The
Class is Going Outside
The lessons are going outdoors! My students are being taught
basic studies, as well as problem solving, self-esteem building, cooperative
relationships, and learning the integral role they play in nature. All
of this is being taught with resources outside of the traditional classroom
setting with results of a better learning environment, stronger development
of children's character and a maturing environmentally conscious generation.
Outdoor
education.
What is this "outdoor education"? "Outdoor education is
not a philosophy of education," explains outdoor educator, Dr. Elvin
East (1986). "It is not a theory of how students learn, or when they
should learn. Rather outdoor education is a belief in proper conditions
for learning." Outdoor educators firmly believe that natural surroundings
present an excellent environment in which learning can take place. Outdoor
advocates are enthusiastic about educating in all community places, schools,
parks, factories, etc.. I particularly prefer outdoor education being
in nature, even the nature found in the buffers around a school.
Outdoor
Education provides an environment for learning.
Outdoor education is based on the theory: "I hear and I forget; I
see and I remember; I do and I understand!" Being outdoors, the whole
human being is incorporated in learning. The student uses his/her senses
in observation, body in play, and mind in comprehension. Seeing, touching,
smelling, hearing, and sometimes tasting are drawn into a single experience
in nature. In this way, the outdoors are stimulating. Children are thrilled
with the discovery of the smaller and simpler things which adults don't
notice. These aesthetics of the natural environment, so stimulating to
the curious mind, are not found in the classroom.
Being outdoors is also naturally fun. In a child's mind it is associated
with other outdoors' activities of play and recess. By lifting a child's
emotions and increasing his/her motivation to learn, he/she becomes more
enthusiastic without a great output of encouragement and energy from the
teacher. If the teacher is a salesman and the student is the buyer then
"learning is something the pupil has to do himself and for himself,
the initiative lies with the learner" (Walsh and Golins, 1976).
The connection between a child's mind, body and emotions is often neglected
by traditional classrooms. Lessons outdoors are never passive. In lecturer/listener
learning environments the child's body rests for long periods, causing
the mind to rest also. Outdoor education gets the child back to being
an active learner, rather than being a programmed listener/ watcher as
television and traditional classrooms have. The listener/ watcher is not
utilizing the full potential of the brain's activity. The logical and
rational, left hemisphere is only active, leaving behind the right hemisphere's
intuitive, aesthetic, and body movement stagnant (Staley, 1979). Outdoor
activities emphasize doing (right brain) and thinking about what is done
(left brain).
Education outdoors is in fact the first education a small child receives
before attending school. "The amount of learning children do before
they come to school, about customs, people, animals, natural phenomena,
the industrial world they live in, and the more abstract concepts of what
they may or may not do, is enormous," says early childhood education
specialists Dorthy Cohen and Marguerita Rudolph. "To assume that
only reading can offer information and improve thought is a fallacy that
underestimates the capacity for factual learning, generalizing, problem-solving
and cause and affect thinking. [Books] are secondary sources which cannot
be used beneficially at the early childhood state without suitable and
adequate preparation in firsthand, sensory-motor learning" (Rosenstein,
1979). Textbooks, field guides and other sources of written knowledge
are helpful in learning, but can not replace the natural learning process
provided by the real world.
Experiences
outside of the classroom provide us with the larger picture. Outdoor education
is not intended to replace textbook learning, but it is intended to enhance,
support and actively teach, especially for young ages in transition into
more progressive textbook learning. Dr. Thomas Howie of George Washington
University (1972) proposed that students taught the same subject matter
in the classroom achieve cognitive amplitude goals and those taught outdoors
have superior learning application. He concluded that the combination
of both indoor cognitive skills and outdoor application had the greatest
learning success.
Besides improving environmental education and science studies, research has found that outdoor education can also improve math and language arts cognition (Henderson, 1981). Nature is interdisciplinary. It involves a diversity of subjects, including science and math, social studies, history, recreation, language arts, and art.
Outdoor
education enhances the child's character development.
The curriculum of outdoor education is focused not only on learning, but
also about themselves, their interactions with others. Activities promote
problem solving, risk taking, leadership training, self-confidence and
teamwork.
The outdoors offers multiple opportunities for observing man's environmental
impacts, discussing science and culture, and acting on solving the problem.
When a littered park next to the school arouses concern from the students,
the children can brainstorm solutions and organize a cleanup day. The
most poignant question involves the whole group, working out a solution
to the problem.
Outdoor recreation can develop self-esteem. In my experience as a park
ranger in the North Cheyenne Canon of Colorado Springs, CO, I saw many
children become very proud of themselves by accomplishing a climbing wall.
I remember belaying a boy who was convinced he could not climb the wall;
it was just too difficult. After two attempts and a lot of encouragement,
his success made him happy toward being around the nature center and entirely
more upbeat and talkative. Besides my experiences, research in the field
also verifies that children become more self-reliant and self-assured
through outdoor recreation (Fletcher, 1973). Children gain a more optimistic
outlook on their own futures. The risks involved in being away from the
comfort zone of home and having to use physical and mental strength to
accomplish a situation, also builds trust in team members. Team building
in fun and challenging conditions affects children's behavior and attitudes
on returning to the classroom. In Southern California, outdoor experiences
reduced anxiety levels between black and Anglo children and positively
influenced their behavior into the future (Acuff, 1976).
The outdoors
is also an unique nondiscriminatory atmosphere. Children tend to segregate
into gender roles, such as in younger ages classify areas of the classroom
and play ground as girls places and boys places. Discriminatory rules
are made by society's conditioning and do not follow into nature. Hiking
in nature allows a person to be himself, regardless of gender or race...
or learning disability. Outdoor education provides experiences which are
not dependent on the children's varied problems in reading comprehension,
listening retention, and a visual memorization which hold them back in
the classroom.
Students recreating outdoors acquire basic skills, attitudes and appreciation
for leisure-time pursuits. Trust and understanding of nature leads to
comfort, brought on by being self-content and self-reliant. I believe
the most sustainable relationship one can have is one with the earth and
through it, with oneself. Outdoor experiences increases a child's chances
for positive relationships by teaching intimacy, being ones self, being
active rather than passive, to take control of play, and exercising the
imagination (Nabhan and Trimble, 1994). These are life long stills that
take conditioning, just as learning to become aware of details in our
environment.
Outdoor
education combined with environmental education is for the improvement
of society's future.
Global warming, ozone depletion, deforestation, mass extinction of plant
and animal species, disposal of toxic and radioactive chemicals, and pollution
to water, soils, and air are included in the realistic future we are handing
down to the next generation. These environmental problems have long-term,
dramatic effects. Educators and their curriculum are responsible to adapt
and improve according to the changing needs of society and the students
(Henderson, 1981).
Outdoor education assists students in developing a land ethic, illustrating
man's temporary stewardship of the land. Unlike environmental education
in an indoor classroom, outdoor education encompasses learning "through"
the environment, along with environmental education's learning "about"
and "for" the environment. Environmental sensitivity grows out
of outdoor experiences and aesthetic enjoyments in nature (Wahestrom,
1991). Naturals for the outdoors, adults have only to foster and strengthen
the child's talent (Henderson, 1986).
Conclusion:
We are going outside.
I believe teacher's primary responsibility is to instill in children at
an early age the joy and desire of learning, help them develop a self-motivation
for knowledge, and secure them with self-confidence to be active in society.
Whether the children are outdoors on a field trip or at a museum, a factory,
or a school camp they are in an environment catering to these goals.
Unfortunately, with the current organization of schools outdoor recreation
is limited by the practicalities of money, transportation, schedules and
politics.
When the teacher has the power to organize to be outdoors, the most should be made of the opportunity. When forming a field trip there should be clear, reasonable objectives related to the site chosen. Teaching outdoors is more creative and many methods can be planned, executed and evaluated in a relatively short time. Interpretive education has improved dramatically in the last fifteen years with more research on techniques, new instructional workshops, such as Project Wild, and greater numbers of manuals and books sharing programs from which to draw ideas. The outdoor experience and the normal classroom time are best not to be separate units, but integrated. Introduce the scientific principles and concepts ahead of the adventure and follow up after in the classroom by analyzing the experience through art and writing, crunching data through mathematics, and relating the observations to culture and history.
As L.B. Sharpe, the father of outdoor recreation, wrote "outdoor
education begins when the teacher and pupils close the classroom door
behind them."
Bibliography
Acuff, D.S. The effects of an outdoor education experience on the general and intercultural anxiety of Anglo and black sixth graders." DA. 36. University of Southern California.
Berry, C. 1973. Effects of a resident outdoor school experience upon behavior of selected fifth grader students. Masters thesis. Pennsylvania State University.
Chrouser, W.H. 1970. A comparison of the use of outdoor verses indoor laboratory techniques in teaching biology to prospective elementary teachers. DA. 31. University of Colorado.
Colton, R.W., 1980. Education through the environment. Outlook. 37:30-37. Mountain View Publishing: Boulder, CO.
Fletcher, S.A. 1973. A comparison of affective changes between economically disadvantaged and advantaged sixth graders at a resident outdoor education program. Diss. Indiana University. Eric Document Reproducation Service.
Henderson, F.L. 1986. An annotated bibliography of abstracts, doctoral dissertations and journals dealing with the utilization of the outdoors to enrich the curriculum and to promote more effective learning in the elementary and secondary student. Graduate Thesis. Indiana University at South Bend.
Howie, T.R. 1972. The effectiveness of outdoor experience verses classroom experience in learning the cognitive dimensions of environmental education. DA. 34 George Washington University.
Nabhan, G.P. and S. Trinmble. 1994. The Geography of Childhood; Why Children Need Wild Places. Beacon Press: Boston, MA.
Rosenstein, I. 1979. "What do you teach?" "Children" "Where are you going? Out." Journal of Outdoor Education. 13(2):2-7. Lorando Taft Field Campus. Oregon, IL.
Staley, F.A. 1979. Outdoor Education for the Whole Child. Kendall/Hunt Publishing: Dubuque, IA.
Wahestrom, R. 1991. Growth Towards Peace and Environmental Responsibility; From Theory to Practical Implications. Jyvaskyla University Institute for Education Research: Finland.
Walsh,
V. and G. Golins. 1976. The Expectation of the Outward Bound Process.
Denver, CO.
