Learning Blooms in Outdoor Classrooms

First-grade teacher Alissa Alteri Shea, shares the path she took to make outdoor learning a key and a permanent component of her teaching.

In response to remote learning caused by the pandemic, Alissa Alteri Shea joined Inside-Outside: Nature-Based Educators, and found many tips and examples about how a teacher can make outdoor learning happen.

On a community work day at her school, together with teachers, parents, grandparents and community members, she created six outdoor classrooms that are ready for use.

What are the benefits of outdoor learning?

This education model motivates students in many ways: a healthy dose of fresh air enables them to learn and explore, and to create their own nature journals where they write what they see, think and wonder. Learning becomes an adventure and each season brings new lesson materials, so the tools a teacher can use to create lessons outside are limitless.

New strategies can always be developed by watching how other schools experiment and by educating yourself on the topic.

According to the teacher, it is all worth it: the joy that it brings to students is incomparable.