Field Studies and the Natural Environment

Definition

Learning outside the classroom in the natural environment can encompass a range of places or habitats, including: school grounds, local parks, allotments, wasteground, hedges, walls, gardens, reserves, woodland, country parks, farmland, zoos, botanic gardens, quarries, cliffs, coastal areas, ponds, rivers, moorlands and mountains. Of course, very few, if any, of the places listed are actually natural; the majority, if not all, of the UK environment has been directly or indirectly affected by man in some way or another.

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The school plans mini-beast hunts in the local wildlife reserve to provide children with a better knowledge of the natural world. By focusing on developing learning skills rather than learning pockets of knowledge, the children have the tools necessary to bridge theory and practice, and apply their learning in a variety of situations.

The Manor Primary School, Wiltshire.
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