This post was constructed by Juliet Robertson of Creative Star Learning and is based upon a presentation I gave at Dalkeith High School and associated primary schools on a Valentine’s Day In-set along the theme of falling in love with outdoors.

The reasons are formed from repeated comments that I have received from teachers, children and young people over the last ten years. The photos are from Juliet who matched them beautifully I think to each of the ideas. They are captured from her extensive practice with Scottish teachers and Early Years practitioners, taken in all seasons and weathers!

Reason 1
We are happier and more hopeful when outdoors especially when in contact with wildspace and nature.

Reason 2
We are more focussed, more attentive and more engaged for longer outdoors.

Reason 3
We are more adventurous, adaptive, flexible and reflexive outdoors.

Reason 4
We are better connected to places and people outdoors with a stronger sense of identity and purpose.

Reason 5
We learn better in the real world, in real life contexts, where we can make meaningful sense of our experiences.

Reason 6
We are more curious, ask questions, build stronger cognitive pathways and use higher order thinking strategies more readily outside.

Reason 7
We are more relational outdoors and our learning is more collaborative and shared.

Reason 8
We are more inclusive outdoors, deploying different learning styles and drawing on different ways of knowing.

Reason 9
We are regenerating our practice in learning and teaching through our journeys outdoors.

Reason 10
We are genuinely cultivating new ways of doing things outdoors.

Many thanks to Juliet for making this an easy post and for tweeting the ideas as the presentation was happening. Juliet has been blogging consistently about outdoor learning on ‘I’m a Teacher, get me OUTSIDE here’ which is crammed with ideas from her inspirational practice and leadership.