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Community Gateway

OUTsideIN Optometry Project

Outside in project
Outside in

Altering classroom environments to make them more like outdoors to reduce short-sightedness in children.

The idea

Through a project led by Professor Jeremy A Guggenheim of Cardiff School of Optometry and Vision Sciences to test the idea that altering classroom environments to make them more like the outdoors, we will reduce the incidence of short-sightedness (myopia).

The team from Cardiff, Bristol and Ireland hope to get the input of children, parents and teachers to help design alternative classroom environments. These need to be functional and practical, and not have adverse effects on learning.

Children from Year 3 to Year 5 (aged 7–10) would be likely to benefit most from an intervention to reduce the development of short-sightedness.

Progress

The opportunity was presented at the June Community Gateway Schools’ Advisory Panel and, as a result, Grangetown Primary School agreed to be a partner in the project and wrote a letter of support.

The project, if funded, will run for six months, followed by two to three year trials to assess the acceptability and effectiveness of the classroom designs developed.

Next steps

Awaiting funding outcome.