Learning Outside the Classroom

Learning outside the classroom is promoted heavily in the UK and especially in Wales due to the Foundation Phase in primary education. Schools all over Wales are being urged to take advantage of the outdoor environments all around as there are many benefits that can be achieved by taking learning outdoors. Reports from Estyn show that children under five learn better in an outdoor environment.

Opportunities for children in Wales to learn outdoors are not being taken full advantage of. The U.K has numerous different educational sites to visit, all which promote different types of learning and can be linked in with the majority of the curriculum. These educational sites include:

•  St Fagans National History Museum. They offer a range of different practical learning opportunities dependent on the age of the child such as role playing which allows the child to connect with the situation more. More information on its learning opportunities can be found on the website
• Bristol Zoo. They offer a range of educational sessions allowing children to become more aware of wild animals and the environment, these learning experiences cover a wide range of important topics which can be found here
• Techniquest. Techniquest allows children to develop their understanding of the world of science through play making learning interesting and fun. Educational programmes available can be found here

                             Here is a video of the types of activities that take place
                                      on an outdoor learning trip to Techniques

Not only should educational sites be used but the surrounding environments should also be taken into consideration, for example a lesson about the beach should be conducted on a beach. Taking children to the surrounding they are learning about allows them to connect with the topic and allows them to build their own experiences therefore creating a deeper understanding that could be achieved otherwise.

There are also school that have designated time to do activities such as these. An example of this would be Forest schools where they have designated time every week for the children to go into a forest and learn from practical activities taken place there.

The advantages of outdoor learning are:

• The child's general well-being, behaviour and knowledge and understanding of the world improve
• a child's fitness will improve by being physically active rather than sat down in a classroom 
• Children are able to experience things first hand therefore making their understanding stronger
• The problems children are being faced with are in the form of real life experiences therefore giving the child the understanding of why the information they are learning is useful
• Children are more likely to look after the environment if they are raised to respect it

Disadvantages of outdoor learning are:

• The high risk factor, children are often in contact with dangerous tools which parents may not be comfortable with 
• Outdoor learning cannot be easily assessed therefore making it difficult to see what the child has actually learnt 
• There is insufficient funding for outdoor learning often meaning parents have to pay the bill. This can result in parents not wanting their child to attend outdoor learning sessions and therefore miss out

References

Estyn (2011) Outdoor Learning

file:///C:/Users/S1046-USER/Downloads/Outdoor_learning_an_evaluation_of_learning_in_the_outdoors_for_children_under_five_in_the_Foundation_Phase_-_September_2011.pdf (Accessed: 09 December 2014)

Forest Schools (2014) Forest Schools Education.

http://www.forestschools.com/ (Accessed: 09 December 2014)