Giving a child a chance to learn and play outside is important for them to learn many different skills they will need in future. There are many organisations that aid children to learn different things that will enable them to acquire all kinds of information and skills that they need whilst growing up. One of them is Forest Schools.
“Forest School is an inspirational process that offers children, young people and adults regular opportunities to achieve, and develop confidence through hands-on learning in a woodland environment. The new economics foundation (NEF) and Forest Research began working in partnership to evaluate Forest School in 2002.” (O’Brien,L & Murray, R. 2006)
Forest schools brings another great experience for young children to learn from. Waite et al (2006) talk how they ‘explored the pedagogical principles of Forest School with a number of practitioners in England. From their research, they suggest that the four most highly ranked principles were:
1. A supportive Environment
2. Tasks separated into small achievable chunks
3. The use of the natural environment
4. Engaging with all the senses’
There are so many positive impacts that this context has on children’s learning. It increases confidence, self-esteem, exploration skills, first hands experiences and independence, to name a few. They need this in order to learn more about the outside, see things for themselves and bond with his friends. Physical aspects will also be improved, their gross and fine motor skills will be enhanced and their spatial awareness as well as their hand-eye coordination would develop further too.
According to Blackwell and Pound, L (cited in Miller, L & Pound, L 2011) the fact that children aren't subjected to ‘risk taking’ as much anymore, has shown to have a few deep issues in the young children of the new generation’s development. Little, H & Wyver, S. (2008) sort of back this point up because they themselves mention that children being outside doesn’t just mean obtain physical skills but them not having the confidence they need and the drive as well as ability to showcase these skills can be terrible for their emotional as well as their social development and well-being.
This is an important factor to keep in mind, due to the facilitation of having fun inside, children are no longer bothered with the outside as much as they used to be.
My generation, I believe were the last ones to have a proper experience with bruised knees, climbing trees and not worrying about what to post next on 'Instagram'. I believe that technology is hindering children from learning, creating concrete friendships as well as going outside to play.
Sahakov, R (2014) states that ‘With the ability to communicate easily, students tend to text or communication with each other when they should not be doing so’. This backs up my point, that technology is a definite distraction for children, whereas it should be a facilitator of obtaining information, although it is, it’s not always used for the right reasons and serves as a barrier for learning.
Throughout this context, I had the chance to interlink this context to real problems such as technology hindering children. I feel that this context should be paid more attention, because as I have highlighted during the course of this blog, it only allows children to reap the benefits.
Reference List
My generation, I believe were the last ones to have a proper experience with bruised knees, climbing trees and not worrying about what to post next on 'Instagram'. I believe that technology is hindering children from learning, creating concrete friendships as well as going outside to play.
Sahakov, R (2014) states that ‘With the ability to communicate easily, students tend to text or communication with each other when they should not be doing so’. This backs up my point, that technology is a definite distraction for children, whereas it should be a facilitator of obtaining information, although it is, it’s not always used for the right reasons and serves as a barrier for learning.
Throughout this context, I had the chance to interlink this context to real problems such as technology hindering children. I feel that this context should be paid more attention, because as I have highlighted during the course of this blog, it only allows children to reap the benefits.
Reference List
- Miller, L. & Pound, L. (2011) Chapter 9 – Forest Schools in the Early Years‘, Theories and Approaches to Learning in the Early Years’. London: Sage
- Little, H & Wyver, S. (2008) Outdoor Play: Does avoiding the risks reduce the benefits? Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 33 (2, June) pp. 33-40
- O’Brien, L & Murray, R (2007) ‘Forest School and It’s Impacts on Young Children: Case Studies in Britain. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening. Pages 249-265
- O’Brien, L & Murray, R. (2006) A Marvelous Opportunity for Children to Learn. http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/fr0112forestschoolsreport.pdf/$FILE/fr0112forestschoolsreport.pdf (Accessed: 18 November 2014)
- Sahakov, R (2014) 2 Pros and 2 Cons to Education Technology. http://www.edudemic.com/education-technology-pros-cons/ (Accessed: 21 November 2014)
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