During the beginning of the week I have been fortunate enough to be able to spend time with four Norwegian exchange students. In our integrated arts lecture we were lucky enough to hear from the exchange students about their university experience and how different their course is to ours. One of the main facts they told us that varies from our course is that during their placement they have a school take over experience which is when all the staff within their placement school leaves and they run the school.
Throughout our visual arts input we looked into creating art in the natural environment. We looked into different artists that focus on creating art outdoors such as Andy Goldsworthy. From speaking to the exchange students it is clear that in Norway they try to use the outdoors in most of their lessons whether it be Maths or English. We were given the task of creating an art piece out of the natural environment without damaging it, as we were joined by the exchange students our group decided to make a replica of the Norwegian flag out of a leaf, sticks and red berries. This activity was thoroughly enjoyable as there were many resources you could use as well as allowing for creativity in you art work. Education Scotland (2010) shown the importance of using outdoor areas during a learning experience as they allow the children to be challenged but also to appreciate the environments they have surrounding them.
During our music input we focused on making music from different apps and resources, the main one we looked into was the GarageBand app. I had never used this before however it was relatively easy to use and had many different instruments to allow a wide range of sounds. I worked in a pair and we used many different backing tracks and instruments to try and make an autumnal piece of music. Overall I found it were interesting and fun as you could duplicate and delete parts if needed however if I was to do this in a class I would use headphones if available as it was quite hard to hear your own music over everyone else playing theirs. By completing this activity this benchmark was met: ‘Inspired by a range of stimuli, and working on my own and/or with others, I can express and communicate my ideas, thoughts and feelings through musical activities. EXA 0-18a / EXA 1-18a / EXA 2-18a.’ (Education Scotland, 2019). Allowing children to work together and discuss their experiences can promote good relationships and effective work results.
Through both these inputs I discovered how outdoor learning can be incorporated within different lessons. By taking a lesson outside can have various benefits to children and young people, this could be linked into our music workshop as we were required to make an autumnal piece of music. Although this could be used with different seasons by allowing children to experience the outdoors first-hand gives them a better understanding of different materials and sounds that are available.
References:
Education Scotland. (2019). curriculum for excellence: expressive arts experiences and outcomes. [online] Available at: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf [Accessed 24 Oct. 2019].
Education Scotland. (2010). curriculum for excellence: through outdoor learning. [online]Available at: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/cfe-through-outdoor-learning.pdf [Accessed 24 Oct. 2019].
