Learning Outside The Classroom Essay

This assignment will critically reflect on how Learning Outside the Classroom engages and supports children, as well as analysing how effective the approach is and the impact it has on children’s learning and behaviour. Learning Outside the Classroom (LotC) is an umbrella term which covers every type of learning experience which occurs outside the classroom. The particular focus of this assignment will be learning outside in a natural outdoor environment, which is also an important aspect of Forest Schools, however for the purposes of this assignment I have chosen to take my focus on just this, as well as discussing how I can use this knowledge to develop myself professionally as a trainee teacher.
There are various studies to suggest that learning outside the classroom helps to aid a well-rounded and enhanced education for children, where they are given the opportunity to excel and flourish as young individuals. There are countless links between LotC and children’s attainment in …show more content…
Reading and writing skills are often developed from experiences and materials drawn from nature. Beames (2011) discusses how looking at children’s reading shelves in a bookshop demonstrates childhood interest in the outdoors as a place to encounter nature and adventure. It could be viewed that that this is logic beneath many teachers using this fascination of the outdoors when they set creative writing tasks, such as writing a story from the point of view of an animal, or writing a diary entry about a recent residential trip with school. Enid Blyton, J.K. Rowling and Michael Morpugo are all examples of successful children’s authors who have