This session aimed to highlight the benefits of allowing children the opportunity to experience art through the outdoor environment. I was not present for this lesson so I do not know what activities took place, however I have carried out some personal research to increase my knowledge and understanding of learning in and through the outdoor environment in the expressive arts.
I believe that is vital that children are provided with numerous opportunities to take their learning outside the classroom, especially with the arts, as children are still able to develop their knowledge, understanding and skills whether they are in a classroom or in the playground. Adams (2008) says that allowing children to engage in art projects using the outdoors will “nurture different ways of thinking and feeling, provide opportunities for active learning and problem solving, develop skills of perception, communication and invention and encourage the exploration of different social roles and relationships.” Therefore as a future educator, it is my role to ensure that I provide the pupils with opportunities to develop these skills and learn from their peers in a fun, engaging and safe learning environment.
I believe that teachers should use the outdoors for lessons as it provides the children with a vast amount of space, opportunities to develop their physical and mental health, provides them with constant states of curiosity as well as the opportunities to explore as well as the options to use and create things from natural resources. Whilst researching the benefits of teaching outdoors I found a manifesto from The Learning Outside the Classroom (2006) which states: “Every young person should experience the world beyond the classroom as an essential part of learning and personal development, whatever their age, ability or circumstances.” This outlined to me the importance of providing all children, regardless of their age, ability or circumstance, with the chance to experience their learning of the arts in an outdoor environment. I believe it is vital for me to take their age, ability, circumstance and stage of development into account when planning the lesson but they should all have the same opportunity to experience the outdoor environment for their learning.
On reflection, I feel that learning in and through the outdoor environment is often overlooked and undervalued throughout education. Teachers often appear to have concerns about taking children outside, in regards to time management, safety, lack of control and adhering to important guidelines and documents. It is important to note that you do not need vast amounts of green space to produce a fun and engaging lesson, a simply playground with various trees and bushes will capture a child’s curiosity and imagination and therefore lead to a more creative result. In a different module called ‘Sustainable Development’ we were given the opportunity to take markings from leaves and trees outdoors using different coloured pencils to allow us to explore the different textures felt on the leaves and trees. This was an excellent opportunity to combine science and art, it was a very engaging, knowledgeable and fun lesson, one that I think many pupil’s would enjoy to participate in.
As a student teacher, I often feel anxious and worried about taking the children outside as I feel that I might have a lack of control and pupils could get lost, hurt or messy. However, it is important for me to get over this fear and realise that I should be confident in my own abilities and my fears and worries should not impact on the pupil’s learning.
Throughout this week, I had been working on my concrete poetry at home to hopefully have completed next week to hand in to our lecturer. I have been paying particular focus to the piece of writing incorporating 62 words on our feelings and emotions surrounding our evocative object. I have added more words, drawn the symbol and included a range of materials such as cardboard love hearts to provide texture, depth and creativity to my piece of work. Next week, I will have my poster completed and will post some pictures of the final piece.
References:
Adams, E. (2008) Art and Design Education and the Built Environment. In Coutts, G. and Jokela, T. (Eds) Art, Community and Environment: Education Perspectives. Bristol: Intellect.
British Government, (2006) Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto. [Online] Available: http:// www.lotc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/G1.-LOtC-Manifesto.pdf [Accessed: 11th February 2018]
