As practitioners, we are always open to new ideas and practices to develop our lessons. To begin today, Norwegian students came in to speak to us about their teaching experience and the apparent differences in comparison to Scotland. At UWS, we are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to complete a wide range of practical activities in workshops. The students mentioned how their Uni is very formal and their method of teaching is very traditional. One of the main similarities we share is the drive for outdoor learning in primary schools as it provides a chance for children to experience things we simply can not teach in the classroom. Outdoor learning has multiple benefits for children physically as well as improving their social skills (Education Scotland, 2019.)

In art, we ventured outside to investigate the environment and see what we could discover. The aim was to create art in a natural environment. Alongside our university, is lots of undiscovered spaces with lots of interesting resources. Outdoor learning is excellent in schools as it is free of charge and there is a multitude of resources for children to use. We decided to focus our activity on a maths area- time. We decided to create a clock with pebbles, children could use the pebbles to set different times on the clock and get their peers to test them on their prior knowledge of time.

Outdoor learning must have a focus/ problem to solve as this creates outcomes for learning. Leading lessons outdoors provides an unusual learning environment for children, their brains will start to form new ideas as they are not used to working in this space and adapt to the new surroundings. As teachers, we have to encounter all types of weather but this should not deprive children from experiencing outdoor learning as it does not create barriers for the Norwegian students!

‘Garage band’ is a software utilised in music to create and develop your knowledge of music. Prior to this lesson, I had never used ‘Garage band’ before and found it quite challenging to comprehend. To support my learners, I would seek further support in this as there are multiple features than remain unknown to me. For the future generation of learners, I am willing to expand my areas of expertise- to be able to provide the best learning experience.

References:

Education Scotland. (2019) Outdoor Learning: Practical Guidance, Ideas and Support for Teachers and Practitioners in Scotland. [Online] available:
https://education.gov.scot/improvement/Documents/hwb24-ol-support.pdf [Accessed: 20 November 2019].