Learning Landscapes Research
Learning Landscapes' playgrounds touch many aspects of daily life - from increasing kids' exercise during recess, to producing food for families through the community garden, to hosting an after-school outdoor play. Our research seeks to examine how increasing civic engagement and improving public spaces affects the following topics:
Effectiveness of Learning Landscapes
Center for Research Strategies (2003). Evaluation of the Learning Landscapes Project. Funded by the Learning Landscapes Alliance.
Neighborhood
Yost, Bambi, Sonia Di Carlo, and Jon Holmberg (2004). Spatial Analysis of the Learning Landscape Initiative’s Impact on Graffiti in Denver Neighborhoods and on Denver’s Public Elementary School Playgrounds. Paper presented at a meeting with Denver Public Schools and the Learning Landscape Alliance, May. Denver, CO: University of Colorado Denver, Architecture and Planning Department.
Wridt, Pamela (2006). Children's Guide to Active Living: An analysis of children's use, negotiation and perceptions of their local environment for physical activity. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Nutrition & Physical Activity
Belansky, Elaine (2006-present). What's Working for Low Income Colorado Students: A Rural-Urban Approach to Prevent Childhood Obesity. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Brink, Lois and Sandra Howard (2006). Developing an Integrated Approach to Nutrition and Physical Activity. Funded by COPAN at the Colorado Department of Public and Environment.
Brink, Lois, and Bambi Yost (2005). Evaluating Opportunities to Utilize Learning Landscapes to Increase Physical Activity at Denver Public Schools. Funded by the Caring for Colorado Foundation.
Kingston, Beverly and Lois Brink (2005). If You Build It, Will They Come? Learning Landscapes' Effects on Children's Exercise. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Kingston, Beverly (2007). Barriers to Walking to School in Westwood Neighborhood, a Case Study of Munroe Elementary. Funded by Colorado Department of Transportation Safe Routes to School Education Grant.
Yost, Bambi (2006). Rethinking Playgrounds for Physical Education - A Preliminary Evaluation of the Effects of Policy, Design Standards, Curriculum, Risk Management, and the Built Environment on the Physical Activity of Children at Three Denver Public Schools. Poster presented at the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation Active Living Conference, March, 2006.
Schools
Brink, Lois A., Jessica Zarowitz, and Rachel Cleaves (2008). Students and School Community Perspectives on the Learning Landscapes Playgrounds. Funded by Denver Public Schools.
Social Context
Davidson, Kristen, Jarrod Hanson, Brook Prichard, and Adam Van Iwaarden (2007). "An Analysis of the Use of Power on the Playground." Submitted for EDUC 8250 Qualitative Research Methods, Dr. Margaret Eisenhart, CU-Boulder, Fall 2007.
Domingue, Ben, Rachel Prosser, Molly Shea, Kate Starbird, and Chao Wang (2007). You're Not the Boss of Me: An Observation Study of Peer-to-Peer Negotiation on the Playground. Submitted for EDUC 8250 Qualitative Research Methods, Dr. Margaret Eisenhart, CU-Boulder, Fall 2007.
Jackson, Darrel, Julia Kantor, Janet-Lisa Mieritz, Mike Ross. (2007) Playing with Gender: An Exploration of Borderwork and Crossing on the Learning Landscapes Playground. Submitted for EDUC 8250 Qualitative Research Methods, Dr. Margaret Eisenhart, CU-Boulder, Fall 2007.