Publish at September 20 2023 Updated September 20 2023
When we try to imagine what a classroom might look like, we quickly visualize an enclosed space with desks, a blackboard or screens... And yet, it's possible that it can be moved to other locations, such as a park - even if the classroom setting in outdoor pedagogy is not uniform - without the teacher necessarily moving away from the teaching sheet he or she is supposed to follow throughout the school year. If a classroom contained within four walls constrains the learner, taking classes outdoors offers other possibilities to the student, who feels freer to act.
Having observed the behavioral and cognitive changes in students in both situations, Sara Sampaio wrote a Master's thesis on the subject of "The effects of outdoor pedagogy on students: an experiment in the GS class".
To carry out this research, she set out her research question: how can outdoor teaching bring about a positive change in the problems encountered in the classroom, on the one hand in the area of language, and on the other, in the process of "becoming a pupil"?
To answer this question, Sara begins by taking a historical detour into outdoor schooling, the reasons behind it, what is done outdoors and the results of research. In the remainder of this article, we will follow this logic.
One of the most famous outdoor schools to be exported was the German model, which provided schooling for children suffering from tuberculosis. These schools eventually disappeared with the advent of antibiotics, but the concept of the "outdoor school" didn't stop there. It wasn't until the end of the 19th century, with the work of pedagogues Fröbel and Pestalozzi, who proposed an active pedagogy, aimed at putting the learner at the center of learning. For Pestalozzi, the child acquires knowledge through constant interaction with the environment. As for Fröbel, play is a fundamental educational principle.
Strongly influenced by the idea of combining practice and experience through Fröbel's concept of the object lesson, the first Forest School appeared in the USA in the 20th century, which believed that pupils learn best through practice in connection with nature.
In contrast to the above-mentioned communities, the Nordic countries have an outdoor lifestyle, whatever the weather. This is especially true in Denmark, where 20% of nursery schools are nature kindergartens.
As for France, it opts for the use of the concepts of "class lesson" and "promenade class", which are the result of a triple French, German and American influence. The first concept found its place in science teaching at elementary school in France, while for the second, more realistic teaching in nature was favored. These influences were to contribute greatly to the overhaul of the French school system, thanks to the research of pedagogues such as Freinet and Decroly, who proposed alternative methods, both of which aimed to place the child at the center of any learning process, a process that could not be articulated outside of nature.
Freinet's "promenade class", for example, is a reflection on the design of classrooms close to nature, with gardens and vegetable patches. Even more recently, in 2020, as a result of the covid-19 pandemic, the school system has been reorganized, with a preference for outdoor schools such as "Apprenons dehors", "classe dehors 79"...
If it's a well-known fact that being mobile is good for one's physical and mental health, the same is true of outdoor education. But the benefits don't stop there. Outdoor education is a way of acquiring knowledge, since confrontation with reality is considered to be the basis of the scientific approach. From this perspective, the environment is an "object of knowledge apprehended through a direct relationship with nature".
What's more, according to an American study - SEER: State Education and Environment Roundtable - this method is guaranteed to improve results and reduce inequalities at school. Although some detractors of the method, notably Connac, see it as a hindrance to the filling of school specifications, Sara Wauquiez believes that this pedagogy cannot be achieved without the "out and back" balance. In this case, the outside pedagogy aims to explore and discover, while the inside allows the discovery to be deepened.
In addition to improving school results, outdoor education is also likely to produce environmentally aware citizens. In fact, the Chalmeau-Julien survey reveals that teachers consider outdoor teaching to be "an ideal support for sustainable development".
Aside from environmental issues, this method encourages concentration and the development of cross-disciplinary skills. Contrary to what one might think, teaching outdoors improves children's concentration, despite possible factors that can cause attentional zapping, such as animals, insects and other unforeseen events. This is made possible by the implementation of a "time-based system". In concrete terms, this means establishing rituals, operating rules and habits, so that the device is detached from any recreational vision.
In terms of cross-disciplinary skills, outdoor learning encourages autonomy in students, who learn to identify their limits and needs, ensures cooperation between learners who are confronted with a less favorable environment, develops intelligence through the senses and, lastly, boosts motivation. In fact, 70% of teachers who practice outdoor teaching believe that their motivation has increased. If teaching outdoors has multiple benefits, how is this time furnished?
Outdoor lessons are not the same as indoor lessons. Before any outing, it's important to consider its nature: is it part of the teaching sequence, or is it an objective in itself?
If the outing enables the program to be followed, the outdoor lesson simply contextualizes the learning and gives it meaning, even if this organization of the work limits the enrichment of the students, which can sometimes emerge from letting go or chance.
As for the second option, the outdoor outing constitutes a global form of teaching, which entails the risk that the learner will leave there ditto, given that the knowledge acquired is not measurable. As the configuration of the environment changes, the teacher is obliged to adopt a certain posture. Valérie Dereins, for example, alternates between observation and dialogue.
Risk management is also essential, hence the safety ritual at the start of each activity. After presenting the origins of outdoor education, highlighting its benefits and outlining what makes an outing worthwhile, it's time to present the research findings.
To answer her research question, Sara Sampaio limited her sample to a kindergarten class of 20 pupils, at a school in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. She chose a park not far from the school where she was doing her internship. This was the setting in which she observed the pupils' outdoor behaviour. The result was that :
All in all, we can see that outdoor pedagogy has a number of benefits in terms of the smooth progress of learners' schooling. This depends largely on the arrangements made by the teacher beforehand.
References
GODEAU Emmanuelle, 2020, "Les écoles de plein air une utopie à revisiter?", Rhizome, Vol 4, N0 78, pp10-11, online https://www.cairn.info/revue-rhizome-2020-4-page-10.htm
SAMPAIO Sara, 2022, Les effets de la pédagogie du dehors sur les élèves : une expérimentation en classe de GS, Education, online https://dumas.ccsd.cnrs.fr/dumas-03711775
You might also like:
From the telegraph to the Internet - The more it changes, the more it's the same? [Thesis]
Heidi Gautschi's research effectively and excitingly demonstrates that the telegraph is much more than a technological innovation and a change in modes of communication, it is much more a profound cultural change that revolutionized the world of humans at all levels and paved the way for communication technologies.
Public lighting and urban mutations [Thesis].
A thesis-saga on the history of public lighting, its functions and the permanent socio-technical dialogue that it brings to light. How this history still structures the modalities of implementation of the "smart city", which everyone is talking about without being completely clear with its definition, its stakes and its means.
Université Laval's Sustainable Development Strategy - Horizon 2030
The document "Stratégie de développement durable de l'Université Laval - Horizon 2030" reflects a serious commitment, and indeed testifies to the depth of Université Laval's sustainable development culture. It can serve as an example of large-scale institutional mobilization.
Generative A.I. and students: aware but affected
The KPMG survey as a whole doesn't offer much in the way of positives; even if some points appear to be positive, students are aware that evaluation and reality are two different things.
All the more reason to understand the challenge facing school principals and the level of delegation they must achieve and supervise!
