The Great Outdoors: Unplugging Our Children

Data Collection Plan

Research Question/Topic: What is the nature of Pre-Kindergarteners free play, both at school and at home? How does screen time affect that free play when out in nature? What happens to that free play when deliberate nature play is introduced? Data Source 1 Pre- and Postinterviews with Pre-K children Timeline/Plan for Collection Pre-interviews done with children who volunteer the week of 10/21. Post interviews done with those same children the week of 11/18. Purpose/Intended Learning Pre-interviews will be done to find out what children like to do during their free play both at school and at home. Post-interviews will be done to gauge whether nature play intervention has affected the types of free play in which they engage. Pre-intervention questionnaires will provide initial information about what types of free play the children engage in during family time. Questions will include access to parks and natural areas, amount of time spent in front of screens, and general nature of free play at home. Post-intervention

Pre- and Postintervention Parent Questionnaires

Pre-intervention questionnaires to be sent out the week of 10/7 and collected by 10/21. Post-intervention questionnaires to be sent out the week of 11/18 to be collected by 11/25.

Pre- and Postintervention Teacher meetings

Pre-intervention meetings to take place the week of 10/21. Post-intervention meetings to take place the week of 11/18.

Observations of childrens indoor and outdoor free play and corresponding notes

Photographs and/or video recordings of children at play

Five pre-intervention observations done the week of 10/21. Five post-intervention observations done the week of 11/18. Ten observations total. Photos and/or video to be taken during preand post-intervention observations.

Literature Review

Entire literature review will be complete by 10/11.

questionnaires will provide feedback regarding any differences parents are seeing at home, either in screen time or nature of free play. Meetings will be held with teachers to find out what they think free play looks like in their classrooms, to what extent nature play is included on a normal basis, and to gather any conclusions and/or changes they notice after the intervention. These observations will provide a before and after snapshot of free play in PreKindergarten in order for a comparison to be made between the two. Photos and/or videos of children at play both before and after the intervention will provide examples of types of play in which they engage. A review of the current literature on screen time, big body/outdoor play, nature play and technology in early childhood will provide a broad range of support for this research. It will be used as a generalization of information against which my research can be measured.