Category: Outdoor Learning

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Geography Outdoor Learning

To fly or not to fly?  The Geography teacher’s dilemma

Double Rainbow in Iceland (Source: Discover the World Education)

When three environmentalists discuss the pros and cons of flying, as they did in a recent podcast episode, and at the end of it, they all agree to continue undertaking this high-carbon activity, what are geography teachers supposed to do?

Raise their eyebrows at the hypocrisy?  Shake their heads in despair?  Agree and move on?  Or listen and consider their position on the issue as educators and global citizens?

Benefits of flying

I recognise the huge benefits of flying – it has helped me to explore the world, meet new people, become more open-minded, and to become a geographer.  And I would like those benefits – as well as the ‘awe and wonder’ component of many foreign field trips – to be experienced by young people.  I also recognise the vast social and economic benefits of travel to many destination communities around the world.

But I have difficultly coming to terms with the very real impact of not just my own carbon footprint, but that of the dozens of children who I encourage to fly on school trips to locations such as Iceland.  Facilitating 26 student return plane journeys to Iceland, as I did last month, weighs heavily on my mind.  Many of you reading this post will no doubt have also experienced this dilemma.

Premises

Let’s take a step back and look at this issue as part of the bigger picture of flying.  My premises for this post are as follows:

  1. Geography teachers are very well-informed people about environmental issues
  2. Being well-informed of such issues, we recognise the existence of, and impacts of, anthropogenic climate change – and that such impacts are overwhelmingly negative for almost all people in almost all parts of the world
  3. We also recognise that climate change is a collective action problem – that is, a situation in which all individuals would be better off from co-operating, but in which there are few incentives for individuals to take individual action
  4. We recognise that as affluent members of an affluent country, we are likely to have a large carbon footprint
  5. We recognise that transport, particularly air transport, is likely to be one of the biggest contributors to our carbon footprint
  6. We recognise that, as teachers, we are role models to our students (and often to those in the wider community), so our decisions about how we act and what we say are likely to have a significant impact on the opinions and behaviours of others
  7. Field trips are an essential part of what we do as geography teachers.  We are very likely to organise them, lead them, take part in them, or facilitate them
  8. Whilst essential in their educational role, field trips have an impact on the environment – and generally, those involving trips abroad are more likely to involve flying

So what do we do when we consider opening our students’ eyes to the world by organising field trips which involve flying?  Cut out the flights altogether?  Always go local?

Let’s return to the podcast for a moment.

Outrage and Optimism

It’s called Outrage and Optimism, and it’s highly recommended listening for geography teachers who want to keep up to date with developments in climate change policy.  The three presenters have all been working in international environmental policy making and advocacy for decades: Christiana Figueres is the Costa Rican diplomat who led the negotiations which resulted in the 2015 Paris Agreement, and Paul Dickinson and Tom Rivett-Carnac continue to play active roles in this sphere.

They all fly frequently as part of their work, and they have all taken steps to try to minimise their flying: for several years, Paul only flew for work and not for family holidays, and they all make trips count by combining meetings and rejecting others in favour of remote working.  But they all recognise the importance of face-to-face meetings, as well as keeping in touch with family members, and they were all wary of moralising and preaching (as am I!).

They also recognise the range of opinions in the climate change community: in a survey they issued prior to the programme, 21% of the respondents said it was okay to fly, 21% said it wasn’t, and 58% said it was okay to fly in some circumstances.  They are under no illusion as to the role of flying in climate change, and the fact that its contribution to emissions is likely to rise owing to growing global prosperity and the decarbonisation of other sectors.  They flag up efforts to decarbonise the aviation sector: in keeping with the ‘Optimism’ part of the podcast’s title, they are open to the idea of technological solutions in the mid- to long-term.  But they are honest about the limited impact these will have in the next decade or so.

The Figueres Defence

The most powerful contribution to the discussion was by Christiana.  She issued a forceful defence of carbon offsetting:

“I have been abundantly public for many years that I am an offset proponent.  I think it is important, because I come from a developing country, and I have seen the benefit in developing countries of receiving funding for projects that otherwise would not be funded”

She pointed out that the offset market uses rigorous methodologies.  Nevertheless, she recognised that providers of offset schemes are unregulated and there is much uncertainty in the sector.  To compensate for this, she implored listeners: “if you’re going to offset, offset abundantly and generously” and “make sure that you have covered and over-covered your emissions, and that you are investing in high quality projects in developing countries who need that investment.”

How might Christiana’s contribution speak to the geography teacher’s dilemma?

Six suggestions for Geography teachers

Returning to the premises at the start of this post, we should be mindful of the carbon footprint of field trips and we should also consider how we might run them in a way which facilitates the discussion of these issues by students and teachers alike.  So here are six suggestions for how geography teachers might approach the dilemma of flying and field trips:

  1. Use flights on a field trip when other alternatives are not reasonably available
  2. Fly when the experience warrants it
  3. Organise field trips that involve flying less often than you might be tempted to – perhaps once every two or three years?  We now interleave our foreign field trips, which used to take place annually, with one to the excellent Field Studies Centre in Millport, on the Isle of Cumbrae in western Scotland.
  4. Carbon offset your flights, and consider ‘over-offsetting’ – see Christiana’s comments above
  5. Ask tour providers what they are doing about the impact of their flights.  When I called three school tour operators a few years ago about this issue, only one had formulated a policy about it: Discover the World Education.  So I stopped using our previous tour company and began working with DtWE.  More tour companies are developing their sustainability policies, but it is still worth asking questions of them
  6. Involve students, parents, and indeed your senior leadership team, in your deliberations, and take the issues out in the open.  For the first time this year, we included a slide on sustainability in the parent’s information presentation, and this began not with reusable cups and paper straws, but with the ‘elephant in the room’ – the flights – and why we were contributing to Discover the World’s ‘Greener Growth’ offset scheme.  We are proud that we have paid £20 per student into this scheme: a total of £520

You may well be further down the road in terms of sustainability of your geography field trips than me, or you may have just begun the journey.

You may have already dismissed the idea of offsetting, or you may have embraced it.

You may feel that the geography curriculum – and the acts of its teachers – should be clearly separated from issues of how we ‘act sustainability’.

But whatever your stance, I believe that if you return to the premises I set out at the start of this post, you will agree that the issue of flying is certainly worth paying attention to, and perhaps worth acting upon.  I welcome your thoughts.

Readers may be interested to read a post I wrote a few years ago called ‘In defence of carbon offsetting’.

Categories
Outdoor Learning Teaching and Learning

Let them play!

Playing with pebbles (source: author)

What do you remember about lunchtimes at school?

The meals were one thing, but what really stands out in my mind’s eye were the kickarounds.  At my primary school in Cardiff, we played on grassy fields which we shared with the ‘Welshies’ – the neighbouring primary school where lessons were taught in Welsh.  At secondary school, we played on tarmac, and we were only allowed to play with tiny footballs, but the games were jumpers-for-goalposts affairs, and all were welcome – even me with my awful skills.  The games were a welcome break from my studies.

When I do lunchtime break duties at school today, it’s great to see hundreds of pupils still having kickarounds, with a few younger ones playing tig.  There’ll also be games of tennis-ball cricket, and on the sidelines a few younger girls will be doing some kind of dance or singing a song that I’ve never heard of.

And my sons’ main talking points after a day of primary school often mention the games they played at break time, in after-school clubs, or in PE.  It’s also great to hear about how so much of their learning takes part through the medium of outdoor play – whether that’s chalk-drawn times tables on the tarmac or orienteering with quiz questions at every checkpoint.

Is play being squeezed out of schooling?

But overall, and with some admirable exceptions, play seems to be being squeezed out of schooling, in the name of behaviour management, squeezes on funding and staffing, health and safety concerns, and in some cases owing to the reduction of available green space and even asphalt playgrounds.

Research has highlighted the problems of declining lunchtimes and breaktimes at secondary schools – one of which is the restriction of children’s instinct to play.  An older friend of my son reports taking a packed lunch, not because the school meals are bad, but so that in the half an hour allocated to lunchtimes, he can snaffle down half a sandwich and then spend the remaining 25 minutes playing football.  A teacher at another school reports that their students barely have any time to step outside and burn off some energy between their rigid ‘family meal’-style lunch and their disciplined but time-consuming queuing system prior to afternoon lessons.

Decline of play outside of school

You may think that such arrangements are fine because children can play outside when they get home.  But, in a trend which Jonathan Haidt pointed out started in America, parents and other caregivers have been increasingly reluctant to let their children play outdoors, especially in unstructured, independent play.

Some of this is down to a trend towards directing children towards more organised extra-curricular activities for fear of them missing out on some skill or other.  Some of it is due to an exaggerated fear of external dangers such as violent crime.  And some of it is due to a well-intentioned but ultimately psychologically harmful desire to protect our children against getting injured.

Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Anxious Generation (source)

In parallel with this trend towards overprotectiveness, Haidt, in his book, ‘The Anxious Generation’, demonstrates that increased use of smartphones and other screen-based activities amongst children since the early 2010s has resulted in fewer opportunities for children to play together, whether indoors or outdoors, and therefore fewer chances for them to learn how to socialise and to manage risks.

Parents and teachers have recognised the challenges – and indeed dangers – of excessive use of screens for years.  And schools are getting better at setting rules and advising parents on how to manage screen time.

Big tech companies

However, Haidt argues that most of blame for this squeezing of playtime lies with big tech companies.  They built their business models on hooking adults, and now they go to great lengths to hook children on smartphones to both maximise their revenue and cultivate future avid screen users.

Mobile phone usage – a timebomb for our young people? (Source: Charles Deluvio / Romolo Tavani)

Leniency with age limits, developing algorithms to autoplay videos and posts aimed at keeping the user online, developing child-friendly and addictive games, and encouraging the creation of multi-day friendship ‘streaks’ are just some of the methods used to keep young eyes on their phones and away from the lure of outdoor play.  Haidt recommends new laws and guidelines for tech companies to try to reverse the harms caused by excessive screen time, therefore freeing up our children to play more.

Dare we hope?

But schools have a role too – and not just in terms of phone bans.  And, with the dawn of a new government, dare we hope that policies and expectations will move towards a more play-friendly childhood?  Towards longer breaktimes?  Towards more outdoor learning and field trips?  And all the better if such play takes place in green spaces: recent studies show that wider exposure to such areas reduces behavioural problems, gives children a cognitive boost, and may even improve academic achievement.  This is before we enter the territory of allowing students of all ages more time to ‘play’ with ideas through enquiry-based learning. 

In the meantime, whatever the weather this summer, let’s do what we can to let our children play!

This article first appeared in the Yorkshire Post, 8 August, 2024

Categories
Outdoor Learning Uncategorized

It might just take a nudge to cycle to work

canal bike

Canals can make the cycle to work more pleasant

Source: https://www.active-traveller.com/cycle-routes/cycle-route-dove-valley-trail-yorkshire

Every journey starts with one small step.  Occasionally you need a nudge to take that step.  An old housemate of mine gave me that nudge over a decade ago.

I had been driving to my previous teaching job, six miles from my old house, as a matter of habit: every weekday I would jump in the car, drive off and arrive at school.  Then I would drive back.  And then I would often go to the gym, or for a run, or a swim, sometime in the evening.  Sure, I had a bike, but I barely used it.

My housemate used to cycle to his work place and suggested that I try it too.  And one sunny summer’s day I did.  But what a kerfuffle – I had to take a suit and my shirt to school the previous day, then go in, shower, get changed, then start my working day.  Then there’s the hassle at the end of the school day too.  Was it really all worth it?

Time saving

But the weird thing is that, in my case at least (I live just over five miles from my place of work), once I put a few simple things in place, cycling to work actually saved me time.  Why is that?

  • Thanks to good old traffic congestion, I take the same time to cycle in as it takes other teachers in my area to drive in (not that I am trying to be smug about it – more of that later…)
  • I keep suits, shoes, towels and so on at work, and replace them on rotation or when I occasionally get the train in
  • I shower at school – but I would have showered at home anyway – so that’s time neutral!
  • I no longer have to have a separate training session when I get home – the commute (and extended versions if necessary) is the baseline of my exercise regime

Other benefits

Apart from time saving, the benefits are manifold:

  • fitness
  • fresh air (half of my route is off the main road)
  • resilience (getting through the odd cold or rainy journey builds up your defences for some of life’s minor inconveniences)
  • a feeling of belonging (swapping pleasantries with other cyclists and the same friendly old fellow on his canalside constitutional)
  • money-saving (we are now a one-car household, saving money on buying, servicing, taxing, and fuelling a second vehicle – and no more gym fees – and many employers offer the Cycle to Work scheme so you can buy a bike from your pre-tax income, and stagger the payments throughout the year)
  • doing your little bit to reduce carbon dioxide emissions
  • giving you an extra leisure activity to do in your own time
  • the ability to eat more food and ‘earning’ the odd beer or two

Yes, I might sound smug, but smugness is an occupational hazard of a cycle commuter!  (Give me a virtual slap in the face if you wish.)

Let’s go back to that small step – the first day I biked to my old school.  Things soon got into a routine. I went from biking once a week, to twice, then three times.  I cycle every day.

Barriers and how to overcome them

There will be barriers to overcome.  These can include living far away from your place of work, dropping off children on the way to and from school/nursery (there are ways to do this!), lacking a bike, worries about safety, concerns about your fitness levels, anxieties about frosty or wet journeys… and more.  Why not chat to people who already bike in about these barriers and how they can be broken down?

Also, advice can be found on the British Cycling website, and in terms of safety, none of us are immune to the dangers of cycling, but they can be overstated, and awareness of risk probabilities will help you to put them in perspective.

Moreover, I believe that the risks are outweighed by the mental and physical health benefits of cycling.  Some unions will support you in the case of accidents which might take place on your commute – and you could seek extra cover from British Cycling or other providers.

Cycle path YEP

Cycle paths can facilitate your commute

Source: https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/business/new-cycling-route-between-leeds-and-castleford-approved-135924

My journey started with a small step.  What will nudge you to take yours?  Could it be the lighter traffic we are seeing in these times of remote working?  Could it be worries about public transport?  The need to save money and get fit?  If you are able to, why not do a Tebbit and get on your bike?  (If you live far away, trains have space for bikes and you could bike the first or last part of your journey.)

Read on for some hints and tips if your interest has been piqued…

Route planning

  • Try a weekend recce of your journey – you could even make it into an expedition with your family or friends
  • Ask someone who already cycle-commutes for suggestions as to the best way to come (the safest and most enjoyable route may not be the shortest or the one that your smart phone suggests)
  • Canals are much safer from the point of view of accidents, but can be quiet places, so consider cycling with a friend for safety
  • Make use of cycle lanes (especially traffic-free ones)
  • This route planner might help

Start with small steps

  • Share your commitment: complete your first few commutes (or part of them) with someone else
  • Start out one-way (use the train to go one-way), or even come part of the way by train
  • Start in summer, so you are cycling in the light

Be safe, be seen!

  • Wear high-visibility clothing and a helmet
  • Dismount and walk your bike on the pavement if needed
  • Keep your eyes peeled and your ears free (no headphones – unless they are bone conduction, and even then it pays to be hyper-aware!)
  • Take a fully charged phone with you

Logistics

  • Keep a heavy bike lock at work, or in your chosen bike cubby hole (ask other cyclists for their hints)
  • Keep your clothes and a towel in a locker
  • Wrap things in a waterproof container in your cycling bag

Just in case

  • Consider cycling insurance – e.g. from British Cycling – or, as I mentioned before, some unions may cover you for your commute

Generic resources

There are many generic resources to help cyclists to plan a safe journey.

One starting point for absolute novices is Bikeability – the government’s cycling initiative: https://bikeability.org.uk

Tips for more experienced cyclists can be found here (from British Cycling): https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/membership/article/20140102-Road-safety-tips-for-members-0
Phew!  That’s it for now.  As Michael McIntyre says, stay safe…

Best wishes,  David

 

Categories
Geography Outdoor Learning Teaching and Learning

Education and entertainment? Occupying children in challenging times

Outdoor learning photo

Source: Shutterstock.com, via https://theconversation.com/being-in-nature-is-good-for-learning-heres-how-to-get-kids-off-screens-and-outside-104935 

There has been a boom in advice for parents and guardians over the last few days about what they can do with their children for the upcoming weeks – and probably months – off school.  In my position as a geography teacher, outdoor educator, orienteering coach, and father of two young children, I have some experience at knowing what might work well, and in what context.  Please find below some thoughts and suggestions on how to combine educating and entertaining your children in and around the home in these challenging times.

The basics

Work within the structure that your children’s school has put in place for remote working.  One of the reasons why most school days are divided into different lessons of between 35 and 60 minutes in duration, is because learning, and especially learning in childhood, is more effective in short bursts and when it is ‘interleaved‘, i.e. with learners encountering different subjects and topics throughout the school day, week and term.  But be aware that in a school-based day, children ‘depressurise’ between lessons by chatting to their friends whilst they physically move around the school site; you could replicate this by allowing them 5 minutes to contact their friends and/or to move around (see below for some really short ideas).

Interleaving

Source: https://www.learningscientists.org/interleaving

Children thrive on variety, and this might mean doing several activities in one day – perhaps interspersed by periods of playing educational and not-so-educational computer games and watching CBeebies/CBBC/YouTube (delete as appropriate!).

Be flexible: be willing to go off on a tangent if your child takes you on one!

Keep it simple.  Younger children in particular can let their imagination run wild with things as simple as chalk, clean paintbrushes and den-building materials – see below for some easy ideas.

Don’t splash the cash.  You don’t need to spend lots of money: use your school or public library if it is still open, visit charity shops, and where possible, share toys, books and other materials with other families, taking care to disinfect them if necessary.

Use technology judiciously.  Although your children may not like to admit it, they will probably be overdosing on it.  This is not only because most schools will be expecting your child to use technology to receive, undertake and submit work, but also because in place of face-to-face socialising in school, your children will probably want to use social media even more frequently than usual.

Make the most of mealtimes together, and build preparation into your time together (see below).  My children are on the fussier end of the spectrum, so eating together can be a frustrating experience, but at least we have time to talk about things and you might even wheedle out some of their worries (coronavirus included).

Now we have covered some of the basics, what about some practical ideas?

Outdoors

Some people will be able to leave the house, as long as they maintain social distancing protocols – the main one of which is to stay about 2m from other people.  And, most of the time in spring and summer, the increasingly clement weather and lighter days should facilitate this.  The summer term is when many schools run outdoor learning activities and field trips, and the current shutdown means that children are in danger of missing out on these valuable opportunities.  It is important to keep the outdoor flame burning – in all its inquisitive, active, resilience-building, messy, muddy, invigorating glory.  (Inspired by Nicholas Tampio, I reflect on why face-to-face learning works here.)

Some of the simplest ideas for the youngest children in your household involve art – for example, paintbrushes dipped in water provide a surprisingly entertaining distraction, and investing in jumbo chalks gives children free rein over your patio and walls:

Chalk drawing

For older children, why not inspire them into producing outdoor artworks in the style of Andy Goldsworthy?  The Art department at Bradford Grammar School develop this idea in the annual Year 9 Outdoor Learning Day:

image4

Easy activities, like gardening, can be tailored into learning opportunities.  These activities include the building of a ‘bug hotel’, and planting bulbs (it’s not too late for some varieties) and vegetables.  The RSPB – which nowadays has a remit which has spread towards the conservation of all wildlife – has many great ideas on their website.  If this inspires you, then it is good to know that anyone can join the RSPB at a subscription rate of your own choice, after which you will receive a folder of activities to do in any season, plus one of two age-appropriate quarterly children’s magazines containing other activities.

The time is also ripe for children in Key Stages 1-3 in particular to undertake many of the zany activities developed by the Mission:Explore collective.  Some of their books and ideas are available to download for free on websites such as this one or this one, or to buy on Amazon.  Their Facebook page and Twitter account contain archives of many of their activities.  One example is below:

Mission Explore image

The Scout Association are, of course, experts at outdoor learning, and this page contains hundreds of outdoor ideas, sortable by time, cost and group size:

Great Outdoors

Going out for a walk in the local park or woods may be enough to stimulate your children – and those of any age will need little prompting to make dens or dam brooks.  It has been proven that spending time in green spaces – and especially forests – is great for mental health.  One way of embracing this opportunity is to undertake walking meditation – or what some Buddhists call ‘forest bathing’.  Bradford Grammar students have tried this in the last two outdoor learning days:

image2

To introduce more intellectual challenge into such trips, why not find and print an orienteering map of these areas, and use it to plan your way around routes of increasing complexity.  There are hundreds of so-called ‘permanent orienteering courses’, with posts to visit – some of which have QR codes to scan to prove you have been to each location – and to add to the challenge, why not run them?  See the British Orienteering website for more information.

POC QR tree

There are more outdoor learning ideas in the Outdoor Classroom Day website – and in some of my earlier blog posts, such as this one.  Finally, the ‘hive mind’ of the Bradford Grammar School staff helped in the collection of outdoor learning activities covered here.

Indoors

Much of the day will, either by choice or necessity, be spent indoors.

Simple pleasures such as reading, practising a musical instrument, or jigsaws, will undoubtedly see a rise in popularity in the coming weeks.  The art of letter-writing, perhaps to an elderly relative, or to friends, may well make a comeback too.

There should be more time for meal planning and preparation in the coming weeks too.  Making a pizza dough, then leaving it to rise, then knocking it back, adding toppings, then putting it in the oven, then waiting again for it to cook, is an easy way to engage children in the structure (and fun) of cooking, as well as teaching them patience!  Older children could also benefit from some home economics practice as part of their move towards independence.

What could pupils do to fill the gaps between lessons, aside from engaging in social media?  Rationing mobile phone usage may well be the best policy, as evidence shows that even having a phone in one’s field of vision can reduce productivity.  So what about those low-tech activities?  Picking up a new physical skill in small doses may be worthwhile – I remember learning to juggle in the five-minute gaps between revision for my GCSEs back in the ’90s!  Engaging in an intense intellectual activity such as a crossword could also be an outlet for older students: more able ones could even learn the art of the cryptic crossword.

As well as their outdoor provision, The Scouts have produced a section on their website called ‘The Great Indoors’, containing over a hundred ideas.  See below:

Great Indoors

For those looking to model real-world phenomena and processes, I recommend a web search for ‘kitchen geography’.  Have a look at this video, for instance, which recreates glacial erosion in your own home!

There will be other people with more experience than me in the arena of arts, crafts and music-making, so I will leave my suggestions here for now.

Good luck, and I hope to be able to put more out there in the coming weeks.  As ever, I welcome your thoughts.

David

 

Categories
Optimism and progress Outdoor Learning Teaching and Learning

Shaking it up – enthusiasm and engagement in secondary schools

Champagne uncorking

Uncork their enthusiasm!

Source: http://www.commons.wikimedia.org

  • Springy pavements generating electricity from pedestrians!
  • Office blocks retrofitted with living roofs and walls!
  • Hydrogen powered buses!
  • Free public transport for all!
  • Monthly cycle to work and litter picking days!

It’s hard not to be buoyed up about the future when you come across ideas like these.  And this effect is heightened by the fact that they came from people who will be responsible for shaping what the future of humankind will look like – our young people.

Fizzing with ideas

I recently marked a Year 8 class set of designs for a sustainable city.  They researched their ideas independently, drew up plans in pairs, then justified their plans individually in a ‘books-open’ in-class report.  I often marvel at students’ ingenuity and depth of research, and I know it might sound corny, but whilst marking this piece of work, I found myself breaking off every now and again to wistfully consider their enthusiasm – and what happens to it in the remainder of their years of secondary education.

City plan 1

Year 8 sustainable city work – showing enthusiasm and promise!

I was reminded of my childhood, when I had fantastical thoughts about designing buildings and cities, which I expressed in cartoons and occasionally in Lego.  You might be thinking ‘No wonder he became a Geography teacher!’ – but looking at the imagination and creativity shown by students year after year, I think that this enthusiasm is common among a very large number of younger students, not all of whom will go on to become geographers, architects or planners.

In primary school and in the early years of secondary school, teachers of all subjects find that most students fizz with ideas and positivity.  The almost palpable feeling of energy is part of why a career in education appeals to many people.  But teachers will recognise a slide in the levels of enthusiasm of their charges as the secondary school years progress.

The Enthusiasm Transition Model (ETM)

This trend can be illustrated by the rigidly scientifically researched ‘Enthusiasm Transition Model’ (ETM).  How many teachers (or parents) recognise the stages shown below?:

ETM

The Enthusiasm Transition Model (ETM)

The ETM and the secondary school years

Year 7, and, with a following wind, Year 8 too: Most pupils are keen to take part in discussions and many of them even like to perform tasks like handing out books.  Many pupils are even sorely disappointed if they are not chosen!

Year 9: A scattering of pupils volunteer their thoughts, but almost no-one is bothered if they are not chosen.  The enthusiasts fight to keep their keenness hidden.

Years 10 and 11: A couple of students half-heartedly volunteer, and there is no need to implement a ‘hands down’ policy in most classes because it’s de facto in operation anyway!

Years 12 and 13: Students have actively chosen your subject, so there is a slight resurgence in classroom engagement, if you are lucky.   However, it can be hard to keep students’ attention at such a busy time of their lives.

City plan 2

More Year 8 sustainable city work

Letting the champagne go flat

So what explains this gradual decline in most children’s enthusiasm in their time at secondary school?

Some of it may be lost as pupils are exposed to more of the realities of their personal life – the creeping realisation that they will not always be able to get what they want.

Similarly, as they escape from the protective bubble of their carers, children will see at first hand some of the more challenging aspects of the world: the homeless person they see under the arches at the railway station; the incident of road rage on the way to school; conflicts amongst family members which were kept under control in the pupils’ early childhood.

Some enthusiasm may be displaced by the increasing responsibilities of youth and adulthood – when you have momentous decisions to make about future careers, relationships, driving, and so on, there is not enough time to dwell on ideas, let alone ideals.

Some of it is swallowed up internally as young people succumb to peer pressure.  The pressure to ‘fit in’ with the norms of their chosen group(s) is often overwhelming.  This impetus to impress their friends over their parents and teachers is reinforced by subtle glances and under-the-breath comments in classroom discussions whenever someone forgets where they are for a moment and dares to volunteer.

Still more of it will surely be eroded by exposure to the negative tone, not only of the ‘mainstream media’, but also of many of the ‘clickbait’ stories used by some news websites to hook in readers.

But some of it, I argue, is attributable to various aspects of the educational system.  Yes, we have come a long way from the days of ruling by fear, the crushing of individuality and corporal punishment which featured in some pupils’ lives in relatively recent decades (although some draconian approaches have made a comeback – see the debate about ‘flattening the grass’ (Smith, 2019)).  Nevertheless, students are still held back, in different degrees in different contexts, whether this be by regimentation, institutionalisation, momentum and paucity of imagination in our education system (I write from a UK context), let alone financial threats to the curricular and extra-curricular existence of ‘creative’ subjects and sports.

Bubbling over

Before going any further, I realise that a burst of enthusiasm is not going to be an educational panacea: a certain degree of structure is required to allow our current education system to work.  I also realise that some readers will question the need to (re)enthuse our youth – there are benefits for young people and their educators from the former being calmed and directed at times!

Furthermore, as Adam Smith wrote in The Wealth of Nations, enthusiasm in the absence of facts and carefully considered analysis can be deleterious to the advancement of the populace, particularly in terms of politics and the economy: he believed that educated people are “less liable… to the delusions of enthusiasm and superstition”.  To put my head above the parapet, I can see some validity in this point of view in the context of the Brexit debate.  Finally, as I write elsewhere, and inspired by Hans Rosling et al (2018), a fact-based worldview is essential for us to make the right decisions for the future of humankind and our planet.

But all this notwithstanding, I don’t think that more engagement and ‘buzz’ will lead our students astray – rather, it should re-energise them with education and the wider world.

City write up 1

More Year 8 work: How can you continue to generate this kind of outcome from your students in the secondary school years?

Uncorking students’ enthusiasm!

In my customary search for a solution, I hereby volunteer some thoughts for how educators could try to keep young people keener for longer:

  • The only time that pupils may go outside in the school day might be during lunch or breaktime. This runs counter to the needs of childhood development.  Why not embrace the outdoors?  You can read some of my musings on this subject here, but the YHA has launched a powerful video on ‘the adventure effect’ (https://groups.yha.org.uk/adventure-effect) which draws upon research showing that the outdoors is not only beneficial to young peoples’ physical health, but also their mental well-being too
  • Think how you could give opportunities to young people to express their enthusiasm outside of lessons, perhaps by holding lunchtime clubs, or competitions. To this end you could keep an eye on your subject association, many of which will run several such competitions a year – see, for example, the Geographical Association’s World Wise Quizzes: https://www.geography.org.uk/Get-Involved-1/Student-activities/WorldWise-local-quiz
  • Reward ‘below the radar’ enthusiasm – such as students writing in extra depth in certain homework tasks – by writing positive comments (and giving commendations/merits) to demonstrate that you recognise and celebrate initiative and keenness
  • Be a role model in the classroom – show the class that you care about the subject and your enthusiasm might become infectious. Fair enough, this is tough to achieve, and I am acutely aware that my enthusiasm can come across as being too eager to please, but combined with humour and perhaps a touch of self-deprecation, this approach can work
  • School and year-group assemblies can play an important role in celebrating achievements and inspiring students to follow their dreams and interests
  • School or personal subscriptions to news outlets dedicated to young people can help to redress the negativity of adult-orientated media. Examples of these outlets include The Day (which my school subscribes to and which every form tutor receives by email every morning) and children’s weekly newspapers such as First News
  • Finally, in terms of day-to-day and week-to-week pedagogy, consider the tasks that you set pupils – do they allow students a free enough rein to follow their interests within the task? For instance, could you give…
    • a choice of case studies (offer the choices then see how enthusiastic the students are when they are told it is first come, first served!)?
    • a choice of websites for research?
    • a choice of websites, articles, or TED talks for students to consume and feedback on (I tried the TED talk choice for a recent A Level theme of gender equality in education)?
    • a choice of presentation medium and/or group size? For example, in one task we allowed students to either plan and deliver a form assembly as a group, create a website and social media campaign as a pair, or to write to their MP individually
    • more time during which pupils could generate ideas (‘ideation’). Ewan McIntosh introduced delegates to methods to facilitate this at the 2016 Practical Pedagogies Conference – these include using randomiser websites such as http://www.randomideagenerator.com/ to mix up unlikely concepts and end users.  I have used these techniques to try to break deadlocks when students struggle to think of ideas for projects such as EPQs.  More ideation techniques are available here: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/introduction-to-the-essential-ideation-techniques-which-are-the-heart-of-design-thinking

As always, I welcome your feedback.  Don’t be afraid of curbing my enthusiasm!

David

Bibliography

Hazell, W. (2019) Teaching at ’flattening the grass’ school ‘felt like being a prison warden’ – TES, 14 February 2019 (accessed 24 February 2019): https://www.tes.com/news/teaching-flattening-grass-school-felt-being-prison-warden

Rosling, H, Rosling, O and Rosling-Ronnlund, A (2018) Factfulness (Sceptre)

Smith, A. (1789) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (5th edn: Methuen and Co, Ltd – as reproduced at https://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smWN.html),

Categories
Geography Outdoor Learning Teaching and Learning

Let’s take this outside – ideas for outdoor learning in the humanities and beyond

Lets take this outside

Below are some of the ways that you could take learning outdoors in the humanities and beyond.  They are based on personal experience and come from a session I presented at the Practical Pedagogies conference in Cologne (http://practicalpedagogies.net/) on 1st November 2018.  Many thanks to the people and organisations who were the original source of many of these ideas – I have included weblinks and credits where I could.  Please feel free to spread the word and to contact me for any more information/clarification.

Mental maps

As with any activity, it’s good to start with what students already know, so why not give them a blank piece of paper, and ask them to draw a ‘mental map’ of the place they are about to visit – or give them a map with outlines (for street maps of anywhere in the world: www.oomap.co.uk) and they write down what they feel about each place?  This could be good for a discrete place like the school grounds or a local park.  They could then ask members of the public, or members of a focus group, to do this too.  Try to give it a theme, e.g. ‘where do you feel safe’? ‘Where do you feel positive/negative?’

MindMapSF

Mental map of San Francisco, drawn by a resident of a northern suburb

Source: http://groups.ischool.berkeley.edu/mentalmaps/

Circle formation

This is often the best way to communicate in the outdoors, due to wind/traffic noise/blocked views.

Use of props

Chalk can be used to draw pie charts, bar charts, or to demonstrate tallies based on compass wedges.

Toilet rolls (or ropes) could be used as contour lines, or timelines, or to help with a ‘journey to the centre of the earth’: https://www.earthlearningidea.com/PDF/196_Journey_centre_E.pdf.

Rubber ducks could encourage students to take photos of as many places as possible – challenge students to ‘see how many places you can put the duck’!

Use the environment to help you

Use the natural and built environment to help you.

E.g. use slopes as amphitheatres; trees as rain cover; environment and passers-by as story prompts (what is that person doing?)

Find elements of built environment to use too – e.g. steps could be used for ‘steps to empathy’ – see South Sudan activity from Oxfam UK: https://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/resources/south-sudan , slopes for contours (NB look for a viewpoint), and so on.

A hook

Important to find a hook for an outdoor learning experience – e.g. news story, Sixth Former having difficulty parking, etc

e.g. Geography of Crime – Where on the school campus do students feel secure?  Where do they leave their belongings?

e.g. Urban Task Force – e.g. Lister Park – this could be done as a School Task Force – pupils could draw on safer cycling/walking/parking layouts in chalk?  Design a place for children/humans rather than cars – link to Jan Gehl’s ‘The Human Scale’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri4CeM0xUr0 and http://gehlarchitects.com – class members picture themselves as urban researchers and developers along Gehl’s lines.  Then share with SLT/estates team/councillor/local paper/Neighbourhood Watch group/Facebook group/etc

 Using the circle for sampling

One way is to use the circle idea from before, and ask students to look at a point in the distance and walk towards it, gathering data as they approach it.

Using your senses

Soundscape Wheel

Soundscape Wheel – source: www.goodcitylife.org 

Hearing: Turn around, and close your eyes for 30secs, focus on what you can hear, then note it.

Smellscape Wheel

Smellscape Wheel – source: www.researchswinger.org

Smell: Ditto for smell.

Sight: it’s very easy to get distracted, so consider using cards, adapted from the Field Studies Council – www.field-studies-council.org – to get your students to stick to what they see – e.g. follow a bird, follow a line, sit on a bench and see what happens, look at your feet.

Emotional mapping – see extract from Teaching Geography (Autumn 2018) – www.geography.org.uk

 Other ways of sampling

  • Systematic: photo every 2mins/1 lamppost
  • Line transect: buy day rider and get off at every bus/train/tram/underground stop
  • Random:
  • Dice
  • Online random number generator: turn your study area into a 10×10 grid (or use random numbers to allocate squares then do 10×10 within this)
  • Follow a contour as close as possible / visit all spot heights
  • Inspired by Mission:Explore:
  • Dérive: pick a person and follow them
  • Toss coin several times before leaving, to help you plan your ‘random’ route: heads=turn right, tails=turn left
  • Let your dog take you for a walk

 Data collection methods

Beyond the questionnaire (credit is again due to Mission:Explore – www.missionexplore.net – for some of these ideas)

 Cappuccino index – in order to assess the affluence of different customers, students (post-16) plot the cost of a medium cappuccino at all the cafes they pass en route.  Then, back in the classroom, they plot these figures as proportional symbols and/or isolines. [Source: Simon Hinchliffe]

Word clouding – students ask passers-by to come up with five words to describe the area – or they might present the passers-by with a table of 20-30 terms which they would use.  Back in the classroom, the students input the data into www.wordle.net to produce a ‘word cloud’

 Set up a stall to collect positive messages about area

Set up a legal graffiti wall, photograph it every hour/day

 ‘Plug in and turn off’ – i.e. pretend to listen to music but actually listen to conversations and note down recurring themes

 Empathy – students wear a blindfold or vision impaired glasses to start to empathise with the point of view of someone with a disability.  Or they could get on their knees to get a child’s-level view, and take photos from both perspectives.

Spend a day as a refugee – limited budget for lunch/ hand out guide in another language to empathise with a refugee

Historical maps to work out what has changed and why: https://digimapforschools.edina.ac.uk/

Poetry – read out poetry that is set in your place of study

Video viewpoints – go to the place a video was taken from and show historic footage filmed from that viewpoint (e.g. first film – Leeds Bridge – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJLr0cTzRYk )

Blue plaque quest – note name, sex, age, years – and reason for fame

 Statue study – Investigate the statues in a place. How are men and women differently represented? Share a photo of the most typical statue you can find.

Rename and rebrand 1 – name the section of the walk that you have just undertaken – what would sum up its essential nature?  What might attract different groups of people to undertake the walk?  How might you publicise it?  (e.g. Dijon and Leeds have Owl Trails – http://www.leedsowltrail.com/ – and the Chevin Geology Trail – http://chevinforest.co.uk/uploads/Geology/chevin_trail_2.pdf )

Rename and rebrand 2 – Ask your students to keep their eyes open during one particular neighbourhood.  Don’t tell the students what the name of the neighbourhood/redevelopment district is that they have just explored.  Instead, ask them to name it.  Give them examples of (re)branding that have helped parts of cities get a new image – e.g. a run-down part of Salford became Media City; the part of Leicester that has the new Curve Theatre in it is called the Cultural Quarter.

The other side of the tracks? – Walk a route and, on a small map of the area, draw the boundary between rich/poor, old/young, safe/unsafe, etc.  Or with red pen, draw boundaries that pedestrians might be wary of crossing.  Or with a highlighter, highlight the most cycle-friendly/pedestrian-friendly roads in an area, and/or the most dangerous.  For more ideas, see http://groups.ischool.berkeley.edu/mentalmaps/index.html

Urban Repair Squad – Where would you paint a new pedestrian crossing?  Or bike path?  Mark it on your map and/or use chalk to mark it on the ground.  Some groups take matters into their own hands – Google ‘guerrilla gardening’ and http://grist.org/urbanism/2011-06-23-five-provocative-ways-to-think-about-cities-and-neighborhoods/

Graffiti spotting – jot down where graffiti is found and what it says.  Consider why it is located there.

Care for the locality – How long do people wait before picking up litter on a path/bench/pick up an exercise book/a toy duck?!  Repeat the experiment in different areas of the school/park.

Things to map

  • CCTV cameras
  • Gardens – look, area, biodiversity, smell, number of cars…
    Dereliction/ to let/ for sale/ abandoned areas
  • Human communication (painted rocks, graffiti, council signs); colour code into do/don’t/neutral

Signs

What signs/words would you remove to make the area more pleasant?

What signs would you add?

Back to the classroom

So you have come up with a question, gathered data, presented it, analysed it, concluded and evaluated it (not time to go through the whole sequence of enquiry but Geographers are used to it)… but what next?

Many students engage better if they are given a choice of how to present their project.  We are moving towards this at BGS, with aim of at least one ‘multi-outcome’ task per year group. Sometimes this could be a simple choice between a talk, a poster, or a presentation.  Or, as in our Year 9 South Sudan project, it could be, for example, to teach a lesson to a class, create a social media campaign complete with a website, or write a letter to your MP.  This allows for individual and group work.

 Taking it further – cross-curricular outdoor learning

In June 2018, all 120 Year 9 pupils at Bradford Grammar School www.bradfordgrammar.com enjoyed a day of outdoor learning.  The purpose was to demonstrate to pupils (and staff) how learning can take place outside the classroom, and to increase resilience to its challenges (e.g. to prepare them for navigational demands of DofE).  Please contact me if you would like to run such a day at your school.

Categories
Geography Outdoor Learning Teaching and Learning

Teaching ‘Changing places’ at A level

Changing Places article Teaching Geography

In the most recent edition of the Geographical Association’s journal ‘Teaching Geography’ I write about the variety of ways that my students engaged with the ‘Changing places’ element of the new A level Geography specification outside of more conventional classroom activities.

These include events involving local councillors, Age UK befriending groups and qualitative fieldwork techniques.  Copyright restrictions mean that I can’t go into more detail, but I urge Geography teachers to join the GA and subscribe to the journal to keep their subject knowledge and pedagogy up to date:

http://www.geography.org.uk

Categories
Outdoor Learning Teaching and Learning

Why does face-to-face learning work?

In preparation for the end of year assembly last year, tutor groups were asked what their highlights of the year were.  Most of these were trips, and other out-of-classroom activities.  For example, half of the Year 9 forms in the school voted the cross-curricular ‘Be BOLD’ (BGS Outdoor Learning Day) as their highlight of the year.  Was this down to the time spent with their friends in the breaks between sessions?  But the lunch break was half the length of the usual one at school, so this can’t be the case!  Could it be as simple as ‘a change is as good as a rest’?  But this is too simplistic.  There must be something else going on, and I think that it relates to the wider issue of why face-to-face learning appears to be more effective than virtual learning in many contexts.

 

A recent article in the online magazine Aeon by Nicholas Tampio, looked into the benefits of face-to-face learning from both a philosophical and neuroscientific viewpoint.  He began by citing the philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty, writing in 1945, who believed that human thinking emerges out of lived experience; humans are thinking animals whose thinking is always infused with our animality.  Tampio related this to education thus: “It is by walking through a meadow, hiking beside a river, and boating down a lake that we are able to appreciate the science of geography. It is by talking with other people and learning their stories that we can appreciate literature.”  From the distance of adulthood, I believe that it is hard to appreciate just how much of who we are today comes from such practical activities, both from our formal schooling and from our extra-curricular activities.

It is not just philosophical musings that provide the rationale for a healthy dose of outdoor learning: Tampio quotes social neuroscientist Marcus Holmes, who argues that physical co-presence is essential to generate trust and empathy among human beings.  According to Holmes, diplomats insist on meeting in person with their colleagues, and good negotiators have a ‘feel for the game’ that works only when they share drinks, go on walks, shake hands, or have private conversations with their peers.  The neuroscientist Marco Iacoboni has studied the ‘mirroring system’ that enables human beings to understand each other’s intentions.  Within the brain, there are mirror neurons that fire when we perform an action or when we see another person doing the action.  This supports the folk psychology that holds that when we see another person, we think for a moment before deciding how to react (a point which is as relevant to our behaviour online as it is to experiential learning).  According to ‘simulation theory’, we actually feel what the other person feels as mirror neurons fire in just the same manner as if the experience was happening to us.

 

Tampio opines that this means that students looking at a screen will not – and cannot – trust, or care about, their teachers or students to the same degree as if they were face-to-face.  Communicating in person also enables people to pick up micro-changes in facial expressions and detect other people’s sincerity.  In the context of our time-pressured lives, writing, calling or video-chatting often works fine for many forms of communication, but Tampio points out that people must meet in the flesh to achieve the highest degree of trust or social bonding.

Sociologists also point out what is, on a moment’s reflection for most of us, self-evident: people want to be in the physical presence of other people to generate emotional energy: “a feeling of confidence, elation, strength, enthusiasm, and initiative in taking action” according to sociologist Randall Collins.  Communicating via email or by smartphones makes it harder to read another’s body language or perceive what is happening in the background as the other person talks into the computer’s camera.

 

What do these findings mean for educators?  Classroom experiences matter.  Field trips matter.  Outdoor activities and expeditions matter.  Humans are social beings; technology can facilitate many aspects of teaching and learning, but at the core of education are people, and we must ensure that they meet, exchange ideas, and develop empathy.  Only then will they thrive.

 Source: Nicholas Tampio (2018): Look up from your screen https://aeon.co/essays/children-learn-best-when-engaged-in-the-living-world-not-on-screens

Originally posted on Bradford Grammar School’s T&L blog: BGSlearning@wordpress.com 07.09.18

 

Categories
Outdoor Learning Teaching and Learning

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

Categories
Assemblies Outdoor Learning

Addicted to the outdoors

Assembly – Addicted to the outdoors – delivered to Bradford Grammar School, 5th February 2015

I have an addiction.  I have been addicted for years now.  My teachers and parents helped me to become addicted.  In fact, many teachers here are helping you to become addicted too.

Strenuous efforts are made to get the whole of Year 7 addicted in their first term here.  Most of Year 10 choose to sign up for whole weekends dedicated to it, and dozens of Sixth Formers have devoted weeks of their lives to it.

These efforts are advertised quite openly around the school – you just need to listen carefully to the Daily Bulletin.  For some subjects, it is even part of the curriculum.

Once you are addicted, it is hard to go back.  It really is.  I satisfy my addiction about a dozen times a week.  Some of you – and that includes staff – have had binges lasting weeks or even months!

Many of us have been abroad to satisfy our addiction, but there are plenty of opportunities to do so on home turf.  There is a daily chance to get a quick hit every lunchtime here.  My last hit was yesterday afternoon.  So what am I talking about?  Here are some clues. [show 3 slides]

You might have guessed already – I am addicted to the great outdoors!

So, why do so many people get addicted to the great outdoors, and if you haven’t done so already, why should you join them?  Here are seven good reasons, illustrated by photos from fellow outdoor addicts from across the school.

The first reason is to try to achieve “a healthy mind in a healthy body”.

This is the first in the Roman poet Juvenal’s list of what is desirable in life.

But what does it mean in relation to the outdoors?

Well, getting outdoors can make you fit but it can also help you to stay mentally alert.

A 2013 UK government report showed that “Children who spend more time on computers, watching TV and playing video games tend to experience higher levels of emotional distress, anxiety and depression”, whereas people who spend time in the outdoors usually find that their mental health improves.  Just like these two Year 11s!

This has even been recognised by psychologists, and ‘ecotherapy’ is now a common form of treating mental health problems.  In other words, “get some fresh air – it’ll do you good!”

Why does it work?  Partly because you need to co-operate with others in the outdoors, so your mind is distracted from your own worries.

For other people who choose to explore the outdoors alone, the solitude and lack of pressure to satisfy the demands of peers and family leads to significant improvements in self-esteem.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Reason 2: Improve your grades

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Those of you who have been to Pompeii, or to the Dales, or wherever you have been on school trips… how much easier did you find it once you sat the exam or did a project on it?  School trips in the outdoors aren’t just fun, they are a sneaky way of getting you to learn things!  And it’s not just school trips – just being out and about gets you to ask questions – and answer them!

So, what better way to learn about volcanoes than by walking in their shadow?…

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­…or even watching as they erupt?

Studies of adventure learning consistently show positive benefits on academic learning, as well as other outcomes such as self-confidence. On average, according to the Education Endowment Foundation, pupils who participate in structured adventure learning appear to make approximately three months additional progress over the course of a year over those who don’t.

On a personal level, I didn’t know how to explain a temperature inversion until I was in Tasmania and walked uphill through the clouds then saw this…

­­­­­­Reason 3: Stretch yourself in the outdoors and you will set yourself up for a rosy future.

­Succeeding in the outdoors can breed success in a competitive workplace.

Does that sound like fanciful thinking?

Well, apparently not!

The United Learning Trust (ULT) recently undertook a survey of major employers.  They were asked what attributes they looked for when taking on board new recruits.  The following were rated the highest: leadership, teamwork, self-motivation, communication, confidence, consideration, and the ability to learn.  For those of you who have taken part in Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Expeditions, like this Gold group in the Lake District, these attributes must ring a bell!

And no wonder, because the sample was also asked what they considered to be the most important activities undertaken at school and were asked to rate them from 1-5, with 1 being the highest.  As you can see, outdoor activities like DofE and World Challenge are very highly valued by employers.

Incidentally, this argument is very useful the next time you are trying to persuade your parents to let you go on a school trip!

Reason 4: Travel broadens the mind!

From new experiences to new people, you will learn more about the world – and yourself – by heading outside – and away from home – for a few days or weeks.

On another level, you also learn to appreciate what you have in your comfortable life in the UK.

On the World Challenge expeditions that I have been on, students have been humbled by the conditions that many people in the developing world live in.  Here are some BGS World Challengers from the 2014 expedition to India on a school project.

But there are more benefits: many expeditioners abroad also learn that many of our material luxuries are just that – luxuries – and that human relationships are what makes the world go around.

Reason 5.   Awe and wonder.

For this reason, pictures speak louder than words.

Mr Leake took this photo on the 2013 BGS World Challenge trip to China…

…and Mr Smith took this on the soon to be repeated Geography tour of SW USA…

…whilst Mr Hoath took this picture in Ladakh, North-West India.  Imagine waking up to that in the morning!

So, awe and wonder – well it’s all very good being overawed and in a state of wonder, but isn’t it a fleeting emotion, lost upon your return to everyday life, lessons, and assemblies?

Well, the theory proves that being outdoors has a long-term impact on your way of thinking:  The feeling that you are the centre of the universe is called into question by the sheer scale and complexity of nature.  There is something bigger than you and your everyday worries – a mountain – a wide open plain – the open sky…And this feeling sticks with you.  And you become an addict, a follower of the outdoor religion… seeking converts wherever you go [look out into audience] J

Reason 6:  Getting back afterwards!

The next three photos were taken in the last fortnight at BGS.

I’ve got to be honest – going outdoors can be a bit of a slog (although these two were having fun running in the hail the other week)!

You too can have fun in the snow, sleet and rain!

Because at least you can get back indoors and earn that hot drink, meal and a shower!

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­And when it’s all over you can feel satisfied that you’ve challenged yourself!

And if you’ve lugged a heavy rucksack for up to eight hours a day through tough terrain and challenging weather, like many generations of Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expeditioners have, or if you’ve slogged your way through puddles the size of small lakes in a cross-country race, then a few hours of revision a day doesn’t seem quite as bad!

Just think of the relief when the Geography department returned from this visit to a geyser in Iceland!

This isn’t just conjecture: the Education Endowment Foundation suggest that skills such as perseverance and resilience are developed through adventure learning and that these skills have a knock-on impact on academic outcomes.

This winter, we’ve seen our fair share of inclement weather, but for those hardy souls who venture out in it, the sense of achievement has been massive!

And so we come to Reason 7: Let’s be honest – getting outdoors can just be fun!

Sometimes you just want to jump up in the air for joy, like these World Challengers…

…and you get to have a bit of fun with your surroundings.

Here’s a novel way of filling your cup – straight from Angel Falls in Venezuela.

This is something you won’t try everyday…

…and good times spent with friends will stay with you forever…

So get out there and explore – the world is your oyster!

­­­­­­­­So what can you do to get addicted to the outdoors?  Inside and outside of school, from a 30minute mini adventure to a month away, there’s a whole host of opportunities.  I’ll leave you with just a flavour – why not try something new?  Why not get addicted?  Thank you.