Get Out to the Classroom!

Transitioning from the classroom to the outdoors

‘Into the classroom!’ is a call that we all probably remember, as well as the analogous “Get out of the classroom!”, but it turns out that an entire movement of educators is calling their students to go outside. In their opinion, this is a real call for meaningful learning.
So what is learning outside the classroom? What does it demand? And why is it even recommended?

Learning outside the classroom has become more and more popular in recent years. It seems that one global pandemic has reminded us all that it’s better for our health to be outside. But the truth is that learning outside the classroom is more than a temporary solution; it’s a world view according to which the students experience the environment directly, by learning, playing, having fun and developing natural curiosity. And all this is done without tables, chairs, a projector, a presentation or the school bell.

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The sun’s rays, the shade of a tree, a cool breeze, falling leaves, an animal that pops in to visit; all these may sound quite pastoral, but learning outside the classroom brings with it new challenges: the students are asked to rediscover their physical and social role in a new, unknown space, and to cope with an enormous range of simultaneous stimuli. At the same time, the teachers are also asked to release themselves from the classic model of classroom-board-teacher, maintain the students’ safety and security, and find a way to integrate learning outside the classroom into the weekly timetable and study program.

one of the great challenges of the current generation is going outside into the open air

So what’s the point of going out of the classroom?

Every parent and teacher probably feels that one of the great challenges of the current generation is going outside into the open air. The world is in their hands, everything feels tangible and stimulating, and the danger that children will be satisfied with the world outside while it is being projected onto a screen probably concerns every parent and teacher in Israel and around the world.

Learning outside the classroom allows time for nature, which is also time for social, physical and cognitive learning;

it also encourages exposure to the wonder of nature and to the simplicity of sitting in a circle, feeling the breeze, searching for and finding a nature corner, listening, observing, and developing curiosity, interest and wonder. Learning in nature provides children with an excellent model of thinking outside the box, creativity, flexibility and activity, and allows many children to be exposed to a range of content in a surprising, non-threatening and accessible way.

Learning outside the classroom raises the students’ level of self-confidence and satisfaction from learning, and significantly improves their achievements.

In addition, many studies have proven that learning outside the classroom raises the students’ level of self-confidence and satisfaction from learning, and significantly improves their achievements.

A community outside the classroom

For several years, Ramat Hanadiv has supported a community of educators who meet, learn and enrich each other with knowledge, experience and insights from learning outside the classroom. This community has developed and become more sophisticated over the years, and has accumulated hundreds of hours of experience in hands-on learning outside the classroom, such that it has become the leader of learning outside the classroom in Israel.

Understanding the power hidden in learning outside the classroom, alongside the challenges it holds, brought us at Ramat Hanadiv to

The mentoring programme

develop the mentoring programme in which educators receive tools for guiding and instructing other educators who are interested in joining the meaningful endeavour of learning outside the classroom.

The mentoring programme at Ramat Hanadiv is designed to train a group of school and preschool teachers, with experience in learning outside the classroom, to guide and support other school and preschool teachers with little or no experience, and help them to integrate learning outside into their routine. Moreover, the programme is used as an incubator for empowerment and for creative and innovative thinking regarding learning outside the classroom.

So the next time you ask your children about their day at school and they answer: ‘the teacher took us outside’, you should hope this means that the teacher simply transitioned to learning outside the classroom