The benefits of teaching and learning in nature

This video from the Department of Conservation aims to inspire educators and young people to get involved in conservation education.

Transcript

Sophie Flanagan – ECE teacher, Plimmerton Kindergarten

Every time we come into the bush we see children excited about their learning, and they are leading their learning. There are no boundaries in the bush, they’re being scientists, they’re discovering things, they’re challenging their bodies, they’re challenging their emotions sometimes and all this is not something that can happen within the four walls of the classroom.

Leo Smith – Director, Nature School NZ Trust

With nature based learning it's basically it's freedom to learn so if you put a child say in a classroom there's walls, there's rules, there's ways that things work, but in nature it's really open and so there's endless limits.

Lucy Kerr – Parent

I think it's great for their mood, they come back home calm and satisfied I think, just being outside.

Doug Royson – Parent

It's a different way of learning I guess, getting outside, looking at things looking at things that they wouldn't normally see inside a classroom.

Natalie Packer – Teacher, Discovery School

Nature and children naturally go together. I think for children when they can see maths and literacy blending together, science and maths blending together and all of it blending together so that it's in their real life, then they see a purpose for it, and they see the validity. It just, it helps to just open them up and it makes it more accessible for them, and it's not so hard or arduous.

Student

So mainly we've been planting and picking up rubbish to help the animals. I learnt that the animals actually feed on the plants, also while hiding in the plants, so yeah that's one of the things I've learnt.

Kaye Brunton – Principal, Ngāti Toa School

It's been amazingly beneficial for our kids, we've got a lot of children that really connect with the land that's a big part of who they are and we really want them to feel connected to this place. We've only had positive feedback about it, nobody's grizzled about kids going home dirty, or you know, wet or whatever has happened because they've been outside. They've liked it.

Pearl Freemantle – Teacher, Ngāti Toa School

Like most really meaningful things it's not talking about it, it's actually going in and experiencing it.

Sophie Flanagan – ECE teacher, Plimmerton Kindergarten

Resilience is huge, children learn to rely on each other and they learn about building their own self-belief about things that they can do, things that they previously thought that they couldn't do. I find that children always come back to kindergarten physically tired and emotionally happy. I think it is so important and there are so many benefits that I would always champion for teachers to do this, always.