Answer:
“Learning outside the classroom activities are often authentic, hands-on, interactive and build on classroom learning.”
The purpose of school is to prepare students for life beyond school. Today's society has a higher demand for self-awareness and more specialized skills. One of the easiest ways to help advance students is by incorporating learning experiences outside the classroom. Taking classroom learning outside can help enrich a student's educational experience by showing them real-life applications of theories that they are learning at school.
Direct benefits of learning outside the classroom
Learning outside the classroom can help teachers create enthusiasm for learning, provide a real-world context and expose students to a range of STEM careers.
Students who experience learning outside the classroom benefit from increased self-esteem and become more engaged in their education. Evidence suggests learning outside the classroom can help raise achievement, improve classroom behaviour and improve the engagement of students, including those who are hard to engage in the classroom environment. An extensive report published by Ofsted found learning outside the classroom contributed significantly to raising standards and improving pupils’ personal, social and emotional development.
In 2016, School Travel Forum conducted an independent research study to find out how school trips and learning outside the classroom impact the development of students. They found 60% of teachers noticed an increase in students’ confidence, resilience and wellbeing after participating in a school trip and 61% of students achieved higher than their predicted grade.
The study also found that while most teachers wish they could offer more learning outside the classroom opportunities, 67% cited cost and organization as their primary deterrents.
External benefits of learning outside the classroom
A degree of cost-benefit analysis takes place when deciding to organize a school trip or other learning outside the classroom activity. Costs involved in coordinating learning outside the classroom may include accommodation, transport, insurance, learning workshop fees, and time taken to fill out paperwork. Benefits commonly include what students are expected to get out of the trip, such as a better understanding of a concept or topic.
While the cost-benefit analysis can be helpful in making decisions, teachers often forget to include the many external and intrinsic benefits that arise from learning outside the classroom. These might include reduced behavioral problems, a more accepting attitude towards cultural differences and diversity, or a piqued curiosity in a future career prospect. All of these are examples of benefits that have a positive impact but cannot be easily quantified. Because of this, organising a school trip or other learning outside the classroom experiences may appear costlier than it actually is.