It is not difficult for students or teachers to get excited about going outside to learn. Resources about the benefits of outdoor education are easy to find. But what is outdoor education? That depends on where you are.
In North America, the term outdoor education is often synonymous with adventure education, expeditionary and wilderness programming. So outdoor education normally assumes going off-site to a natural ecosystem destination where there are opportunities to do zip lining, high-rope climbing, and even wild water rafting. The point of this kind of outdoor education is team building and character building.
If the term outdoor education is not used in that first way, then it likely refers to environmental education, the kind that takes students off-site on a class trip to a conservation area or other park where they experience programming in a natural setting. The point is to learn about creation and the importance of caring for it, and to foster a general sense of wonder and curiosity.
A third term interchanged with the term outdoor education is place-based education. This is geared especially to high school education. The point of place-based education is to provide students with the knowledge and experiences needed to be well informed about positive citizenship in their community, country and the world. This is the thinking behind many of today's high school travel opportunities. Obviously students go off-site for this kind of outdoor education.*
It is in the UK, and in particular in Scotland, that the term outdoor education refers to outdoor learning; that is simply learning outside at school. The point of outdoor education there is curriculum learning in a setting other than the classroom, benefiting from fresh air and hopefully the wonder of nature while learning, and from a more active, hands-on way of learning. Students don't necessarily leave the school property; instead, the property might be modified to allow for learning outside well.
Un-Nature Walk
Time Required: 30 minutes
Materials Required: A bag containing ~15-20 objects collected from the classroom. Colors should range from neutral or green (e.g. crayon) to brightly fluorescent (e.g. highlighter), and from small (eraser) to large (e.g. exercise book). Instructions: You’ll need to identify a well-defined path that students will be able to follow -maybe put out cones, or make a treasure hunt-style map?
Before the students arrive in the area count the number of objects in the bag, then walk the path and ‘litter’ the area with your objects. For added fun you can suspend them from branches (we humans rarely look up!), insert pencils partially into the ground, etc.
Next, gather your students at the beginning of the trail, and tell them that there are some un-natural objects spread along the trail. The students’ challenge is to find as many of them as they can. Ask students to walk slowly, look actively, and not point out items to other students (as this is a friendly competition). They can use their fingers to keep count of the objects they see.
Then lead the way on the trail. Walk very slowly, and model quiet looking for your students. Gather students at the end of the trail, and ask them “If you saw more than three objects, put up your hand”. Next ask them if they saw 5, then 7, etc. until you exceed the number of items on the trail! Ask them “If you saw the pink flamingo, put up your hand” (If you didn’t actually put out a flamingo, this will tell you which students are being overly-imaginative!). Ask students if they saw specific, hard-to-see items. Were some items harder to see than others? (Yes - because they are camouflaged. If necessary, define this word for students). Is it easy to tell the human items that don’t belong in nature? (YES! It’s best not to litter - for environmental and aesthetic reasons). Encourage students to walk the trail again and look for items they missed the first time.
Extension: Your students could set up a simple nature trail for other students to walk during recess. They could also use this as an opportunity to ask other classes to help in the quest against littering!
Bugs R Us
Time Required: 45 minutes
Materials Required: This activity is best done on a warm day between May and October. You’ll need 5-6 white fabric sheets or towels, blank paper and pencils, journals, and magnifying glasses. Optional: magnifying boxes, Petri dishes (with a top that can be closed), nets, margarine containers, etc.
Instructions: Take students outdoors to an area of low shrubs and short trees. Ask them if they think there might be any animals hiding in the shrubbery. Tell students that today’s activity will focus on trying to catch some of these animals - AND to release them back unharmed at the end of the day.
Lay a white sheet below the bushes and have students rustle the bush so that anything clinging to the branches or leaves will fall out. If you find anything, carefully capture the mini-beast, show how items like magnifying glasses can be used, and briefly model the observation skills you would like students to use. You may wish to start a drawing, showing students the level of detail you expect from them, and modelling how to draw things bigger than they actually are.
Extension: Insects and other bugs can also be caught in long grass with a large-mouthed net or even that white sheet. Swishing the net energetically in grass or shrubs will frequently turn up something interesting.
In North America, the term outdoor education is often synonymous with adventure education, expeditionary and wilderness programming. So outdoor education normally assumes going off-site to a natural ecosystem destination where there are opportunities to do zip lining, high-rope climbing, and even wild water rafting. The point of this kind of outdoor education is team building and character building.
If the term outdoor education is not used in that first way, then it likely refers to environmental education, the kind that takes students off-site on a class trip to a conservation area or other park where they experience programming in a natural setting. The point is to learn about creation and the importance of caring for it, and to foster a general sense of wonder and curiosity.
A third term interchanged with the term outdoor education is place-based education. This is geared especially to high school education. The point of place-based education is to provide students with the knowledge and experiences needed to be well informed about positive citizenship in their community, country and the world. This is the thinking behind many of today's high school travel opportunities. Obviously students go off-site for this kind of outdoor education.*
It is in the UK, and in particular in Scotland, that the term outdoor education refers to outdoor learning; that is simply learning outside at school. The point of outdoor education there is curriculum learning in a setting other than the classroom, benefiting from fresh air and hopefully the wonder of nature while learning, and from a more active, hands-on way of learning. Students don't necessarily leave the school property; instead, the property might be modified to allow for learning outside well.
Whatever term is used, outdoor learning is currently enjoying a revival because of concerns that children spend 90+% of their time indoors, and the related recognition of benefits that children gain from a more active, outdoor style of learning.
Maybe your school's site is not yet very well equipped for outdoor learning. Keep in that it took Coombs Primary School, the school featured in the video, 30+ years to get their school grounds to how it is now. More about adapting your school grounds coming up here on Wonder. For now, maybe you can whet your students' (your?) appetite with a sprinkling of short field trips. The field trip ideas below come from a freely available publication of the Global Environmental and Outdoor Education Council of the Alberta Teachers’ Association, in partnership with the Calgary Zoo.
Un-Nature Walk
Time Required: 30 minutes
Materials Required: A bag containing ~15-20 objects collected from the classroom. Colors should range from neutral or green (e.g. crayon) to brightly fluorescent (e.g. highlighter), and from small (eraser) to large (e.g. exercise book). Instructions: You’ll need to identify a well-defined path that students will be able to follow -maybe put out cones, or make a treasure hunt-style map?
Before the students arrive in the area count the number of objects in the bag, then walk the path and ‘litter’ the area with your objects. For added fun you can suspend them from branches (we humans rarely look up!), insert pencils partially into the ground, etc.
Next, gather your students at the beginning of the trail, and tell them that there are some un-natural objects spread along the trail. The students’ challenge is to find as many of them as they can. Ask students to walk slowly, look actively, and not point out items to other students (as this is a friendly competition). They can use their fingers to keep count of the objects they see.
Then lead the way on the trail. Walk very slowly, and model quiet looking for your students. Gather students at the end of the trail, and ask them “If you saw more than three objects, put up your hand”. Next ask them if they saw 5, then 7, etc. until you exceed the number of items on the trail! Ask them “If you saw the pink flamingo, put up your hand” (If you didn’t actually put out a flamingo, this will tell you which students are being overly-imaginative!). Ask students if they saw specific, hard-to-see items. Were some items harder to see than others? (Yes - because they are camouflaged. If necessary, define this word for students). Is it easy to tell the human items that don’t belong in nature? (YES! It’s best not to litter - for environmental and aesthetic reasons). Encourage students to walk the trail again and look for items they missed the first time.
Extension: Your students could set up a simple nature trail for other students to walk during recess. They could also use this as an opportunity to ask other classes to help in the quest against littering!
Bugs R Us
Time Required: 45 minutes
Materials Required: This activity is best done on a warm day between May and October. You’ll need 5-6 white fabric sheets or towels, blank paper and pencils, journals, and magnifying glasses. Optional: magnifying boxes, Petri dishes (with a top that can be closed), nets, margarine containers, etc.
Instructions: Take students outdoors to an area of low shrubs and short trees. Ask them if they think there might be any animals hiding in the shrubbery. Tell students that today’s activity will focus on trying to catch some of these animals - AND to release them back unharmed at the end of the day.
Lay a white sheet below the bushes and have students rustle the bush so that anything clinging to the branches or leaves will fall out. If you find anything, carefully capture the mini-beast, show how items like magnifying glasses can be used, and briefly model the observation skills you would like students to use. You may wish to start a drawing, showing students the level of detail you expect from them, and modelling how to draw things bigger than they actually are.
Extension: Insects and other bugs can also be caught in long grass with a large-mouthed net or even that white sheet. Swishing the net energetically in grass or shrubs will frequently turn up something interesting.
*(Place-Based Curriculum and Instruction: Outdoor and
Environmental Education Approaches. ERIC (Educational Resources
Information Center) Digest. December 2000)
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