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Children Learning Outside the Classroom: From Birth to Eleven

2011; University of Colorado Boulder; Volume: 21; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/cye.2011.0052

1546-2250

Neil Taylor,

Indigenous and Place-Based Education

352 Children, Youth and Environments Vol. 21 No. 1 (2011) ISSN: 1546-2250 Children Learning Outside the Classroom: From Birth to Eleven Waite, Sue (2001). London: Sage; 236 pages. $35.95. ISBN 9780857020482. It is a pleasure to provide a review for Children Learning Outside the Classroom: From Birth to Eleven, edited by Sue Waite. The book will be of significant value to teachers and teacher educators. In the introduction, Waite notes “that despite evangelical texts extolling the benefits of the outdoors for very young children and a research literature on outdoor education, there was relatively little theory underpinning how and why learning outside the classroom might be beneficial and for what.” Amongst the many other things it achieves, the book examines this issue and provides a theoretical perspective for outdoors education in a way that is accessible and informative to practitioners. In 15 chapters the book covers a very diverse range of topics related to outdoor education. The introductory chapter by Sue Waite and Nick Pratt explores the relationship between learning and place, particularly the psychological and social issues, to provide some theoretical perspective on learning outdoors. The chapter begins by asking the reader to reflect on the concept of place and provides a set of simple questions that allow teachers to evaluate the appropriateness of place and pedagogy—including what is possibly the key question: What are we trying to teach/learn in any given place? The remaining chapters are arranged in three sections. Section 1, entitled “Early Years Practice – Reaching Out,” begins with a chapter by Valerie Huggins and Karen Wickett on outdoors education with very young children (crawlers and toddlers), including the rationale for this approach (e.g., the stimulation of senses and motor skills), the practicalities of organizing outdoor experiences for this age group, and dealing with risk. An important distinction is drawn between risk-taking behavior and hazardous behavior, with the former being viewed positively as part of children’s normal development. The two other chapters in this section deal with the local community as a learning environment for very young children and outdoor learning during the transition from foundation to the first year of the national curriculum. Section 2, entitled “Learning Outside the Classroom the Curriculum for Primary Aged Children,” comprises six chapters that illustrate how outdoors learning can be used in various areas of the curriculum. Many aspects of the curriculum are covered in this section and practitioners are provided with extensive practical suggestions for integrating outdoor education into each area. 353 The final section, entitled “Outside the Box,” explores some alternative types of outdoor provision. This includes a chapter by Tony Rea on residential centers, which provides a critical analysis of the experiences they offer students. This is followed Rowena Passy and Sue Waite’s exploration of the learning experiences offered by school gardens and forest schools, which is strongly linked to the concept of sustainability. A chapter on National Parks by Dave Gurnett, Linda la Velle and Sue Waite uses a number of case studies based on Exmoor in the south west of England to exemplify how such an environment can be used to provide strong positive memories for children as well as effective learning experiences in a range of curricular areas. Managed learning spaces such as botanical gardens, museums and science centers are examined in a chapter by Alan Peacock. This author points to the importance of collaboration between teachers and the learning professionals employed in these managed learning spaces in order to obtain benefit for all involved. In the final chapter, entitled “Making a Difference: Learning on a Grand Scale,” Sue Waite revisits a number of the chapters and emphasizes the link to theory throughout the book before emphasizing the benefits of outdoor learning in relation to the psychological and socio-cultural planes of focus. In the concluding sections she argues that, “By introducing children to learning in contexts other than schools, they gain a clearer understanding that the purpose of education is not simply bounded by the school and the goals assessed and measured within that, which tends to lead to an instrumental approach to learning.” This is a statement with which I concur wholeheartedly. All of...