It likely doesn’t come as a surprise that children are spending less and less time outside. While this diminished time is due to a variety of factors both in and beyond our control, the drastic increase in technology has most definitely increased children’s sedentary time and put their mental health at risk. An outdoor classroom provides students an enriching opportunity to experience natural and human-created characteristics of the environment in a natural setting. The proposed Outdoor Learning and Activity Center (OLAC) is yet another tool that allows educators a hands-on approach to learning. The University of Tennessee’s Developing an Outdoor Classroom document states it best… “Outside every school building exists a blossoming world of “natural studies” with all types of structures that can do a better job of teaching than video tapes and computers, as children often learn best by ‘doing’.” All ages can take advantage of teaching opportunities provided in the great outdoors, and an outdoor classroom can facilitate the learning process.
Benefits of outdoor educational spaces include but are not limited to: increasing a student’s intrinsic motivation for learning, improving academic performance, increasing capacity for learning, enhancing mood, reducing stress, restoring depleted attention levels, and improving immune functions. Students participating in outdoor classrooms often report a sense of freedom when outside the restricting walls of the classroom and feel more engaged and invested in their learning experience. Simply put, kids who are healthier, calmer, and less depleted have the capacity to learn better. We believe that by developing a state-of-the-art Outdoor Learning and Activity Center (OLAC) we can provide students an inclusive outdoor learning area for all content areas and extracurriculars that offers countless benefits far beyond the traditional classroom.
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It likely doesn’t come as a surprise that children are spending less and less time outside. While this diminished time is due to a variety of factors both in and beyond our control, the drastic increase in technology has most definitely increased children’s sedentary time and put their mental health at risk. An outdoor classroom provides students an enriching opportunity to experience natural and human-created characteristics of the environment in a natural setting. The proposed Outdoor Learning and Activity Center (OLAC) is yet another tool that allows educators a hands-on approach to learning. The University of Tennessee’s Developing an Outdoor Classroom document states it best… “Outside every school building exists a blossoming world of “natural studies” with all types of structures that can do a better job of teaching than video tapes and computers, as children often learn best by ‘doing’.” All ages can take advantage of teaching opportunities provided in the great outdoors, and an outdoor classroom can facilitate the learning process.
Benefits of outdoor educational spaces include but are not limited to: increasing a student’s intrinsic motivation for learning, improving academic performance, increasing capacity for learning, enhancing mood, reducing stress, restoring depleted attention levels, and improving immune functions. Students participating in outdoor classrooms often report a sense of freedom when outside the restricting walls of the classroom and feel more engaged and invested in their learning experience. Simply put, kids who are healthier, calmer, and less depleted have the capacity to learn better. We believe that by developing a state-of-the-art Outdoor Learning and Activity Center (OLAC) we can provide students an inclusive outdoor learning area for all content areas and extracurriculars that offers countless benefits far beyond the traditional classroom.
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