Learning in a classroom with no walls
Teachers who are able to offer children outdoor learning activities say children can learn more outdoors than in the classroom with four walls.
Children who have learning differences and special needs respond more positively to learning when it involves hands-on activities outdoors, says Richard Klein, who teaches in the Challenger Program at Monarch School for 6th to 12 graders who have learning differences.
He says if students can do something with their hands instead of worksheets and writing, they are more engaged and are able and willing to learn more information. Klein's students are involved in building canoes and kayaks so they can float down the Buffalo Bayou in Houston and clean up trash and test the water. Klein says the students will learn about pH with a reason to learn about pH.
The project gives them the opportunity to learn to use power tools and work as a team. Children who have Asperger's Syndrome or autism, often avoid socializing and making eye contact. The children are learning to work together and make eye contact in order to accomplish the tasks.
Another project of the Challenger science class is a garden near the Houston Zoo. The students are taking ownership with regular visits to the garden. By the third visit, instead of whining - "do I have to do this?" - they are saying , "I want to do weeding, or I want to do compost." Klein says he doesn't find this kind of project ownership in a classroom with four walls. But he does find it in a classroom with no walls.