Making the world your classroom

Learning the benefits of outdoor education

For the first 120 years of its existence, Lakefield College School did not have a gymnasium. It didn’t need one as its location in the lake and river filled Peterborough region provided ample outdoor activities for its students.

“The school philosophy was founded on this outdoor ethos,” said Andrew Johnston, Lakefield’s program area leader for outdoor education. “That looked very different in the 1930s or 1970s then it does now, but the ability to take advantage of out physical surroundings is something that has been with us since day one.”

Founded in Lakefield, Ont., in 1879, the private day and boarding school offers numerous outdoor education opportunities thanks to its location near several provincial parks and its own 315-acre lakeside campus, said Johnston. Those activities include everything from maple syrup production and honey making, to Nordic skiing and winter camping.

“We are tied to geography and tradition in this part of the province, so canoeing is huge part of our program, both flat water and white water,” he said.

“We are in an amazing part of the province, and that is a big draw for our students, both those coming from inside the province and internationally. When they see what they can do on our campus, and in the outdoors, it is a huge selling feature for us.”

Outdoor education opportunities, excursions outside the classroom where students are able to have hands-on and immersive learning experiences, are not limited to private schools nestled in Ontario’s hinterland. Schools in urban areas — like The York School in midtown Toronto — are also including the chance to explore and learn in their curriculums.

“The opportunity to be outdoors together, to stretch our comfort zone, to connect with each other and learn more about nature and extend those learnings beyond the classroom are really important for us,” said Andrea Lossing, the experiential educator at the school, which offers junior to senior school classes.

“Those experiences outside the walls of the classroom — being out of uniform, being with their teachers in a different environment — is a great way to form real bonds and real connections and then come back to school and build on those.”

Among the outdoor education opportunities offered at York are trips to nature areas — from neighbourhood to provincial parks — and day trips around the city, like a math class where students take measurements at the CN Tower. “What is more fun than that?” said Lossing.

She said the students also travel further afield, visiting different regions and cities that are linked to the in-classroom curriculum they are learning. This might include a trip to Ottawa to learn more about the Canadian government, Montreal to practice their French skills, or New Orleans or Cuba to learn about music.

Sara Gardiner is the Integrated Canadian Experience teacher at The York School. it is a program specific to Grade 9 that sees students act as “cultural journalists” as they learn more about Canadian identity throughout the year. This includes a trip to a different part of Canada to learn what being Canadian means in that region.

“The fact that we teach these courses in an experiential way, where we get them out of the classroom as much as we can, helps them to realize that what they are learning is really relevant,” said Gardiner

“It is a mindset, too, that learning happens anywhere. We want to promote inquirers in our students. We want them to ask thoughtful questions and engage, and I think learning outdoors shifts their mindset to realizing they can learn everywhere and all the time.”

Lossing said these education experiences also place students outside their comfort zones, allowing them to explore other skills that they may not have had the opportunity to foster or discover in the classroom.

“Different students excel in different ways, and there are students that, when they’re in a typical classroom, are not able to show the best sides of themselves,” she said. “But in a canoe or on the climbing wall, they are able to excel.”

The ability to gain confidence and to thrive is also something Johnston has noticed with his students at Lakefield.

“It is my belief students are generally more capable than they think they are,” he said. “Being on a white-water river, the river is an amazing teacher and provides pretty consistent and instantaneous feedback. Students can learn from it and get the sense that there is more inside themselves then they may think. I think that is huge, that is why I love my job.”

We want them to ask thoughtful questions and engage, and I think learning outdoors shifts their mindset to realizing they can learn everywhere and all the time.

THE YORK SCHOOL’S SARA GARDINER