Hands in the soil

At the school centre Lindersvold, you can find the nature class. Its program is directed towards the students of younger age, from 1^st to 6^th grade. Here, the students learn to have their hands in the soil. Not only in the direct sense of the word, but also metaphorically speaking. The students go out and explore the nature on its own terms and they have their own garden. But how does this relate to learning?

Learning ny doing

A very good question, indeed. When viewed from a psychological point of view, we often talk about passive and active learning. Edgar Dale’s cone of experience [1]illustrates, how and when we remember most. To remember something equals learning the matter at hand. In his cone, it is the active learning, that best contributes to memorization. Here, the good old term “Learning by doing” takes the lead. So, we remember best, when we are actively engaged in the matter. That is what happens, when we perform a task and afterwards can explain, what is happening.

For example when we plant a seed in the ground, our memorization capacity is increased, when we couple that together with describing the process of photosynthesis. We also know this from our own lives. When we learn how to bicycle, it can be useful to listen to instructions about it, but it will be necessary for us to get up on the bike, before mastering the skill.

A new animal every month

This is what we do in our nature class. We dig deeper by spotlighting a specific animal every month and we tend our garden. Through this, we activate the students senses and open their minds, when we look for animal tracks, build birdhouses, take care of our animals and so on. The students need to open their eyes and listen carefully, when they want to get close to the animals. They also train motoric abilities, by using gardening tools and building in the workshop.

Through all this, we can have the students recall feelings and thoughts about these activities, so they remember better. Most of us remember the things, which have touched and moved us most. This is also true for our students, so by doing this program we hope to sharpen their senses, so they remember the enlightening and insightful moments in nature.

[1] http://www.queensu.ca/teachingandlearning/modules/active/documents/Dales_Cone_of_Experience_summary.pdf