BLOG 11 – OUTDOOR LEARNING & QR CODES           20/3/18

 

The last week of Digital technologies was about Outdoor Learning. Personally, I was very excited for this class as I was eager to see the link between Digital technology and the outdoors as I have always had this preconceived idea that due to technology people are not outside as often.

The reasons that I think outdoor learning is important for children is that it adds a breath of realness to any and all learning that they do compared to in the classroom, the learning is confined to the school and may not seem realistic. It is suggested that “Integrating learning and outdoor experiences, whether through play in the immediate grounds or adventures further afield, provides relevance and depth to the curriculum in ways that are difficult to achieve indoors” (Learning and Teaching Scotland 2010). And as always, the CfE encourage the draw of links between learning and relevance to real life.

Also, Beauchamp has stated that “…children are citizens of their localities, making contributions to the communities whether playing sport, interacting with others or simply hanging out with friends…” (Beauchamp, 2012, p.126). This proves that the outdoors is already a big part of their life and their school life should seem relevant to that. As well as promoting a healthy lifestyle, encouraging play, acknowledging and interacting with the community, the children will become aware of personal safety. They will get the chance to understand and learn the risks and how to deal with them.

Another positive feature of outdoor learning is that it allows both the pupils and the teachers to experience different sides to their peers that are not always obvious in the classroom.  In this respect it allows for improved understanding of others and positive relationship building (Education Scotland 2010). This is especially relevant for students with ASN. Additionally outdoor learning will also help their understanding of responsibility and etiquette.

We also learned about QR Codes.  QR Codes are an ‘image-based hypertext link’ and are a type of two-dimensional barcode. The ‘QR’ stands for “quick response” as the information is instant. This can be because a standard barcode can only store up to 30 numbers whereas a QR code has a larger storage and can store 7089 numbers. A QR code can link to a short bit of text, a website, a phone number, an email address, a map location or a calendar event. These are relevant to learn and maybe even teach as nowadays much of social media, many businesses and company share information this way. They can be found almost everywhere such as on food wrappers, books and museums.

One idea of integrating QR Codes in the classroom was demonstrated to us through our lecturer who took us on a creative Treasure-Hunt quiz! He had hidden a lot of QR codes across the outer campus and we had to go looking for them with the QR code reader on the iPad. We were to scan the code when we found it, follow the link answer the questions. According to the answer we chose, it would then give us a letter from a scrabbled word we had to figure out at the end, the answer to the final question. I do have to say that this was very fun! By the end we were are all laughing, running around and getting super competitive. By experiencing this activity, I can see so many situations where I could apply this to a curricular area. Some examples include spelling words, revision, Physical Activity and Literacy creative writing or even educational trips.

When we had finished, we came back to the classroom and decided to make our own game of QR code treasure hunt and quiz. My group decided to use Mathematics as the focus of the questions and honestly, the process was very fun, to the point and easy!

The Curriculum for Excellence outcomes (CfE) linking to this are:

 

• TCH 1-04a/TCH 2-04a – I explore and experiment with the features and functions of computer technology and I can use what I learn to support and enhance my learning in different contexts.

 

• HWB 2-19a – Opportunities to carry out different activities and roles in a variety of settings have enabled me to identify my achievements, skills and areas for development. This will help me to prepare for the next stage in my life and learning.

 

 

• HWB 1-25 – Within and beyond my place of learning I am enjoying daily opportunities to participate in physical activities and sport, making use of available indoor and outdoor space.

 

To document our process and progress with outdoor learning we had been taking pictures along the way which we now gathered together and put together as a collage with the Picollage app. This was another great app which I believe could also be used within the classroom for class displays, progress or pictures from any trips. The children would enjoy joining in with the teachers when making them and would have the added bonus of being able to share them with their parents electronically.

References:

Beauchamp, G. (2012) ICT in the Primary School: From Pedagogy to Practice. Pearson Education Limited.

Education Scotland (2010) Curriculum for Excellence Through Outdoor Learning.

Learning and Teaching Scotland (2010) Curriculum for Excellence Through Outdoor Learning.

Scottish Executive (2004) Curriculum for Excellence. Edinburgh: Scottish Executive