Walking Out of the Classroom into the Real World


"...despite more and more teachers wishing to engage their students in educational experiences beyond the four walls of the classroom, many are unsure of how to begin. How can they use outdoors in a manner that minimizes paperwork and organizational time, while maximizing direct, hands on, learning experience?" -Beams, Higgins & Nicol 

 Current studies provide data where students are not experiencing the natural world independently or in the company of family or friends. Schools are capable change agents in this crisis and during the previous three + decades have implemented successful programming to deepen students feelings for the natural world. In a common '21st century classroom' a void has appeared within connecting instruction with the physical world. Well meaning educators struggle with creating educational activities students experience the natural world during school time. Alarm bells are ringing in academic literature, teachers are aware of the need for stepping out of the classroom, but the priority is elsewhere.

The litany of obstacles that field studies, field trips, off-campus learning can begin to be overcome in one way by a vision of outdoor and experiential learning in a schools community. Students feelings can be deepened and then extend outward in order to address the dimensions of learning far beyond standard academic disciplines. The 'over-dependence' placed on the disciplines is a problem with the optics of learning outside of the classroom. There are countless activities for teaching math, science, humanities outside; nevertheless, these are fragmented lesson plans that fail to address the physical, social, emotional and social development of the students.

Experiential education pioneer Kurt Hahn spawned the current era's belief that skills and confidence to deal with 'unfamiliar' territory can be developed by real life exposure. Exposure to challenges awakens young people to a belief in themselves. The very process of being confronted by new physical and emotional challenges in a real-life environment is inherently exciting and immensely rewarding. Moreover, exposure to challenges awakens young people to a belief in themselves.

In order to grow a school culture of real life experiences...

 As Hahn delivered his programming nearly one hundred years ago, this is refreshingly not new knowledge. Teachers do believe the importance of learning outside of the classroom but the speed where a teacher dismisses an experiential opportunity is a new phenomenon that pervades this generations teaching profession. Teachers beginning with simple local outings (articulating and integrating curricula), growing experiences into appropriate residential expeditions is the ticket to enhancing a schools program. 

 This begs the questions: Why local activities when there are so many 'wow' experiences possible for students?

Paperwork and organization aside, some (many residential) trips  provide students with little responsibility and choice, as the activities are entirely prescribed, led by an ‘expert’, with meals provided by cooks (take for example a sailing trip with a crew and cook provided or a long bus ride to a zip-line adventure).  In these cases, there are few direct consequences for participants’ actions.  There does not appear to be an overwhelming base of evidence that these kinds of outdoor experiences have any meaningful transfer into pupils’ lives back at their school.

 Examples of local activities 'walking outside of the classroom':

With outdoor experiences reducing drastically, the negative consequences for health, relationships with communities and planet grow by the day. Teachers, administration and districts that address this widening gap in their students see the intangible benefits that is incredibly important within today's student and their development of critical thinking.

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