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Outdoor Classrooms Offer a Chance for Holistic Education

As you know, I’ve become a big fan of gardening. So much so that I’ve immersed myself within it and am working to learn all I can about healthy plants, which namely requires healthy soil. Our modern world is only just beginning to understand the importance of healthy soil and how it is critically linked to healthy people. Being exposed to soil has been shown to impact people’s mood’s, learning capacity, physical health and emotional health in profound ways.

I’ve recently had the privilege to spend some time with Eaton School teacher, Nichole Bredy at her school’s outdoor classroom and garden. She, along with a few of her fellow teachers began with a vision to connect students with our land back in 2018. What started as a seed of imagination and determination turned into an outdoor space in 2020 that continually produces a holistic approach of education for the children who attend Eaton School. I had the privilege to chat with Bredy and discuss how things came to life and where things are at now, a few years later.

Bredy remembers as a young child, visiting her grandmother’s farm in the summers and spending many hours in the garden. Even though she recalls being annoyed by all the weeding, she always felt at peace in the garden and wanted to bring that to the kids at Eaton School. According to Bredy, “we wanted to explore a holistic approach to education that is conducive to well-being, collaboration and socio-emotional growth. I was inspired by the forest schools out in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces that promoted a Montessori style of learning.” Montessori style learning is a child-centred educational approach that emphasizes hands-on learning, self-directed activity, and collaborative play, encouraging children to explore their interests and learn at their own pace. Bredy shared some concerns of the unfortunate stats from Outdoor Play Canada that only 33% of children meet the physical activity requirements for their age. She feels that the outdoor classroom and garden promote play-based learning which have been proven to increase child engagement in the classrooms by 25%. Just 20 minutes of play-based learning can increase attention spans by 30%.

Bredy has seen benefits in their science programs, practical and applied arts programs, social studies and generally throughout children’s practical life skills. She believes the outdoor classroom alleviates stress at higher levels in comparison to the traditional classroom. A few of Bredy’s highlights from over the years include one of the students developing a coding program to automatically water the greenhouse, which she felt she had a chance to learn some new things too. “One student, after learning to grow and harvest actually tried vegetables for the first time” smiled Bredy.

Bredy has big, bright ideas including a native wildflower garden from seeds donated by the Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan along with a knowledge path that fosters connections to our land, learning from the life skills of our elders and environmental awareness. She has high hopes for the students that spend time at Eaton’s outdoor space and plans to leave each child with a sense of expertise in their own lives. She adds, “I hope the students feel empowered by the space they’ve created and transformed so they can follow whatever drives their passion.”

Photo Credit: Jennifer Bews
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