Creating a space for self-directed learning is exemplified by the Outdoor Learning Environment. What initially started as a way for the early learners to explore their environment has grown into a full-fledged programme resulting in an expansion of the outdoor learning spaces, dedicated staffing, and Outdoor Learning being built into the schedule of every learner in the Elementary School.

NEASC Accreditation Team Chair | 2019

Our outdoor learning team designs learning activities which drive and complement classroom units of inquiry, as well as developing stand-alone outdoor units of inquiry. Examples of units that incorporate an outdoor learning component include:

• cycles are a part of life (reception);
• imagination takes us to other worlds (prep);
• tools help us to create (grade 1);
• art is in nature (grade 2);
• matter can be changed (grade 3);
• access to natural resources (grade 4);
• simple machines (grade 5).

ISD is the only international school in Europe to have developed outdoor learning to this extent. As a result, professionals from around the world come to ISD to witness our programmes in action.

LEARNING REAL WORLD SKILLS 
You'd be hard-pressed to find a four-year-old who has used a real hammer or screwdriver before coming to ISD. Most of our students are encountering these real-world skills for the first time when they enter Outdoor Learning.

TOOLS IN THE OUTDOOR LEARNING GARDEN:

• Knives
• Loppers
• Measuring Sticks
• Rakes
• Secateurs
• Augers
• Bow Saws
• Brooms
• Carppenter Saws
• Electric Drills
• Flint & Steel
• Froes
• Grass Cutters
• Hack Saws
• Hammers
• Hand Drills
• Japanese Saws

I have worked with so many different tools, sometimes I forget their names. My favourite is probably the froe. It has a sharp blade attached to a handle and you can use it to cut wood. I'd never seen one before I used it in Outdoor Learning.

Tess | Grade 5 Student

Throughout the various stages of our outdoor learning programme, students learn practical skills that allow them to take their learning in new and exciting directions.

Working with different tools and equipment, children learn to identify and mitigate potential safety risks; build basic structures; and, perhaps most notably, their confidence and independence soars. 

Simon Waterworth | Outdoor Learning Teacher

As children become more self-assured, we find this translates into a greater willingness to be explorative and take risks in other areas of their classroom learning.

 

AN EXTENSION OF CLASSROOM LEARNING
At ISD, we like to think of the great outdoors as a natural extension of the classroom. Outdoor Learning is not exclusively about learning ‘outdoor’ skills; it also offers new contexts for students to explore mathematical, scientific, literacy, and artistic concepts.

ISD’s classrooms are dynamic spaces that promote inquiry and collaboration and, together with Outdoor Learning, offer a learning environment that can flexibly meet our learners’ diverse needs.

Carol Breedlove | Outdoor Learning Teacher

The unit of inquiry (UoI) is the centrepoint of the PYP curriculum. Outdoor learning teachers work collaboratively with classroom teachers to design and plan learning activities that are stimulating and provocative, and that encourage authentic and sophisticated inquiry throughout the UoI. In this way, we make learning relevant, fun, and inspiring for every child.
 

Most of the Outdoor Learning units we do together with our UoI [Unit of Inquiry]. For me, it helps when you learn something in class first, and then you have the freedom to do different things with what you’ve learned in Outdoor Learning. You can work with tools, or build things, or use different materials. We’re talking about simple machines in this unit. So, if the machine you want to build is a catapult, you probably wouldn’t do that inside; it’d be a mess.

Tess | Grade 5 Student

LEARNING THROUGH IMAGINATION
Play is “research”, as Einstein once said; it is an essential part of growing up and understanding our place in the world. We witness this first-hand each and every day in Outdoor Learning, as different play contexts allow children to acquire knowledge and skills, or build new friendships. These are environments where children can take risks in their learning and tackle new challenges with confidence and resilience.

There is broad and compelling research supporting the claim that children at play experience heightened curiosity, deeper engagement in learning, and greater responsiveness and sensitivity to those around them.

Sarah Burnham-Slipper | Outdoor Learning Teacher

Play is “research”, as Einstein once said; it is an essential part of growing up and understanding our place in the world. We witness this first-hand each and every day in Outdoor Learning, as different play contexts allow children to acquire knowledge and skills, or build new friendships. These are environments where children can take risks in their learning and tackle new challenges with confidence and resilience.

I love that we can go outdoors with our friends during the day. You have fun in your work, and more freedom. I don’t remember a lot about what I did in Outdoor Learning when I was really little, because it was so long ago. All I remember is having a lot of fun. There is a mud kitchen where you can pretend to cook and you can listen to stories around a campfire.

Tess | Grade 5 Student

Above all, the outdoor learning environments are flexible spaces. So no matter whether your child is shy, adventurous, independent, or gregarious, our Outdoor Learning programme will give them abundant opportunities to flourish as happy and inquisitive learners.