Month: March 2018

 

… high quality, out-of-classroom learning … influenced how children behave and the lifestyle choices they make. It shows the potential not just to change individual lives, but the lives of whole communities. Peacock, 200617

In reading the article  from which the above quote came from, I was struck by the idea that not only have I been challenging my thinking and reflecting on my practice all the way through the enquiry process, I’ve also been asking pupils to do the same.

I’ve been examining and acknowledging the assumptions and preconceptions I have to the enquiry, about the enquiry outcome and the focus of it, but I’ve also been asking of pupils that they develop the same ‘reflexivity’. I’ll be more aware of this in future and use it to support pupils’ learning and how they can articulate their thinking and reflection and how that can change over time.

The pupil reflection process on learning I’ve conducted through the use of feedback forms has been insightful. Pupils have been positive and constructively critical and I’ve really been able to see the experience from their point of view. Self-motivation is an all-encompassing initiative mainly through outdoor education which is showing significant improvements in pupils’ resilience not only to failure but also to fear of failure. Outdoor Learning Curriculum and the experiences it offer children promote tolerance and understanding, also respecting other’s opinions.

Implications for my department/school

Once the Teacher Leadership programme is complete, I’ll share my findings with my department and the wider school. There’s a number of different reasons for this:                                                                                                                           a) suggestions of other ways of approaching teaching through outdoor learning especially at lower school.

b) the use of students’ own ‘wonderings’ to encourage pupil ownership and engaging curiosity                                                                                                                      c) Encouraging colleagues to consider undertaking the SCEL Teacher Leadership programme.                                                                                                              

Wider implications                       

 ‘The core values of Curriculum for Excellence resonate with long-standing key concepts of outdoor learning. Challenge, enjoyment, relevance, depth, development of the whole person and an adventurous approach to learning are at the core of outdoor pedagogy’.

I’ve recently had an interesting conversation with one of my colleagues who is a historian and also Lead teacher in outdoor education. I believe school curricula often actively favour a theory-based approach rather than practical work, and fail to identify the benefits of learning in a more appropriate location. School grounds are frequently less than ideal to encourage teachers to use them for educational purposes, even when new schools are designed and built. Further, there has been little formal encouragement to establish and maintain standards of outdoor learning experiences, for example through HMIE school inspections, and outdoor centres are very rarely inspected. All of this is in stark contrast to the very successful approach of Nordic countries where outdoor learning pedagogy is central to formal education and culture throughout, and indeed beyond, the period of statutory schooling. There is a need to raise awareness, increase training opportunities, making sure the design of school grounds supports outdoor learning and inspections.

 References

 Christie, B., Beames, S., Higgins, P. (2015). Culture, context and critical thinking: Scottish secondary school teachers’ and pupils’ experiences of outdoor learning. British Educational Research Journal.

Education Scotland (2015). How Good is Our School 4? Glasgow: Education Scotland

Higgins, P. & Nicol, R. (2013). Outdoor Education. In T. Bryce & W. Humes, D. Gillies and A. Kennedy (Eds.), Scottish education – fourth edition (pp.620-627). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press

University of Edinburgh (2016). Outdoor learning and policy development in Scotland. ‘Impact snapshot’ http://www.ed.ac.uk/education/rke/making-a-difference

Although it seems a long time ago now, my original enquiry focus and question were as follows:

Focus: Looking at the impact of outdoor learning for developing Skills for Learning and Work.

My Question

How can learning outdoors enhance and deepen learning within curriculum areas of numeracy.

This Task is a useful one to reflect on whether I’ve managed to answer or address the enquiry question.

What I’ve learned (evidence gathering)

From my observations over the course of the enquiry, pupils seemed to be enthusiastic going outdoor, engaged in work and keen to explore each next stage as we progressed. This was from a mix of informal observation combined with formal observation of individual groups and recording their group discussions. When I was writing up their assessment feedback. They then went on to self-assess this feedback, focusing on what they felt they were successful at and setting a target for themselves too.

We did discuss the areas of curriculum and different skills involved they would be working on. Perhaps I needed to give pupils reminders of this on a regular basis throughout the time they were working together.

At the end of the enquiry, I asked everyone to complete a feedback form, either anonymously or giving their name, so I could collate their comments as they reflected on their experience. I don’t have a full set of these back yet as some pupils were absent when we worked on them. This has been an ongoing issue for me at times, to continue work as a full class with some groups low in numbers for various issues. I think I’ve become much more aware of this as a result of how focused I was on the enquiry and everything I wanted to achieve in the time we had.

A quick look at the feedback indicates pupils, on the whole, really enjoyed the enquiry and the amount of group work involved. They appear to have liked the opportunity to come up with their own ideas of achieving numeracy skills out with the classroom creating an option to have more outdoor lessons. I asked them questions about what they learned but also about their own learning.

Whole school impact

 At this point, there’s not really been any impact on my colleagues. There is an awareness I am trying to raise attainment in numeracy through outdoor learning which is not a routine practice for most of our secondary schools. I think, once I’ve created my enquiry poster, I’ll feel more confident about sharing my learning and observations. Perhaps this will be one of the deputes in the first instance. I’ve been open about what I am doing and have welcomed feedback or questions throughout. It really is that people are so busy, there isn’t a lot of time for discussions on outdoor learning.

 

I believe learning need not take place solely within educational buildings. The outdoor environment has massive potential for learning. This year one of the priorities in the School improvement plan was National Improvement Framework Priorities of closing the attainment gap by improving Literacy, Numeracy and Health and Wellbeing in the Broad General Education stage. Outdoor learning offers many opportunities for learners to deepen and contextualise their understanding within curriculum areas, and for linking learning across the curriculum in different contexts and at all levels.

Learning in the outdoors can make significant contributions to literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing. In numeracy there are certain E’s & O’s which can be measured in the outdoor learning. In health and wellbeing there are opportunities to become physically active in alternative ways and to improve emotional wellbeing and mental health.

S3 pupils work in groups of 4 to design an outdoor classroom. They brainstormed what type of facility would be useful, search for costs of materials needed, building type, plans, and use the web to get ideas. They are to stake out a site on the east side of the high school so they can visualize what the dimensions would look like. After deciding on a plan the group will draw blueprints on graph paper – roof design, floor plan and side view of your building. They were to construct a 3D scale model from the plans. A written estimate of costs for the project and a written report about why they chose this particular building type as well as an oral presentation is to be given at the conclusion of the project.

This Area of Learning and Development included seeking patterns, making connections, recognising relationships, working with numbers, shapes, space and measures, and counting, sorting and matching. Children use their knowledge and skills in these areas to solve problems, generate new questions and make connections across other Areas of Learning and Development.

At this stage I am starting to consider Did it work? From my point of view, it hasn’t been a disaster letting go of the reigns and allowing pupils to work more collaboratively for a longer period of time.  They’ve had much more in the way of opportunities to wonder about their learning and find ways to articulate learning though outdoor.                                                                                                                                                 What I wanted to do in terms of engaging pupils, allowing them to have more exposure outdoor and gaining more confidence in achieving numeracy skills worked well.                                                                                                                                             Pupils were motivated and engaged in learning numeracy skills out with the classroom. It was a successful attempt & positive feedback received from pupils.