How Does Outdoor Education Affect Students’ Abilities?
Traditionally, students learn in a classroom an entire day and only go out during breaks. Learning while inside a room is beneficial because a teacher can monitor students better and take early notice when any of them is stressed or losing focus.
However, studies have proved that outdoor learning has greater benefits than indoor learning. American Institute for Research carried out a study on whether outdoor learning had any effect on students. They found out that engaging students in outdoor learning helped them improve memory and their scores improved significantly. There are many ways outdoor learning affects students.
It is less stressful
Students can become stressed when they stay in a traditional classroom day in day out. Higher levels of stress can negatively affect performance and it might become harder for teachers to teach them. When students get engaged in activities to reduce stress, like outdoor learning, they can perform better. Their engagement in nature can help them appreciate the environment and consequently become less stressed.
Improves student resilience
Learning is not always easy and sometimes students can feel like giving up when their course seems too tough to tackle or understand. If at such a time a student lacks motivation, their resilience can reduce and they give up trying harder.
Learning in the natural world can help students appreciate how plants grow in harsh conditions, yet they prevail and become huge trees or big bushes. In the same way, animals survive in natural environments that are harsh, yet they stay alive. This kind of appreciation can help students build resilience and resolve to try harder even when the situation is challenging.
Most often, indoor training does not carry any meaning in real life but when you get engaged in outdoor academic activities, you open doors to understanding concepts and principles better. For example, after an exciting horse riding experience, you can feel refreshed and energized to write your essay. Therefore, instead of stressing yourself with unproductive indoor study, it is better to learn how to grow plants or take care of animals than to do unnecessary tasks. In such cases, you can always turn online and ask research paper help, where professional writers will complete your tasks for you. It will help you stay energized and learn more about caring for nature.
They appreciate the environment more
Outdoor learning activities can involve things like the study of plants in a local botanical garden, in the park, or in open fields. It helps them understand how the environment helps supply fresh air, medicinal plants, beauty, conserve soil and attract rainfall. With a clear understanding of the massive benefits human beings get from nature, they can appreciate the environment more and begin to take care of it in their abilities.
Students can become more inquisitive
Sometimes learning indoors limits a student’s curiosity and interest to learn more. This is because some of the theories and concepts they learn are hard to understand unless they physically observe them at work. When taken outdoors to learn, they can practically understand concepts like gravity, friction, energy, and floatation.
They can go hiking, ride a horse, or see mold naturally growing. All these activities can help them become more inquisitive and develop an interest to learn more by asking questions and thinking answers out.
Helps improve self-awareness, self-esteem, and confidence
There are outdoor activities that can help students build confidence and believe in themselves that they are capable of achieving more. For example, a student who has never gone hiking can go on an academic hiking tour gain confidence that they can do hiking.
Those that felt weak before and didn’t believe in themselves will become self-aware that they can achieve greater things in life. By becoming self-aware of themselves, they discover their inner abilities and pursue them.
It’s fun learning outdoors
When students go outside with their teachers to learn, it creates a closer teacher-student bond and the entire experience will be full of fun. For example, the class can be conducted next to a river, and students can enjoy learning about water life and also spend some time enjoying the flowing water. The teacher may give them some free time to play around and the whole experience will be full of fun.
Conclusion
Outdoor education has many benefits to students and can positively affect their cognitive and physical abilities. They become more intuitive, confident and improves their inquisitive thinking. Walking in a field, park, or garden is also a physical activity that helps improve students’ mental and emotional health. They learn to appreciate nature and may begin to show better care of the environment.
Author’s Bio:
Mary Spears works as a trainer for an online courses company and her domain is writing and editing. She has trained numerous school and college students to be great academic writers and helps them in doing essays and dissertations when needed. In her free time, she loves watching drama shows on tv, read business books and play hockey.
