Outdoor Learning

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At ISD, we're passionate about outdoor learning, extending learning beyond the classroom walls, offering children an alternative environment free of traditional boundaries, and opening their minds to new ideas and possibilities.

There are five outdoor learning environments (OLE) on the elementary school campus; flexible learning spaces with tunnels, hills, quiet corners, and open spaces. Designed to provide rich, multi-sensory experiences, these environments stimulate creativity and spark curiosity.

ISD Outdoor Learning area

Importantly, outdoor learning fosters a meaningful connection to the natural environment that allows for appreciation of, and respect for, biodiversity.

Kayleigh Waterworth
Outdoor Learning teacher

Students in Reception, Prep, and grade 1 have outdoor learning time every day, with a focus on learning through play. In the upper year levels, most students have scheduled outdoor learning time every other day.

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Creating a space for self-directed learning is exemplified by the Outdoor Learning Environment. What initially started as a way for the early learners to explore their environment has grown into a full-fledged programme resulting in an expansion of the outdoor learning spaces, dedicated staffing, and Outdoor Learning being built into the schedule of every learner in the Elementary School. NEASC Accreditation Team Chair 2019 Our outdoor learning team designs learning activities which drive and complement classroom units of inquiry, as well as developing stand-alone outdoor units of inquiry. Examples of units that incorporate an outdoor learning component include: cycles are a part of life (reception); imagination takes us to other worlds (prep); tools help us to create (grade 1); art is in nature (grade 2); matter can be changed (grade 3); access to natural resources (grade 4); simple machines (grade 5). ISD is the only international school in Europe to have developed outdoor learning to this extent. As a result, professionals from around the world come to ISD to witness our programmes in action.

Creating a space for self-directed learning is exemplified by the Outdoor Learning Environment. What initially started as a way for the early learners to explore their environment has grown into a full-fledged programme resulting in an expansion of the outdoor learning spaces, dedicated staffing, and Outdoor Learning being built into the schedule of every learner in the Elementary School.

NEASC Accreditation Team Chair
2019

Our outdoor learning team designs learning activities which drive and complement classroom units of inquiry, as well as developing stand-alone outdoor units of inquiry. Examples of units that incorporate an outdoor learning component include:

cycles are a part of life (reception);
imagination takes us to other worlds (prep);
tools help us to create (grade 1);
art is in nature (grade 2);
matter can be changed (grade 3);
access to natural resources (grade 4);
simple machines (grade 5).

ISD is the only international school in Europe to have developed outdoor learning to this extent. As a result, professionals from around the world come to ISD to witness our programmes in action.

OUTDOOR LEARNING CONFERENCE

Currently in its third year, the Outdoor Learning Conference has been designed to bring together a community of educators who are looking to create or to enhance outdoor learning programmes in their own schools.

Throughout the conference, our team hosts a series of discussions and workshops around the topics of:

development of space;
unit planning;
outdoor learning and EAL;
maths in outdoor learning;
supporting research and what it says;
and risk assessment.

EXPLORE OLE WITH TESS

ISD pupil, Tess

Tess is in grade 5 at ISD, and has been participating in our outdoor learning programme since she joined ISD in reception. We invite you to explore the sections below to hear more from Tess and her teachers about the many facets of outdoor learning at ISD!

Skills & Tools

Integrated Learning

Play-Based Learning

ISD Outdoor Learning Area

SKILLS & TOOLS

LEARNING REAL WORLD SKILLS

You'd be hard-pressed to find a four-year-old who has used a real hammer or screwdriver before coming to ISD. Most of our students are encountering these real-world skills for the first time when they enter Outdoor Learning.

TOOLS IN THE OUTDOOR LEARNING GARDEN
Knives Loppers Measuring Sticks Rakes Secateurs Augers Bow Saws Brooms Carppenter Saws Electric Drills Flint & Steel Froes Grass Cutters Hack Saws Hammers Hand Drills Japanese Saws

I have worked with so many different tools, sometimes I forget their names. My favourite is probably the froe. It has a sharp blade attached to a handle and you can use it to cut wood. I'd never seen one before I used it in Outdoor Learning.

Tess
Grade 5 Student

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Throughout the various stages of our outdoor learning programme, students learn practical skills that allow them to take their learning in new and exciting directions. Working with different tools and equipment, children learn to identify and mitigate potential safety risks; build basic structures; and, perhaps most notably, their confidence and independence soars. Simon Waterworth Outdoor Learning Teacher As children become more self-assured, we find this translates into a greater willingness to be explorative and take risks in other areas of their classroom learning.

Throughout the various stages of our outdoor learning programme, students learn practical skills that allow them to take their learning in new and exciting directions.

Working with different tools and equipment, children learn to identify and mitigate potential safety risks; build basic structures; and, perhaps most notably, their confidence and independence soars.

Simon Waterworth
Outdoor Learning Teacher

As children become more self-assured, we find this translates into a greater willingness to be explorative and take risks in other areas of their classroom learning.

INTEGRATED LEARNING

AN EXTENSION OF CLASSROOM LEARNING

At ISD, we like to think of the great outdoors as a natural extension of the classroom. Outdoor Learning is not exclusively about learning ‘outdoor’ skills; it also offers new contexts for students to explore mathematical, scientific, literacy, and artistic concepts.

ISD’s classrooms are dynamic spaces that promote inquiry and collaboration and, together with Outdoor Learning, offer a learning environment that can flexibly meet our learners’ diverse needs.

Carol Breedlove
Outdoor Learning Teacher

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The unit of inquiry (UoI) is the centrepoint of the PYP curriculum. Outdoor learning teachers work collaboratively with classroom teachers to design and plan learning activities that are stimulating and provocative, and that encourage authentic and sophisticated inquiry throughout the UoI. In this way, we make learning relevant, fun, and inspiring for every child. Most of the Outdoor Learning units we do together with our UoI [Unit of Inquiry]. For me, it helps when you learn something in class first, and then you have the freedom to do different things with what you’ve learned in Outdoor Learning. You can work with tools, or build things, or use different materials. We’re talking about simple machines in this unit. So, if the machine you want to build is a catapult, you probably wouldn’t do that inside; it’d be a mess. Tess Grade 5 Student

The unit of inquiry (UoI) is the centrepoint of the PYP curriculum. Outdoor learning teachers work collaboratively with classroom teachers to design and plan learning activities that are stimulating and provocative, and that encourage authentic and sophisticated inquiry throughout the UoI. In this way, we make learning relevant, fun, and inspiring for every child.

Most of the Outdoor Learning units we do together with our UoI [Unit of Inquiry]. For me, it helps when you learn something in class first, and then you have the freedom to do different things with what you’ve learned in Outdoor Learning. You can work with tools, or build things, or use different materials. We’re talking about simple machines in this unit. So, if the machine you want to build is a catapult, you probably wouldn’t do that inside; it’d be a mess.

Tess
Grade 5 Student

PLAY-BASED LEARNING

LEARNING THROUGH IMAGINATION

ISD’s outdoor learning spaces are designed to promote engagement, enliven imagination, and encourage play. In the early years of the PYP, learning is centred around play.

ISD pupil in an outdoor learning lesson.

There is broad and compelling research supporting the claim that children at play experience heightened curiosity, deeper engagement in learning, and greater responsiveness and sensitivity to those around them.

Sarah Burnham-Slipper
Outdoor Learning Teacher

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Play is “research”, as Einstein once said; it is an essential part of growing up and understanding our place in the world. We witness this first-hand each and every day in Outdoor Learning, as different play contexts allow children to acquire knowledge and skills, or build new friendships. These are environments where children can take risks in their learning and tackle new challenges with confidence and resilience. I love that we can go outdoors with our friends during the day. You have fun in your work, and more freedom. I don’t remember a lot about what I did in Outdoor Learning when I was really little, because it was so long ago. All I remember is having a lot of fun. There is a mud kitchen where you can pretend to cook and you can listen to stories around a campfire. Tess Grade 5 Student Above all, the outdoor learning environments are flexible spaces. So no matter whether your child is shy, adventurous, independent, or gregarious, our Outdoor Learning programme will give them abundant opportunities to flourish as happy and inquisitive learners.

Play is “research”, as Einstein once said; it is an essential part of growing up and understanding our place in the world. We witness this first-hand each and every day in Outdoor Learning, as different play contexts allow children to acquire knowledge and skills, or build new friendships. These are environments where children can take risks in their learning and tackle new challenges with confidence and resilience.

I love that we can go outdoors with our friends during the day. You have fun in your work, and more freedom. I don’t remember a lot about what I did in Outdoor Learning when I was really little, because it was so long ago. All I remember is having a lot of fun. There is a mud kitchen where you can pretend to cook and you can listen to stories around a campfire.

Tess
Grade 5 Student

Above all, the outdoor learning environments are flexible spaces. So no matter whether your child is shy, adventurous, independent, or gregarious, our Outdoor Learning programme will give them abundant opportunities to flourish as happy and inquisitive learners.

Outdoor Learning | Academics | International School of Dusseldorf