Tuesday 12th March 2019
This week’s class was all about outdoor learning and the use of QR codes to help promote learning. QR code stands for ‘Quick Response’ code and is an image-based hypertext link. Basically, it is a 2-dimensional barcode that you can scan using a QR reader or the camera on your smartphone and it links you to a piece of text, images, instructions, websites, maps and much more. I have used QR codes a lot throughout my working life, so I am familiar with how they work and excited about exploring them in today’s class and relating them to outdoor learning.
“Outdoor learning experiences are often remembered for a lifetime. Integrating learning and outdoor experiences, whether through play in the immediate grounds or adventures further afield, provides relevanceand depthto the curriculum in ways that are difficult to achieve indoors.” (Learning and Teaching Scotland, 2010). I firmly agree with this quote as some of my best memories of growing up are playing outside with my sister and my friends. Even now with my own children, our best days out are the ones spent at the beach or park. However, I feel in schools outdoor learning can be pushed aside easily if the weather is not the best, adults are the worst for not wanting to get wet, whereas children could not care less. They love nothing more than splashing in puddles, trudging through mud and making adventures outside. We as adults just need to start wrapping up warm, stick on our wellies and start thinking like children and realise the fun that awaits outdoors. “…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.” (Education Scotland,2010).
The task for today was to create a treasure hunt using QR codes, it could take any route you wanted, the only rule was to use QR codes. My group decided to go for a ‘getting to know you’ task, we had to make our lesson a miniature version of what it would originally be as we would not have had enough time to do everyone in class with the amount of time we were given. We thought this would have been a great lesson for children either just starting school or starting a new class year. The idea was for every person to have their own individual QR code which would have a profile about them containing a picture of themselves, their favourite animal, food, colour and if they had any siblings, (see picture below). Once everyone had a profile created, the idea was for everyone to go around each person, scanning their QR code, ask questions about the person and find out if they had anything in common. We made a worksheet (see picture below) for the children to collect letters that were in some people’s profiles to spell out a word, to ensure there was an actual end goal and it did not just end up in a group of friends chatting amongst each other. Unfortunately, we were unable to take this lesson outside the classroom today due to the time restraints, but if we were in a school, we would have had the children going to ask the janitor, dinner ladies, head teacher etc. Overall, I think the task went well, the group who tried our task out seemed to enjoy it especially since we gave them a reward at the end. The experiences and outcomes this task covered were:
HWB 0-44a/ HWB 1-44a
I am aware of how friendships are formed and that likes, dislikes, special qualities and needs can influence relationships.
(Education Scotland, n.d. P44)
TCH 1-02a
Using digital technologies responsibly I can access, retrieve and use information to support, enrich or extend learning in different contexts.
(Education Scotland, n.d. P307)
Once we had completed our lesson, we had to try out another groups treasure hunt. The group we tried had created theirs in the form of a shopping list, where you had a certain amount of money and you had to figure how much you had left when you bought everything on the list. They had codes all over the University and outside which was brilliant in promoting active learning and shows you can encourage children to go outdoors no matter what the object of your lesson is.
Overall, today was another class I thoroughly enjoyed, it was great seeing everyone’s different ideas and being able to take part in another group’s task. QR codes are a great idea to use in schools especially with the intention to take the children outdoors and encourage them to explore their surroundings. I am even planning on changing my annual Easter egg hunt for my children to QR codes instead of the regular boring clues I have done for the past nine years, fingers crossed it is not a disaster.
Deborah ♥
References:
Education Scotland (2010) Curriculum for Excellence Through Outdoor Learning.
Education Scotland. (n.d.) Curriculum for Excellence.[Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/documents/All-experiencesoutcomes18.pdf[Accessed:8 January 2019].
Learning and Teaching Scotland (2010) Curriculum for Excellence Through Outdoor Learning.
