Why Consider Outdoor Classrooms
Today’s society has become so separated from nature that we actually fail to realize our basic dependence on experiencing nature as a tool for individual growth and development (Winters et al., 2010, p. 248G). To help increase awareness of this dependence to the mainstream public, the idea of an outdoor classroom was created. An outdoor classroom is an extraordinary resource. “It can be a learning center, a project-based station, and an area for reflection and observation” (Winters et al., 2010, p. 248G). It includes both natural materials like dirt, trees, and stones, along with man-made materials like bird houses and tables. An outdoor classroom provides for a student to learn in a way not possible in a traditional indoor classroom.
Children can “reinforce, apply, and enrich traditional skills” in an outdoor classroom. In other words, an outdoor classroom is not isolated from indoor learning. It provides for “opportunities to interpret, predict, and analyze information in meaningful contexts” (Winters et al., 2010, p. 248H). A main advantage to the use of an outdoor classroom is that it allows children to move freely in a somewhat open space, and that this movement is one of the most natural and powerful forms of learning for children (Maynard and Waters, 2007, p. 257). With the use of an outdoor classroom, both teachers and students have reported increases with knowledge gain and understanding of the lessons taught (Dillon, 2005, p. 24).
An outdoor classroom not only helps students in terms of achievement, but they can also gain motivation through outdoor classroom instruction. Children are more motivated to study and learn given the many opportunities provided to them in the outdoor environment. Moreover, teachers “experienced a sense of excitement about teaching.” “Teachers used the garden as an integrating context and effectively met curriculum benchmarks, supported students to experience success while taking standardized tests, and ensured differentiated instruction to accommodate children’s interests and abilities” in a study of grade-school teachers. (Winters et al., 2010, p. 248J).