The Environment
“Believe in the power of small actions” (Incredible Edible Network, 2008)
Before starting this topic, I didn’t have much knowledge about the different ways in which we can incorporate the environment into not only our children’s learning but our own. Giving children the chance to experience outdoor learning can majorly improve their learning and ours, as we can see and explore nature and our environment first hand. I was also unaware of just how much the environment can change us, usually in our society we focus on when negative things we’re doing and how this is destroying our world. However, while taking on the tasks for this topic I got the opportunity to see the good that people can do, what we can do, to change our world for the better. I’ve changed my opinion of how I see the world and our environment and can see that even the smallest of actions can have the power to make big changes.
By discussing the different ideas around this topic with peers it gave me the opportunity to hear other people’s views and see the world through someone else’s eyes. I was also able to see what it would be like for the children and what they could experience during outdoor learning, by doing tasks and activities in class that we would give to the children in our own class. This helped not only my understanding of what it’s like for other people and children but also improved my knowledge of how these experiences can affect and change us.
By putting policies in place such as the Curriculum for Excellence through outdoor learning (Learning and Teaching Scotland 2010) it means that action is being taking to give children the chance to experience learning out with the classroom. They get the chance to explore and grow in ways they can’t inside the class or at home. By allowing them to be in the outdoors it benefits them in many ways such as improving; their physical and social development, their numeracy and literacy skills and their knowledge and understanding of their environment and where they live. It also gives them the opportunity to get involved in risky play (Risky Play Scotland, 2008), which adds more benefits to their learning and development such as becoming more independent and confident in their actions and decisions.
During this topic not only have I development my knowledge of the environment but I have also further developed skills that will help and benefit me in not only the professional level but on a personal level. Academically I feel I have grown in the sense of how I think about things on a deeper level such as when we discussed the impact our actions have on our environment and our world. Getting the opportunity to access different sources that have valuable information on our topic changed my thinking about the way I see the environment. On a personal level I feel more motived to do something about the negative situations we are putting our environment and ourselves in. Professionally I feel I have developed my abilities of collaboration and teamwork skills, this will benefit me in practice as well as in other aspects of life because in life we have to work together to make a difference and believe in each other and ourselves that we can make that difference happen.
By developing these skills, I can use them in practice to help not only myself but the children we teach and the teachers we engage with. The reason it’s so important to develop on the different levels is so that we can then transfer these skills abilities to other areas of work and life.
Throughout this topic we were given the opportunity to use resources that would be useful for children in lessons to help their knowledge and understanding of the topic. Being able to “know how to make use of the environment and resources outside the school to support
teaching and pupils learning” is just one of the many elements in the General Teaching Council for Scotland’s Professional Standards that due to this topic I feel more comfortable in carrying out (GTC Scotland, 2006). Using different resources in and out of the classroom help the children learn and interact in different ways and gives them a chance to be in charge of the activities. Some helpful resources that could be used for this topic about the environment include:
- Woodland Trust Nature Detectives, available at https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/naturedetectives/activities/
- Outdoor Learning Directory, available at http://outdoorlearningdirectory.com/index.php/home/
- RSPB Giving Nature a Home, available at https://www.rspb.org.uk/fun-and-learning/for-teachers/lesson-plans-and-supporting-resources/
These resources offer teachers and student teachers a wide range of activities to do with nature and the environment which the children can do inside and outside the classroom. These resources are not only beneficial for teachers as they gain information and activities but it also benefits the children as they can experience first-hand how the small actions they take can make a big difference.
Reference List:
GTC Scotland (2006) Standard for Initial Teacher Education, Available at: http://www.gtcs.org.uk/web/FILES/the-standards/the-standard-for-initial-teacher-education.pdf (Accessed: 26th September 2018).
Incredible Edible Network (2008) Incredible Edible, Available at: https://www.incredibleedible.org.uk/ (Accessed: 26th September 2018).
Learning and Teaching Scotland (2010) Curriculum for Excellence Through Outdoor Learning, Available at: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/cfe-through-outdoor-learning.pdf (Accessed: 26th September 2018).
Play Scotland (2008) Risky Play , Available at: http://www.playscotland.org/wp-content/uploads/Risky-Play-Leaflet_web.pdf (Accessed: 26th September 2018).
