Schools looking outside to inspire students - Globe and Mail

Caroline Alphonso, Education reporter for the Globe and Mail recently wrote an interesting article on schools across Ontario which have been experimenting with teaching children in new and innovative ways that incorporate the outdoors into their lessons.

For example, Ms. Cain's first grade class (at Hillcrest Public School, in Barrie, Ontario) is learning math in the sandbox by adding cups of sand together.  And this fall, Simcoe County District School Board, in north Toronto will be using giant xylophones, sandboxes and road lanes (painted on concrete), pumpkin patches and other tools in their schoolyard as part of an experiment on how the outdoors can be used as a tool in the "Classroom" - now expanding out of the traditional indoor environment!

The article writes about the research: It's getting more and more clear that 

"Getting outside motivates children to learn, keeps them attentive, builds their imaginations and improves classroom behaviour - all of which can improve test scores......The research is difficult to translate into practice though: Teachers are weighted down by curriculum demands, are not trained on how to teach kids in a more fluid environment, and institutionally, education our kids has become a structured, indoor task."

Read the full article HERE.

Do you incorporate the outdoors into your indoor education? How? How can we help teachers to become beter at this? Share with the community!