Abstract
Learning ought to be supported by both in class activities and outdoor activities contributing to structuring knowledge. Outdoor activities allow children to actively participate and to learn by doing. Learning requires a lot of work and activities. These activities, which provide primary experiences, help children to change theoretical knowledge into practice, record it in the long-term memory, and create solutions to problems they encounter in daily life, based on what they have learned. Children, especially preschoolers, can record things into their long-term memory in learning environments which stimulate all the senses. Based on these ideas, this study was directed towards revealing effects of outdoor activities on cognitive, motor, linguistic and social-emotional development of preschool children. Thirty-five preschool children living in disadvantageous districts in Izmir, Turkey, and not being able to get education, were offered ten-week preschool education involving outdoor activities. This research was designed according to one group pre-test and post-test model. The results show that outdoor activities improved cognitive, linguistic, social-emotional and motor skills of preschool children. Keywords: early childhood education; outdoor education; preschool program
Highlights
The term outdoor education has been in use for much longer than 20 years
The researchers provided the preschool teachers with one-week training about philosophy and methods of outdoor education and the activities prepared for the outdoor education programme
Developmental levels of the children were evaluated in terms of cognitive, linguistic, social-emotional and motor skills, which are required to improve in the Turkish education program
Summary
The term outdoor education has been in use for much longer than 20 years. It refers to integration of theoretical knowledge with practice in nature and outdoor environments (Bartunek, Brügge, Fenoughty, Fowler, Hensler, Higgins, Laschinki, Löhrmann, Neißl, Neuman, Nicol, Seyfried & Szczepanski, 2002; Elliott & Davis, 2008). The idea that education should be given in nature dates back to Aristotle and Plato. Philosophers and scientists (including Rousseau, Locke, Schelling, Froebel, Basedow and Pestalozzi) have emphasised that children should frequently be given an opportunity to be in nature. Research shows that “direct, ongoing experiences of nature in relatively familiar settings remains a vital source for children’s physical, emotional, and intellectual development” (Kellert, 2005:81). Proximity and daily exposure to natural settings increase children’s ability to focus and enhances cognitive abilities (Wells, 2000)
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