Really positive article in TES by Jay Helbert💙 (@learningjay) .
Our Forest School (in the grounds of Argyll Estate) and Beach School (on the shore of Loch Fyne) provide opportunities for a blended experience. These lessons take place weekly over the course of a school term and are child-centred experiences where teachers set up learning “provocations” and options for activities ranging from den-building and mapping to creating artwork and storytelling.
I’ve done a bit of outdoor learning in school but nowhere near the 25% the second level classes are managing here. I was interested to see this maths idea:
where children survey plant and animal species to gather data
I sometimes struggle to think up second level ideas for literacy & numeracy. I’ve mostly found early and first level ideas online.
The outdoors a great stimulus for writing, reports, narrative and poetry. Talking and listening seem built in. In maths we have done a fair bit of shape & measure and I can see the potential for data and related activities. It would be good to see a bank of ideas. 25% is more than once a week.
Bonus thought, has TES Scotland become a sort of medium for educational blogging. I am reading a lot of good stuff on TES.
My colleague @AlexiaBarrable will be really interested in this John.
Agree @TesScotland has some excellent content and ideas.
I think there were important moments for students inside the 4 walls of the classrooms I taught in, but I know I helped them find life altering experiences outside those walls!
“a mixture of formal and informal learning outdoors to build in play-based and pupil-led learning.”
Thanks both! Very interesting – great stuff!