Mads Bølling

Center for Clinical Research and Prevention (CCRP) & VIA University Collage

Background Education can create better opportunities for health, and vice versa. Using a so-called ‘add-in’ approach, school-based physical activity (PA) promotion and prevention of sedentary behaviours can increase pupils’ wellbeing and learning and, on the longer term, reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases. A PA ‘add-in’ approach involves...

Purpose Education outside the classroom (EOtC) is a physical activity (PA)-integrating pedagogical approach that aligns PA with the primary goals of schools and is therefore thought to present an acceptable, feasible, and efficacious model for school-based PA. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of an EOtC intervention that aims t...

Purpose The decline of school motivation over a school year is a common issue that can have negative impacts on academic achievement and children's health. Education outside the classroom (EOtC) has been shown to positively affect intrinsic school motivation and physical activity (PA) in previous studies. However, the relationship between motivatio...

Background Globally, too many children are not sufficient physically active and have unhealthy food habits with the highest prevalence seen in families with low socio-economic-status (SES). Previous research has stated that schools are considered a key setting for promoting children physical activity (PA), food literacy (FL) and to improve their so...

The purpose of this chapter is to present research results on pupils’ well-being and health when integrating regular education outside the classroom (i.e. udeskole ) into teaching. We believe that this chapter may be of particular interest to government employees (consultants), municipalities, school principals and teachers, teacher trainers and ed...

The environmental influences on early childhood development are understudied. The association between vegetation cover (i.e. trees, shrubs, grassed areas) in four key behaviour settings and socioemotional functioning was investigated in 1196 young children (2-5 years). Emotional difficulties were inversely associated with vegetation cover in the ho...

Education outside the classroom (EOtC) has become an attractive approach, not only for learning but also for health. This explorative, cross-sectional study investigated children’s sedentary behaviours (SED), light physical activity (LPA) and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) on school days with an EOtC session in green space compared to school days w...

Education outside the classroom (EOtC) is a primary school educational approach that utilizes the school’s local environment for teaching purposes. The aims of this study are 1) to examine the provision and characteristics of regular EOtC, in Danish udeskole, in Denmark in 2019 and 2) to investigate trends in the extent of the practice of regular E...

The association between vegetation cover (comprising trees, shrubs, and grassed areas) in four key behaviour settings for children aged 2-5 and socioemotional functioning was investigated (n = 1196). The results showed that emotional difficulties were inversely associated with vegetation cover in the home yard (OR: 0.81 [0.69-0.96]) and neighbourho...

In this systematic review, we summarised and evaluated the evidence for benefits of immersive nature-experience on children and adolescents' mental, physical and social health. An electronic search was performed for English language articles published between January 2004 and May 2017. Data were extracted from 84 publications that met the inclusion...

We investigated how pupils experience education outside the classroom (EOtC) as it relates to their social and academic well-being. A Danish 6th grade class were taught twice a week for nine months using EOtC. We sampled five academically low- and five high-achieving pupils from the class and conducted qualitative observations and interviews with t...

In this systematic review, we summarized and evaluated the evidence for effects of, and associations between, immersive nature-experience on mental, physical and social health promotion outcomes. Immersive nature-experience was operationalized as non-competitive activities, both sedentary and active, occurring in natural environments removed from e...

The use of education outside the classroom (EOtC) in schools is increasing; however, there are currently few studies assessing the longer-term impacts on academic achievement. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between one school-year of regular (more than 2.0 h a week) participation in EOtC and Danish primary school ch...

In this systematic review, we summarised and evaluated the evidence for benefits of immersive nature-experience on children and adolescents’ mental, physical and social health. An electronic search was performed for English language articles published between January 2004 and May 2017. Data were extracted from 84 publications that met the inclusion...

Background: An emerging field of research indicates that the use of learning environments other than the classroom can improve pupils’ academic achievement in several subjects, including their skills in mathematics. Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between Education Outside the Classroom (EOtC) and pupils’ skills in...

BACKGROUND Education Outside the Classroom (EOtC) is a teaching method that is gaining traction, aiming to promote learning and well‐being. However, research on the association between EOtC and well‐being is limited. METHODS This quasi‐experimental trial involved pupils (9–13 years) from 16 Danish public schools which implemented EOtC in some clas...

This study is the first to investigate education outside the classroom (EOtC) and pupils’ social relations in a large-sample experimental design. Social Cognitive Mapping was used to collect data on informal peer affiliation groups among pupils, aged 9–13 years, at the start and end of the school year. 332 pupils from 16 classes that were regularly...

The aim of the present study was through semi-structured interviews to explore udeskole teacher’s perceptions of motivational factors and challenges while teaching regularly outside the classroom on a weekly basis during a year. Six females and two male udeskole teachers participated and answered an interview guide containing five themes about thei...

In this study, we explored how teachers can take advantage of a ‘place’ in urban environments outside the school and thereby stimulate pupils’ situational interest in science teaching. Drawing on the Sophos research method, we conducted a single case study including film-elicited interviews. The data consisted of transcribed interviews with 4 exper...

Current research points to Personal Meaning Mapping (PMM) as a method useful in investigating students’ prior and current science knowledge. However, studies investigating PMM as a method for exploring specific knowledge dimensions are lacking. Ensuring that students are able to access specific knowledge dimensions is important, especially in scien...

Background: Education Outside the Classroom (EOTC) is a teaching method that aims to promote schoolchildren's learning, physical activity (PA), social relations, motivation, and well-being. EOTC activities are characterized by teachers using the local environment in their teaching, and involve innovative teaching methods, child-led approaches to p...

Using a conceptual model focused on purposes, aims, content, pedagogy, outcomes, and barriers, we review and interpret literature on two forms of outdoor learning: Forest Schools in England and udeskole in Denmark. We examine pedagogical principles within a comparative analytical framework and consider how adopted pedagogies reflect and refract the...