Day 20 – Learning in the Garden

I’ve recently run across a book, Boys Adrift by Leonard Sax, about the factors that are driving the growing “epidemic” of unmotivated boys and underachieving young men. In the book Sax sites another author, Richard Louv, who has discovered several research studies that demonstrate that when there is a profound imbalance in a child’s early experience – when outdoor play is replaced by computers or fancy indoor toys – the result is an increased risk for attention deficit disorder. One Swedish study compared children in two different day-care facilities. One facility was surrounded by tall buildings. The other was set in an orchard surrounded by woods and was adjacent to an overgrown garden. At this day-care children were encouraged to play outside in all kinds of weather. The researchers found that children who spent more time outdoors in a green garden setting had better motor coordination and more ability to concentrate.

I’ve wondered if a better location for a school would be a garden rather than a classroom. Classrooms confine and conform students to one particular type of learning. Many more options exist outside. Children can explore and move about more freely. They don’t have to sit still to learn the day’s lesson. Learning is more tactile – students can smell, hear, and touch the environment to learn about it. Math is more meaningful when applied. Students are engaged more when they do science as opposed to reading about it. Even literature or poetry is better studied when in a more natural setting. It seems that our notion of learning confines it to four walled, rectangular classrooms. Students who are able to sit still find themselves in favor with the teacher. Those that fidget or have a hard time following linear, left-brained lessons are given slow learner status. We can do better in schools to enliven the imagination and creativity of students. Getting them outdoors is a good place to start.