Outdoor Learning – ideas generated by BGS staff

Outdoor Learning – ideas generated by BGS staff at INSET, November 2017

Do you want to give pupils a new perspective on a topic?  Do you want to stimulate their curiosity?  Are you looking for ways to give life to tired lessons?  Then why not ‘go outdoors’?  A recent focus of one of our twilight and lunchtime T&L sessions was ‘outdoor learning’, and here are a few ideas for how you could use the outdoors simply and effectively.

Hypothesis hunters! – As an example of discovery (or ‘bottom-up’) learning, you could ask pupils to formulate hypotheses or questions related to your subject from what they see on the school site, then work through the enquiry process back in the class.

Use the space! – With no or very simple props, you could breathe new life into certain topics – why not use ropes to show connections, toilet rolls to show timelines, and vantage points like the Learning Link to look down at pupils acting out molecular processes?  Get pupils to measure angles and areas, or to examine building techniques and designs.

Natural stimulation! – Use the environment to develop your pupils’ curiosity and why not use it for mindfulness as part of a form time activity on relaxation techniques?

Please find below a fuller list of the ideas generated by two dozen of your colleagues as to how the outdoors could be used to boost teaching and learning at BGS – scroll down, look through, try an idea or two, and let us know how it goes!

David, December 2017

Hypothesis hunter:

Sciences (Biology/chemistry/physics)

• Pupils come up with a range of questions that they could investigate on site
• Identify which questions could actually be investigated/look for any problems.
• In small groups come up with a hypothesis and possible method for investigating – prediction/variables/equipment etc.

 

• Good for introducing lower years to investigations/variables. Possible use for introducing CORMMSS (Bio).

Maths:

• Use of Learning Link/outside space to measure angles and height of buildings.
• Get pupils to work out how to measure the area of different spaces e.g. the playground.
• Investigating/measuring ratios

Languages:

• Pupils write 20 questions about a particular area on site, give these to another student who has to translate the questions and identify the area being described.
• Possible homework – describe the route around school.
• Come up with questions that you would need to ask to achieve something outside e.g. how to access the main entrance via the key fob.

Digital Learning/computer Science:

• Walk the perimeter of the school/playing field and convert this into an algorithm – cross curricular with Geography.

History:

• What used to be in this area?
• Come up with questions that you could ask about a particular area to find out what it wold have looked like in the past.

PD/Form Time:

• Walk around the site, what questions would you need to ask to identify any problems with access for disabled students.

DT:

• Use to investigate/teach depth perception.
• Texture challenge – how many different textures can you find around the grounds in a set time. Take sketches of each texture and then draw them in the class room.

Art:

• Different viewpoints of the same object e.g. how could you draw a tree from different angles viewpoints.
• How could you draw certain areas/objects from the perspective of different artists/styles.

Psychology:

• Depth Perception
• Pupils come up with different observational studies that could possible carry out around the site and what ethical concerns there would be, how could they plan the study etc.

 

Ways teachers could use basic props outdoors (or in large indoor spaces):

 

Toilet Rolls

• Geography – earth structure (journey _from_ the centre of the earth)
• History / English – timeline (events / plots)
• Maths – Logarithmic scale / squares / cubes
• Biology – evolutionary timeline

 

Ropes

• Geography – contours
• Maths – area, radius/pi
• Language – skip and count
• English – themes in poetry (?)
• IT – nodes and links in a network

 

No props

• Geography – long shore drift
• Biology – Mitosis/meiosis
• Language – tenses (?)
• Maths/DT – architecture / angles

 

Many of these activities could be watched and/or filmed from above, and then used in the next lesson for recap and/or revision.  The learning link and the front of school wall are good vantage points for this.

 

Nature as a stimulus:

Artistic

• Blind ‘discovery’ – put a hand in a box and identify objects using touch. Then have to effectively describe or re-create that object.
• Questioning stance – what might live under there? How might your character use this space?
• Curiosity in form time – mindfulness. Take a minute to listen, observe what you can see, feel etc.

 

• Mixing the senses (synesthesia) – what might the sound of a bird look like? What colour might that smell be?
• Shouting Shakespeare – encourage quiet classes to get involved with drama!
• Bio-mimicry – take inspiration from nature and apply practically in a design task.
• Outside the school – bring in stimuli from home for homework, work creatively from them.
• Vocabulary expansion
• MFL – use outdoor lesson as stress relief in the summer, as a conversation lesson. Use as an exercise in tenses for younger years: what are we going to do, what are we doing now, what have we done.

 

Scientific

• Degrees of separation – as a starter, pick three objects (or take pictures of three objects) from nature, then have to link those objects to what we studied last lesson.
• To illustrate the importance of different perspectives – do a data collection during a break time using other students. Discuss ethics of observing when your participants are not aware?
• Create a timeline – if from where I am to that door is the Tudor period, where would you stand to mark Henry VIII’s death?
• Treasure hunt – find the objects following clues and take a picture to prove you have been there. Could work for Maths, ICT, English, Science, History etc.
• Alphabet walk – discovery led, lead a discussion afterwards.
• Maths – trigonometry in nature
• Maths walk – room numbers, Roman Numerals, shapes, area etc.
• ICT – passing data packets around using large spaces.

 

Making use of the school Grounds

Ideas for lessons

Languages:

• Directions
• Learning key words for objects: as a trail/quiz for any key words or for learning the key words for objects outside

Maths

• Calculating heights of the buildings: trig
• Maths trail: QR codes: Each subject could have a permanent quiz or a quiz that could be used in form time

Art:

• Photography
• Pagoda windows as a frame for the picture
• Perspective drawing: see perspective in action: draw it live
• Pagoda as a permanent outdoor exhibition site for art work: green man masks as an example

 

Computer Science:

• Robots: turning distances
• Visual coding: coloured cones

 

RS, English, Classics (literature)

• Meditating
• Putting into context Literature/ poems
• Inspiration: design an argument by looking at the natural world

 

Science:

• Surveys
• Investigating something outside
• Ecology

 

Objects of interest: long sticks, ground sheets, random box of objects

• Grids and coordinates (large ground sheets with tape squares): languages: using directions, team building, PD, Minefield/ battle ships
• Balancing sticks: communication and team building. In groups: hold up a long stick each person using 2 fingers: put it on the floor without any more contact with the stick
• Code breaking
• How well do you understand your subject: AFL: tree of knowledge type thing
• Revision/ competitions/ comfort in speaking: pick an object and talk about it: how long for?

Originally posted on Bradford Grammar School’s T&L blog: BGSlearning@wordpress.com