COURSE DESCRIPTION: Outdoor Education
Learn Outdoors And Improve Educational & Social Outcomes
Positive impacts of Outdoor Learning activities and experiences are invaluable. They have proven to increase academic achievement, personal and social development, they lead to increased well-being and mental-health, and raise awareness on care for the environment. Outdoor Learning is planned, and purposeful way of learning led by a teacher, instructor, coach, or a guide. They mostly, but not always and completely, takes place in the outdoors. One of the key parts of the overall process is learning about the environment in which the activity and experience takes place. This is why we place great importance on sharing specific knowledge and skills as well as the importance of changing the behavior and attitudes towards the environment. All this leads to increased health and well-being as well as environmental awareness.
Organize Classes in a Variety Of Natural Settings
Through a series of group exercises and practical workshops the participants will be able to raise awareness and experience first-hand the versatility of outdoor education and how they can adapt formal learning in outdoor settings such as:
- Natural settings: forests, and beaches
- Urban settings: parks, squares, on the streets
Participants will be equipped with knowledge on how to teach their students to behave in the nature, how to preserve it and raise awareness on the relationship our students should develop with their environment.
Use Games and Project Based Learning in a Different Context
Adult educators and teachers will learn and experience how to teach different skills. Interculturality, personal and social skills through games, drama, and other techniques in outdoor settings. Participants are also going to experience project-based learning through making an education video outside their classrooms. Each teacher or educator will have the opportunity to reflect on how they can apply the learnt methodologies to their own settings.
LEARNING OUTCOMES – Participant is going to acquire the following competences:
-Gain basic knowledge about theory and methodology of outdoor educational pedagogy and experiential learning
-Acquire skills to implement more experience-based learning to enrich their everyday teaching practice and increase students’ motivation
-Learn how to design and carry out experiential and active learning activities in outdoor settings
-Discover innovative ways to use games, drama and improvisation techniques to promote “learning by doing”
-Broaden their understanding of how outdoor education contributes to personal development and social skills of learners
-Identify the ways to use outdoor education to teach about environmental issues
-Develop risk assessment and applying safety measures outdoors
Enhance your communication skills in an international environment, improve your English language skills, enjoy the company of fellow teachers from many different European countries, network, collaborate, exchange experiences and share knowledge in Croatia’s beautiful city of Split!
