FEATURE FOCUS: OUTDOOR LEARNING
The great outdoors A
s schools slowly reopen in England, and certain primary year groups return to the
classroom, in the first of our features looking at outdoor education this month, we’re delighted to hear from Sam Jackson, founder of Sc.out.ed (Science & Outdoor Education Specialists), and education author Adam Bushnell, who have collaborated to produce ‘100 Ideas for Primary Teachers: Outdoor Learning’, published by Bloomsbury, and who set out here some lovely ideas for teaching younger children outdoors.
Adam Bushnell
In these unprecedented and uncertain times in education, the return to school will be daunting for children and teachers alike. Confines and restrictions in classrooms and halls across the UK means that there has never been a better time to explore your largest classroom, the outdoors. Teaching outdoors provides a stimulus that cannot be found in the classroom and also acts as a stimulus for further learning back in the classroom. As well as being stimulating, outdoor learning often engages children that might not necessarily be engaged in an ordinary classroom environment. Of course, we need to consider the appropriate
risks involved such as using tools, cooking on fires and so on but these are all valuable lessons to be learnt as part of learning outdoors. These are key skills and concepts that children will use for the rest of their lives and they can learn them in a practical and meaningful way. When children practise by doing then they are also improving their physical and motor skills too. Both physical health and mental health is so
Sam Jackson
important for all of us all and helping children to build a relationship with nature can offer opportunities to develop both. When children are active in their learning then this enables them to develop a positive attitude towards what they are doing and builds their self-esteem. When the achieve things then this grows their confidence. A
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lot of outdoor learning is child-led which helps to grow their mindset into resilience. When they succeed in their activities then they want to go on and learn more. Teamwork and co-operation with peers also features heavily in this type of education. This goes hand in hand with speaking and listening too. They have to communicate with one another when making twig towers or creating an obstacle course. Therefore, language and vocabulary skills are constantly being developed. In our book ‘100 Ideas for Primary Teachers:
Outdoor Learning’ published by Bloomsbury we have divided the book into 10 sections. Each section has ideas for different areas of the primary curriculum. These are; Writing Fiction, Writing Non-Fiction, Food Technology, Science, Maths, History, Geography, Art, EYFS and Team Work/Co-operation. We chose these 10 areas as we wanted to cover as many curriculum areas as we could in a varied way for teachers to use immediately with their children. All of the ideas can be tweaked to fit the individual needs of each child in the primary school. For example, the ideas in the EYFS section can be adapted for KS1 and beyond. The World War 2 activity of building a bomb shelter in the History section can be used in Early Years with some simple differentiation.
But, where to start? Sc.out.ed recommend these three top tips:
• A ‘base camp’. Somewhere for children to sit so teachers can give instructions and to gather around during and after activities. A simple circle of logs works best - everyone can see each other and if you are demonstrating an activity, the children can see what you are doing. As there are cooking activities in this book they also double up as a ‘fire circle’. (Ensure the circle is at least four metres wide with a gap left for a way in and out).
• Be prepared! Have a storage shed near your June 2020
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