“Every young person should experience the world beyond the classroom as an essential part of learning and personal development, whatever their age, ability or circumstances” (DfES, 2006) By taking learning outdoors we remove the barriers that the traditional classroom can put up between young people and first hand real life experiences. rning/about/about.asp LOtC provides new experiences, impressions and incentives for learning, thus empowering the learners to make progress and overcome whatever learning obstacles or blocks they may have. Nature and open air activities can be used as a classroom where curiosity and will to explore nature automatically increase (Brodin, 2009, p ).

Encourage children to find their way through unfamiliar territory from point to point using a map and their navigation skills. Orienteering is an alternative way to deliver the Outdoor Adventurous Activity (OAA) element of the PE curriculum. In addition orienteering supports geography, mathematics and citizenship studies. Where challenges are not necessarily about fitness, but organisation and communication. Orienteering enables children to: learn the often confusing art of map-reading and how to use a compass (KS2), make decisions and strengthen team-working and negotiation skills. ( rt-spotlight-orienteering-4992) rt-spotlight-orienteering-4992 Mastery of the art of outdoor navigation provides a real sense of satisfaction and self- esteem. Use (adapt if necessary) the ‘finding your way around the king Alfred Campus’ map accessible at Plan between 3-5 points on your map that follow a route you have chosen around the grounds and/or buildings to all three areas. Try to make the points a fair distance apart and positioned so they are not able to be seen from the point proceeding it on the route. At each point, stick an orienteering sign up with the number of the point on your route. Each of the points on your route should be assigned a letter in a random order (have a list of the letters in order to check the route has been done properly) Children use the point cards for writing the letter from each stations down.

Depending on your aims, you can either provide clues at each point to head teams to the next point or you can use navigation alone (clues are more fun if navigation is not your primary concern). Get your teams together (pairs or threes are best) and send them off around the course. Usually leaving 5 minutes between each group. Make sure the starting time of each group is marked on their point cards. It might also be a god idea to set a target time for the group to aim for. ( Point Card Template Start Time; Team Name/Number; Team Member; Predicted/Suggested Route Time;

Activities Treasure Trail Explore a small area of the university, looking for animals in their natural habitat. You might want to write down any special flowers, scents, colours or key aspects about that environment. Now collect some fallen sticks and mark out a trail to these habitats using the sticks. If you are in a group, you could split into two teams and set a trail for each other. Maybe other visitors to the university will follow your trail too! ( What sort of place did you visit and what did you find there Describe the area around you – using key words or drawings. Firstly predict what animals or plants you expect to see in this area What do you see? What can you hear? What can you smell? Draw what animals you see. Draw what plants you see in this area. Was your prediction correct? (Yemm, 2004: p.59)

Cross Curricular Links- Maths Data Handling We thought of links with other subjects for example, data handling in maths. Three areas of the University site were considered for their wildlife, and plotted on a bar graph, line graph and as a venn diagram. The results could be presented as seen next. (Haylock, 2001, p186) The Stripe The Dytche The Pond

Bar Chart

Line Chart

Bibliography Brodin, J. (2009) “Inclusion Through Access to Outdoor Education: Learning in Motion” in Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning. Vol.9. No.2 pp DfES (2006) Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto. Nottingham: DfES Publications (accessed 11/05/10) (accessed 12/05/10) (accessed 12/05/10) accessed 12/05/10 Yemm, C. (2004) Animals, Plants and Habitats. Wilts, UK: Hopscotch Educational Publishing Ltd.