How Nature-Based Learning Builds Resilience in Students
As a parent, you want your teens to receive the best possible education, but this can be challenging for students who struggle to focus in a traditional school setting. The answer may lie in nature-based learning, as this type of learning takes place in the great outdoors and offers benefits to your teen.
How Is Nature-Based Learning Taught?
Outdoor education takes many forms, from working in school gardens to conducting science experiments under the open sky. At Olney Friends School, our 350-acre campus gives students countless ways to learn outside traditional classrooms. Our farm-to-table program lets students grow their own food and see the complete cycle from planting to plate.
With a farm on campus, teens will engage with animals and learn how to take care of them firsthand. Agriculture is a growing industry, and teens who learn sustainability are more apt to continue these living methods after graduating from high school.
Nature-based learning is a valuable insight into sustainability, which all communities can greatly benefit from. When students develop a real connection to nature, they start seeing how classroom concepts apply to everyday life.
The stress reduction that comes from being outdoors naturally improves focus and concentration. Hands-on outdoor learning works especially well for teens who struggle with traditional classroom environments.
Engaging with lessons allows students to connect what they are learning with their daily lives. They are more likely to remember what they are learning because they are allowed to explore, experiment, and ask all their questions.
Fun nature-based learning may include:
- Nature scavenger hunts
- Creating art through nature
- Role-playing adventures
- Natural structure building
- Outdoor painting or writing
What Are The Benefits of Nature-Based Learning?
Outdoor learning provides students with the opportunity to spend time in natural settings, building problem-solving skills and deepening their connection to nature.
Today’s teens are on screens constantly. Studies show that time in nature cuts down on anxiety and stress. It also helps students push through when things get tough.
High school students will soon be adults. Learning outdoors teaches them ways to handle pressure that they’ll use for years. Many people retreat to nature when they need to clear their minds.
Being outside gets students curious about things they might never think about in regular classrooms. Research consistently demonstrates that spending quality time in nature can greatly reduce mental health issues, decrease stress, and help create perseverance.
Teens only have a few short years before they become adults and dive into the real world. Outdoor learning can help ground them, and this can lead to them seeking nature later in life when challenges arise and they are feeling the pressures of life.
Being in a natural environment gives young adults a sense of purpose and wonder. Being able to explore without boundaries is fun and exciting. Nature promotes creativity and imagination, which can open opportunities for your teens when trying to find hobbies or interests outside of the classroom.
Benefits of Outdoor Learning
- Decrease stress
- Decrease mental illnesses: anxiety and depression
- Builds social skills, confidence, and independence
- Fosters connections to nature
- Learning about unpredictability and how to stay positive
- Encourages creativity and imagination
- Increases ownership of learning
- Promotes inner peace and overall well-being
- Promotes physical health
- Improve cognitive function
- Environmental awareness
- Increased engagement
How Can Nature-Based Learning Improve Academic Performance?
Since every student learns differently, those who struggle to concentrate in indoor settings often experience a decline in their grades.
In outdoor, nature-based learning, a more experiential learning process occurs. Students have the opportunity to engage, explore, and ultimately positively impact their academic learning.
Also, outdoor learning can help enhance social skills, which many teens lack because of the extended use of digital devices. Unfortunately, with many teens becoming increasingly hooked on devices, it has a negative impact on their social skills— learning outdoors changes that. When students work in groups to conduct studies, it teaches them how to interact with others more effectively.
Teens naturally learn better when they can get outside and engage in physical activity. They are given the chance to learn in a way that may appeal to their interests. This helps provide a deeper understanding of what is being taught and enables students to connect lessons with their daily lives.
Improving Education Through Nature-Based Learning
We are proud to integrate nature into our learning as a foundational tool for student growth and resilience. At Olney Friends School, our curriculum strikes a healthy balance between outdoor learning and academic instruction, enabling students to connect with nature and fully absorb the lessons being taught.
If you have ever considered a boarding high school that offers outdoor learning, schedule a campus tour today.
A short tour of Olney’s campus will allow you the opportunity to see how our approach to learning differs from a traditional school setting. Teens who are exposed to outdoor learning have a much higher chance of growing into resilient adults.
