Today within the last class of Digital Technologies we focused on the use of QR codes, as well as the app Pic Collage.  Everything we done was focused around outdoors, this gave me great lesson ideas for the future that will enhance outdoor learning.  I learned about the wide range of benefits outdoor learning has, before we went outside to complete our own treasure hunt that had been set up for us using the QR Reader app.  After this, I was then able to use this app to make my own which could be used for a mathematics lesson.

During today’s class I learned about the advantages outdoor learning has, such as how it provides inclusion. This is because some children are often disregarded in the classroom by other children as their skills and interests may be different to theirs, however, outdoor learning can increase feeling of self-worth as children often become more confident when doing something they are enjoying.  Due to this, they are more likely to be closer with their class peers.  This is backed up by (Learning and Teaching Scotland, 2010) “…the outdoor environment encourages staff and students to see each other in a different light, building positive relationships and improving self-awareness and understanding of others.”  Outdoor learning also allows children to develop safety skills, this giving them the freedom to understand what risks are, this helping them in all aspects of their life.  It also promotes healthy lifestyles as a lot of physical activity can be done outdoors that may not be possible indoors, such as hill walking (Learning and Teaching Scotland, 2010).  Learning outdoors also allows children to think critically, this is because they are able to recognise how different curricular areas can be placed outside.  Due to all of the advantages stated above, children’s communication, problem solving skills and confidence working with others is therefore improved.

I fully agree that outdoor learning provides all these advantages, as when we went outdoors today to participate in a treasure hunt, I felt so motivated and ready to complete it; this making me aware just how much children must love taking part in things outside!  There had been a treasure hunt set up for us to complete in groups using the QR Reader App based around Scotland, there were different questions asked such as “How many islands are in Scotland?” to which we had to select the right answer which gave us a letter.  After finding all the sheets of paper around the outside of the university with the codes to scan and get the question from, all the correct answers ended up making the word ‘haggis’ and at the end we had to scan it to make sure we were correct.  I thoroughly enjoyed participating in this activity and I’m also very excited to see how much enjoyment children get out of lessons like this!  Whilst outside we also took pictures on an iPad, and when we were back inside we created a collage on the app Pic Collage.  I have used this app before and think it would be great for children to use as you can add text, stickers, backgrounds and other features with the pictures.  I believe that children would love taking pictures outside, of things such as insects, and then when back indoors making a collage of everything they have explored.  Many lessons within the curriculum could be incorporated into Pic Collage, such as taking children out to take pictures of all the shapes they see, they could then add a collage of all the pictures and add text beside the pictures naming the shape.  This lesson would cover this curricular outcome –  I have explored simple 3D objects and 2D shapes and can identify, name and describe their features using appropriate vocabulary. – MTH 1-16a

In pairs we also discussed how the different aspects within the SHANARRI Wellbeing Wheel can be related to outdoors which are – safe, healthy, active, nurture, achieving, responsible, respect and included (Scottish Government, 2017).  Mine and my partners focus was on respect and we discussed how being outdoors enables children to understand to respect the environment, for example, not littering or walking over flower beds.  During my years at school I only went outdoors during spring and summer, however, when I am a teacher I hope to take children outside to learn in all different weathers.  I feel very strongly about this as I don’t believe it’s beneficial or healthy that children need to stay indoors all week at school.  I know after today how little time it takes to put a lesson together for going outdoors, as I created five numeracy questions on the QR reader app aimed at children in primary one/two which could be made into a treasure hunt outside.  For example, question one asked, what is 8 take away 3?, from this they would select the correct answer which would give them a letter.  After all five questions, they would then have five letters which they would need to put together to make the word ‘maths’.  This activity only took me around fifteen minutes to make and would take about half an hour/forty-five minutes to carry out, therefore even one lesson like this per week would increase children’s enjoyment when learning!  Curriculum for Excellence experience and outcomes that this lesson would fit into are:

I can share ideas with others to develop ways of estimating the answer to a calculation or problem, work out the actual answer, then check my solution by comparing it with the estimate. MNU 1-01a

I can use addition, subtraction, multiplication and division when solving problems, making best use of the mental strategies and written skills I have developed. MNU 1-03

Overall, due to today’s class I now fully appreciate and understand how important outdoor learning is, due to number of benefits it provides children with.  After every class of Digital Technologies I am constantly thinking about the lessons that I could carry out in the future relating to what I have been focusing on, and today is no exception!  The QR Reader and Pic Collage app are great to really grab children’s interests while they are learning.

I’m grateful for all this module has taught me and I have thoroughly enjoyed learning something new in every single class.  I have come a very long way from the first class where I wasn’t even confident using an Apple iMac, whereas now I have learned about a wide range of things ranging from coding, to eBooks, programmable toys and much more!  At the end of today’s class it was highlighted to me how much I have progressed due to this module as I completed the sheet that I had filled in at the very start of the module in January.  In January I rated how unconfident I was with most aspects of technology, however, today I rated that I was confident in everything that we had explored.  At the start of the module I couldn’t fully grasp how different areas of the Curriculum could fit in well with and benefit from the use of technology, however after working with different things such as Bee-bots I now know how fun it is to use them to create mathematics lessons.  Also, apps such as Book Creator are great for literacy lessons, which can be used by children to summarise a story.  Due to my increased knowledge I now feel as though I will be confident when teaching with technology in the future, therefore, I got exactly what I wanted out of this module.

 

References:

Learning and Teaching Scotland (2010) Curriculum for Excellence Through Outdoor Learning. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/cfe-through-outdoor-learning.pdf [Accessed 20 March 2018]

Scottish Government (2017) Wellbeing [Online] Available: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/People/Young-People/gettingitright/wellbeing [Accessed 20 March 2018]