Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/what-if-the-future-of-our-field-is-outdoors/5026876/
*Photos can be found in the pdf version of this article.
It is no secret that 2020 was a difficult year. COVID-19 has changed the way we live our lives and, importantly, how we deliver education to children. While this has been a stressful time, it has also been an incredible opportunity for early childhood educators to take a step back, rethink, and innovate new teaching practices.
Due to the pandemic, many school districts across the country moved their classrooms outdoors. The benefits to these children have been amazing. These kids are calmer, happier, more connected, and more engaged. They have become more curious learners as they embraced the many wonders of the outdoors. Richard Louv says, “An environment-based education movement—at all levels of education—will help students realize that school is not supposed to be a polite form of incarceration, but a portal to the wider world.” Teachers now realize that outdoor teaching and learning offer great advantages over in-class and virtual learning, and time outdoors is the safer alternative when in a pandemic, or flu season.
Teaching outdoors does not have to be complicated, but there is so much information available that many prospective outdoor educators feel stuck and overwhelmed. The key is ...