As the summer term gets under way and the outside world wakes up after winter, we spoke to outdoor education specialist Dr Katherine Forsey to find out about taking the classroom outside.
Dr Forsey told us there are numerous benefits to teaching children outside, including:
- Better physical and mental health
- Reduced stress levels
- Increased motivation to learn
- Improved attitudes towards the environment
- Better behaviour that can even continue when learning is moved back indoors
- Enhanced communication skills
- Increased self-reliance
- Increased attainment
- Improved memory through experiencing something new and unfamiliar
With such an impressive list of benefits, we were keen to find out more!
We wanted to know if outside lessons were best saved for scientific topics, such as plants, animals, habitats and seasons, or if any subject could be taken out of the classroom.
“All subjects can be taught outside,” Dr Forsey assured us. “Topics such as living things are the most obvious, [but] there are opportunities to collect measurements and record data that give real meaning to numeracy work, and plenty of inspiration for literacy work.”
And Dr Forsey’s top tips for creating an outside lesson?
- Each time you’re planning a lesson, ask yourself: “Would this work better outside?”
- Start with the resources you have on your doorstep – your school grounds are free to use and easily accessible.
- Assign the students to groups so you can more easily keep them on-task. Your voice may not carry as well outside so move between groups as you monitor their progress.
- Organise your equipment so it can be carried to and from your work area by each group of children.
- If there are no natural boundaries, clearly define your work area using football cones. Work with your class to create a set of outdoor classroom rules to ensure outdoor learning is differentiated from outdoor play.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on outside lessons – tweet us
