Teachers Speak Out About Outdoor Learning
“We read books outside. We had English class outside. We had discussions outside. We did writing outside. We didn’t do anything that I would call learning about the outdoors. We learned outdoors.”
-Education Week
Real Learning Outdoors
“For some of us, the greatest opportunity that the pandemic provided was the opportunity to teach—and learn—outside. For example, at my school, we were fortunate enough to teach all of our classes outdoors for most of this past year. We used a local national forest for grade-level outdoor education trips. And now, with school resuming, we are finding that most of us still prefer outdoor venues for most meetings and gatherings.”
-Education Week
More Creativity
“That’s totally fun to bang things with hammers,
and they might not do that in the classroom
because it would be too disruptive or noisy.
We do see that creative spirit in teachers
come out when they’re given this
new environment to be in.”
Comfort Challenged
“Some of the barriers that teachers
mentioned to why they weren’t getting out
were things like the noise, the weather,
and professional development.
Some of the challenge is just about comfort.
A stump is just not as comfortable
as other chairs.”
Fewer Discipline Issues
“Some teachers were concerned that maybe students
would be more distracted outside
because there’s so many things to look at,
but they actually reported their students were less distracted and asked to go inside
to use the restroom less than they did
when they were in their regular classes.”