OUTDOOR LEARNING
healthy body, healthy mind
 

Many “outdoor learning” activities are connected to the idea of “learning by doing”. We try to put in practice the old Chinese proverb: “If I listen I forget, if I read I remember, if I do I learn”.

The children in our schools appreciate particularly those activities which involve a total physical response, such as senses, body and mind.

1^st STEP

Choice of themes that are relevant in our area now and then (discussion in class among teachers and children).
Researching area involved: anthropological subjects (History, Geography, Science)


2^nd STEP

Brainstorming: gathering information from the children’s previous knowledge.


3^rd STEP 

Research and find out more complete information by interviewing people and consulting historic archives, old registers, Internet


4^th STEP 

Visiting places such as museums, didactic farms and so on, where children can experiment the examined themes directly.


5^th STEP

In some cases the pupils put in practice on their own what they have researched and discovered.

Examples of activities led according to this sequence:

-          Silkworm breeding – silk spinning

-          Sowing hemp -  working the hemp fibre

-          Making bread

-          Mining talcum

-          Making a newspaper

-          Living as the primitives

-          Living in a castle as kings and queens.