As teachers and parents, we all want to give our children the best start in life. Often, this means trying new innovative ways to engage them and spark their curiosity.
At the Bioasis, one of our key values is “Dare to be different”. So we’re not afraid to ask unusual, challenging questions.
Questions like: ‘What would it look like if we took the whole curriculum outdoors?’
We don’t just mean a day or two of field work. And we’re talking about more than just outdoor activities and adventure.
What if we combined it all?
What if we reimagined the whole educational experience, bringing subjects like geography, science, maths and even politics and economics into the great outdoors?
What would that look like?
The answer is pretty compelling.
Taking the curriculum outside is a game-changer and it can benefit children of all ages, studying all subjects.
For us, outdoor learning shouldn’t just be about playing outside or going on occasional field trips or a visit to an outdoor centre. The classic school residentials of climbing towers, raft building and crate stacking falls well short of addressing the challenges facing young people in today’s world.
Challenges like:
Climate anxiety
Biodiversity loss
Screen addiction
The mental health crisis
Disconnection from nature
Broad academic attainment
The need to decarbonise
Outdoor learning shouldn’t be separate to what’s learnt in the classroom.
Imagine a world where the outdoors and the world around us is weaved into the core modules of every subject. In fact, there are plenty of reasons why taking lessons outdoors is more effective than the traditional four walls of a classroom.
First off, it usually makes learning more engaging. Nature is naturally exciting and students often feel more motivated and curious when they have the opportunity to explore, investigate and discover the world around them. At The Bioasis, we believe outdoor learning is important to engage the wide variety of learning styles too. After all, not every student thrives in a traditional classroom setting.
And let’s not forget, spending time outdoors helps students build a deeper connection with the environment, create a sense of responsibility and appreciation for the natural world, as well as improving communication skills and mental health along the way.
You might be thinking: “Okay, this sounds great, but what about the subjects that are impossible to teach outdoors?”
Well, it turns out that nearly every subject can be reimagined in an outdoor setting.
Here are just a few examples:
Economics and Politics? Sure - take these subjects outside and, in the right settings, students have the perfect opportunity to study different ways of generating profit from the land, learn about the economic impacts of climate change, the political decisions as to which businesses receive funding (or not) and socio-political issues around land ownership, green spaces, mental health, food supply and resource management.
In geography and Biology, students can conduct real-world experiments by observing ecosystems, connecting with citizen-science projects and learning about the impact of human activity (positive and negative) on the environment.
Maths doesn’t have to be confined to the classroom either. How about using the outdoors to teach concepts like geometry by measuring the heights of trees or the angles of sun shadows? Students can learn about scaling, data analysis, statistics, distances, measurements and mapping in real life.
The outdoors provides a dynamic setting for all these subjects and more that simply can’t be replicated in a classroom.
But the icing on the cake?
It’s all interconnected.
The outdoors.
The ‘real’ world.
Communities.
A.I.
Farming and food security.
Politics.
GIS mapping.
Businesses.
Economics.
Social cohesion.
Government.
It’s all deftly interwoven. And yet in the classroom, we treat them all like separate entities.
In the outdoors. We begin to see and make the connections.
We’re passionate about creating a more engaging, healthier and environmentally conscious learning experience for the next generation. One Bioasis mission at a time.
We look forward to seeing you outdoors sometime soon.
In the meantime, here are a few resources that might be useful:
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