LOVE THE OUTDOORS!

Outdoor Learning

Children exploring in the outdoor life has been an element of education for many years, a feature of nursery and early years establishments is their ownership of a secure outdoor play area. The outdoor world provides a suitable learning area that accommodates the individual abilities of a child, for example, cognitive, linguistic, emotional, social and physical (Biton 2010). The outdoor environment offers children the chance to acknowledge fresh ways of seeing the world, exploring and enhancing new skills, as well as encouraging them to take risks and seek new challenges (Dahlberg et al. 2007).

A key aspect of outdoor learning is the benefits and support it provides to children and their learning, working outside can develop an array of positive factors such as personal, and social development, environmental awareness, changes in behaviour, improved physical and mental well-being, creative thinking and safety skills (Clements 2004). Although it is clearly evident that children will naturally grow and develop as they mature, being actively engaged enables children to improve their coordination, balance and body awareness as well as learning to enhance fine and gross motor skills. An example of this may be climbing trees, balancing on logs, exploring objects from the external environment, all of which are influential elements of learning outside (Biton 2010).

Subsequent to the literature, it has been documented that children can construct on a large scale in order to investigate the natural settings surrounding them; it enables children to grasp the familiarity of natural phenomena such as, the changing of seasons and how weather impacts on the environment (Maynard and Waters 2007). Canning (2010) carried out research on the influence of the outdoor environment; the study reflected on the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and concluded that productive outdoor learning resulted in more opportunities for children to engage in imaginative and creative provisions. Consequently this improved communication skills and relationships with other children and adults.

Research by Manzo (2008) investigated daily lessons at a community school in the UK; students who attended the school were familiar with the outdoor learning experience; for example, a science experiment consisted of ploughing through the dirt, or climbing trees in the 27-acre campus to engage in the atmosphere for a writing assignment. Furthermore, the natural leaves would be utilised for simple mathematical equations. Manzo (2008) posits that the educators at Learning Gate Community School trust that lessons outdoors aid the troubles that sometimes hinder pupils. Manzo (2008) further states that a study in California provided evidence that students in schools that integrated nature-based outdoor learning presented better results on science exams than their peers in different schools.

In conclusion, the outside environment benefits children, emotionally, socially, physically, and intellectually. The outside environment differs from the traditional classroom, which results in a vigorous and health-inducing learning experience. Children can learn more about themselves and develop their independence as well as preparing for adulthood (Bilton 2002; Bilton 2010).