Although classroom teaching remains the staple for many Australian schools, getting outside of the usual, formal educational setting can be highly beneficial for pupils and teachers alike. When studying in just one way, some students will find they know how to work 'the system' and fail to really engage in their learning, treating it more of a process to get through the day. How can outdoors teaching help?
Make Learning Inter-Disciplinary
When doing project work outside, all sorts of educational activities can be rolled into one. Take, for example, a project of planting some vegetables and watching them grow. Measuring out the plot might not seem like mathematics, but it is. Raking over the land allows children the learn a physical skill. Furthermore, understanding the importance of sunlight, water and nutrients means gaining scientific principles first hand. At the end of the project, children might generate a report of their measurements of the plants' growth including a drawing of their crop, thereby adding English skills and art into the mix. All of these individual practices come together in an inter-disciplinary way just by getting out of the classroom.
Gain Primary Source Experience With Field Trips
Learning about geography and history is one thing, but experiencing it first hand is quite another. Taking children out of school to a special site where they can see historic buildings or natural phenomena close up is simply exciting. If there is nothing close by the school, then coach hire is the most practical way of getting children from and to the chosen site. School trip charter coach companies are frequently able to offer deals on weekdays as many are really set up as a wedding charter service and only charge full price on weekends. When you get back to the classroom, the written work children produce can come on leaps and bounds thanks to the inspiration of a well-chosen field trip.
Learning Becomes Sensory and Memorable
In the classroom, so much is taught with visual aids or by the teacher simply speaking. However, in outdoors environments smell, touch and the sounds that are all around come into play, as well. According to Edward O. Wilson's biophilia hypothesis, all people gain an instinctive bond between themselves and the natural world, something you just can't achieve in an indoors environment or from books alone. By using more of our senses to learn, this natural phenomenon of instinctive bonding can lead to greater understanding, heightened memory and improved education overall.
