting by adding the compost bin to our yard. We can also have a garden filled with native perennials designed to capture runoff rainwater and recycle it back into the ground so it becomes super beneficial to the environment and it also reduces pollution and preserves the sewer system. We can also install rain barrels that will catch rainwater to feed our school garden. By reusing the water we will reduce the amount of water that ends up in the sewer system, plus fresh water is better for plants.
Green schoolyards bring nature more fully into our children's´ learning and play environment, helping them thrive both in and out of the classroom. They combine green stormwater infrastructure engineering principles with research how nature can foster cognitive development and physical and mental health to create benefit-rich outdoor spaces. Green schoolyard improve academic performance, reduce stress and behavioral challenges, encourage healthy physical activity and more. Outdoor learning is especially beneficial for students facing poverty, racism, and trauma, helping to close educational gap. We think that our modern design will encourage students to be proud when enrolling into our school. In the center we will have a three-store high fountain whose water cascades will make sounds that will help students to calm down. Lots of flowers and greens will make students feel relaxed and one with nature. Modern designed banks will make students get out of the school and eat their lunches outside and hang out with potential friends and not to stay alone and look at their phones. This will all create positive emotions and reduce school stress and it will also teach children to treat nature with care. We can all agree that green schoolyards give children the opportunity to experience a healthy outdoor environment as part of their daily routine. They promote imaginative and explorative thinking and problem solving. They also have therapeutic properties which help improve mental well-being and contribute to calmer children with decreased negative emotions. Studies have shown that children that actively engage with nature have better grades, higher test scores and enhanced knowledge on a variety of subjects. Greenhouse schoolyards can help children focus and regulate their behavior and attention patterns. It also creates culture that learns to love nature and to incorporate it to industrial town.
New research suggests that switching from asphalt to green, park-like schoolyards brings economic benefits in addition to public health improvements. Green schoolyards are appreciated by educators because they help kinesthetic learners, are close to classrooms, and offer diverse experiences for students to connect lessons to the natural world. Outdoor learning also leads to healthier teachers and reduces burnout. Successful green schoolyard is the result of local collaboration, we engage educators, parents and students. Green schoolyard provides public safety-example of COVID19, increases academic performance, enhances environmental literacy and ensures equity in learning. Boring and grey landscape can be changed into thoughtful zone for learning, playing, socializing and relaxing to better serve current students and all the future generations. A green schoolyard is a space that can benefit not only the school community but the environment as well. It can be a living system that is integrated into the school day, creating reciprocal benefits for both the students and the natural world. More green schoolyard mean less asphalt, more trees and more stormwater captured. They can help air quality- which is very bad in this town due to so many factories built-and urban cooling. Green schoolyards also provide essential food, water, shelter, and space for local and migrating wildlife of different animal species. Successful green schoolyards are the product of many hands that harness the collaborative potential of school communities. This cooperation among community members reinforces interdependence, local self-reliance and a sense of community creating useful, beautiful places at low cost.
A schoolyard designed with a community´s unique needs and characteristics allows a neighborhood to thrive. During the school they act as places for learning and socializing. During out of school hours they become valuable local parks. Green schoolyard are multi-functional school grounds, designed by and for the entire school community, that includes places for students, teachers, parents and community members to play, learn, explore and grow. Our schoolyard will include outdoor classroom, native garden, stormwater capture, trail, trees, flowers, banks and a fountain. Citizens will benefit as they will have a great places for their children to go to and learn and also they will be secure at home knowing their children are spending quality time at a safe place away from traffic and bussie streets. We can also use this space as places to watch movies or read books or educate citizens of our town about what we can do to protect our planet Earth, we can have workshops and special events on planet Earth day etc. They will also benefit from this as they will know that if in the future something like COVID-19 appears their children will be able to have classes as we will have a place to do that. When parents, teachers and students work together to improve their school and grounds, they foster clear relationships that in turn support student achievement and wellbeing. It can shift the way our society views these important, shared public spaces and support schools efforts with the energy of community partners.
This project is done entirely by people from our school, director and educators that work there and students enrolled in our school.
In our designed we have incorporated almost all the trades that are being learned in our school. First, our teachers of construction have made the entire project. Then our economical teachers have calculated the costs for this project. Almost entire project will be done by our students that are being educated for electricians, locksmiths, welders, kitchen chefs and the project will entirely be led and taken care of by our ecological group.
There is no innovative character, as there are many green schoolyards and open classrooms in the world, but in our town there is none so this will be something new for town of Kakanj.
Our opinion is that this entire project can be done in other schools as well. In town Kakanj we have two elementary schools and three highschools and none of them has open classroom nor a modern, green schoolyard. We can encourage our colleagues to do the same and thus have green areas and more town parks enriching this mainly industrial town.
Outdoor learning in natural areas can be an enrichment for children, enabling them to learn beyond the borders of their classroom. Green schoolyard can be used for both formal and informal learning. They can make important contributions to children´s emotional, cognitive, social and physical development. Also in it learning comes alive through kinesthetic, sensory and experiential learning style. Teachers become facilitators of learning and guide children. We think that green schoolyards can be used for personal growth and personal reflection of both teachers and students and it can help teaching strategy and methodology and classroom management. We are learning how to compose meaningful places, places that are integral. We wanted to have a safe place, we learned from global crisis during COVID-19 and we wonted to have an attractive place for our students to want to come to school, learn and relax there so that is way we created this project. Schoolyard greening creates rich environments that connect nature and environmental sustainability with place-based learning, hands-on curricula, and imaginative play, while building community. Green schoolyards teach ecological literacy, invigorate children's bodies, open and inspire young minds, and knit our communities more closely together in the process.
Green schoolyards often provide one of the few opportunities for children to learn and relax outdoors in the place where they spend most of their time and that they visit on daily basis. The outbreak of COVID-19 across the globe has radically impacted our lives. Climate crisis has also contributed to this unsteady feelings. It s well know that teaching and learning happen best in relationship with others and rest of the natural world. Green schoolyards address important environmental issues in ways that even young children can participated in and understand. Student will be empowered to repair, enriching their own corner of the world with their ingenuity. Well designed green schoolyards model the ecologically-rich cities we would like to inhabit. We will teach the next generation how to live more lightly on the Earth-shaping places where urbanization and nature coexist and natural systems are prominent and visible for all to enjoy. We will inspire students and our community with organic food production, wildlife habitat, energy conservation and production, rainwater collection and management, sustainable design practices and creative artwork. And maybe by doing all this we will change the air in our town as it is one of the most polluted towns in Bosnia and Herzegovina and wider due to all the factories there- coal mine, cement plant, thermal power plant, pharmacy plant, factory furniture etc.
Our plan is to first install everything needed for classes to be held there. Then we will plant the grass. Then build a fence and have it painted. We will build and install the benches and tables. We will install recycling bins, compost bin and stormwater barrels. We will install video cameras to protect the schoolyard from possible vandals and lightening bodies. We will make the entrance form the school, build a fountain and plant additional greens and flowers. We will pave the path for students to walk on. Dynamic of the works to be done depends on the money amount we receive. In the future we will build a greenhouse and a movie theatre for workshops with our citizens where we will teach them how to save planet Earth.
By building this schoolyard and by letting teachers work in it and have their classes there we can make them think how they can turn their classes green and get the idea about topics relevant for preservation of planet Earth.
