Outdoor Learning and its positive effect on special learners (Other (Not Listed) Sample)

Outdoor Learning and its positive effect on special learners Literature Review On the basis of our aims, objectives and research questions, the researcher reached to the following literature. Outdoor learning An experimental process in which the students learn outside from the classroom, it comprises of direct learning from their experiences, their own discoveries, activities, and also learns from other participants. This type of learning can be done in primary school level, middle and high school level, college and university level as well (Görkem, & Gümüş, 2020). The outdoor learning can be acquired in a predominantly focused place, which can be a natural environment, rural settings, or an urban or sub urban areas. This type of learning comprises of theoretical as well as practical features (Güdelhöfer, 2016). Special learners Students with disability and are in need of special help in school are said to be special learners. This disability comprises of physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments (Güdelhöfer, 2016). Some of the mental disabilities are Autism Spectrum disorder, Developmental cognitive disability, Emotional behavior disorder, specific learning disability and other health related disability (Newman, 2020). Theoretical frame work Becker described five benefits of outdoor education in an article in 2016. According to him, these five benefits are as follows. * Build up community: In outdoor learning the students may gather with peers or classmates in bus for outdoor learning, gathers in the field of study, gathers in various activities and share things, problems, solution of the problems, help each other, share opinions and much more. * Raises expectations and standards: The teacher as well as the parents’ surprises from the work, activities and their contribution and involvement in cooking the food, washing the dishes, cleaning the lodge and sleeping areas, cleaning the place, and do the projects. * Higher the connection: By doing so, their relation with each other as well as every activity increases. * Buildup of culture: in the short period of outdoor studies, students develop an amazing and well-disciplined culture of activities, educational activities, cleaning, enjoyment etc. * Development of positive feelings and memories: Around school and outdoor learning, the students develop a positive memories and feelings of these durations. * Bruner learning theory in Education. Bruner in 1966 presented a detail theory about how knowledge is organized and represented through various mode of thinking. Bruner represent three mode of cognitive development of children. * Enactive representation: within the first year of life, the children use this mode. The child completely thinking are based on physical actions and doing instead of internal thinking. It comprises of encoding physical actions and storing it in memory. * Iconic representation: This type of mode starts from 2nd year of child’s life till 6th years. In this mode, Knowledge and information are stored in the shape of sensory images. * Symbolic representation: This stage resembles the Piaget’s concrete operational stage. The symbolic representation mode starts in 7th years of age and goes onward. In this stage of learning, the information is stored in the form of symbols or code such as language. In this stage, knowledge is stored initially as words, mathematical symbols, or other symbols. These symbols can be organized, ordered, and arranged so the child is not inhibited by behavior or images. Except from that, Bruner also explained in 1961, that through outdoor learning, the learners construct their own information and do this by organizing and categorizing them. He considers that the most effective method of getting knowledge is to discover things instead of being told by the teacher. * Gestalt Theory of Learning. It is based on the ideas of Gestalt psychology. The main assumption of the theory is that, whole set of stimuli, and has an utmost effect on behavior than individual parts. So, the child can acquire more from studying parts of a subject in relationship to one another rather than simply memorizing them by himself. Similarly, new knowledge is acquired with already learned information, and that no part of information present alone but as a part of whole lesson plan. Gestalt theory elaborates its relation to education that each and everything that we encounter shapes who we are, comprises of pedagogy, school environment. * Theory of Hopkins and Putnam. Hopkins and Putnam in 2000 constructed a model that elaborates that there are advantages to student’s outdoor learning. These advantages are i) the outdoor learning develop the “self”. These occur due to the challenges and facing different types of problem, cooperation and playing with peers, and coordination. ii) the 2nd advantage of outdoor learning is that students connected with others, forms relation, cooperation and learns from each other etc. iii) third advantage is that, the students reflects natures potential, physical issues, and how it influences awareness of nature such as beauty, learning through observations, explaining and describing forms and imagination. Correlation of major variables; (Outdoor learning and students with disabilities) Dewar in 2019 explained that exposure to natural environment can higher emotions and cognition intrinsically. Their places consist of rooms without windows, having window looked out to green areas and trees or rooms containing window looked out to a main mad green areas. The researcher explained that students having acquired education in the lowest level of vegetation area have 30% of the risk of neurotic, stress, and psychotic disorders. Those children having the greater approaches to nature have less psychological issues in them. According to the researcher, looking to the nature can also defuse stress and improve concentration. The researcher explained that outdoor learning is more advantageous because of the novelty that students learn more interestingly. An experimental group study from Turkey, conducted by Avci and Gumus in 2020, to elaborate the effect of outdoor education on the achievement and recall level of primary school students in the course of social studies. They explained that academic achievement and retention level of the students taking outdoor education were significantly higher than those of the control group. Another systematic review is conducted by Mann et al in 2022 to find out the impacts of getting out of the classroom into nature. They collected data from 147 original research papers. The different outdoor setting in these papers was outdoor educational adventure, school gardens, trips, and other natural environments. Based on findings from these papers, they concluded that learning in outdoor educational setting can improve the student engagement, learning, academic improvement, social and collaborative skills and boosts self-concept. In an article by Suttie in 2018, elaborated the surprising benefits of teaching a class outside. The author exhibited that outside learning increase novel experiences, improves concentration and also learns with enjoyment and fun. The author explained that the individual who were taken outside to the biology class were more engaged and in the biology period than other periods because of the receiving outdoor learning in the biology period. A similar systematic review was conducted by Becker et al, in 2017 to find out the effects of regular outdoor classes on learning, social and health aspects. Based on their findings, the researchers concluded that school and curriculum based outdoor education can boast students socially, academically, physically and psychologically. A case study from Germany, by Güdelhöfer in 2016, elaborated to find out the effect of outdoor education on special learners. They elaborated that children with disability showed increased rate of success as well as more motivation and higher concentration in the outdoor education. They explained the cause of their achievement as the contribution of special learners to the exercises. A systematic review was conducted by Solomonian et al in 2022, to elaborate the effects of outdoor learning on pediatric health, a school based education. They elaborated the effect of outdoor learning on physical, mental and emotional health and various school and curriculum activities. Based on 20 different research papers, they concluded that school and curriculum based activities and program improved the intellectual, social, psychological, physical and health related outcomes. A similar study elaborated by Nadasdy in 2018, to find out the effect of teaching in forest with students of special needs. The study was conducted on Sweden children with special needs. The researcher exhibited that students with special needs should be included in school based activities. They further demonstrated that it is more willingness to include students having cognitive impairment or neurodevelopmental disorders, then the physical disabilities. They also explained some of the problems may be careful during these circumstances, these include, and protection, weather and other difficult activities should be avoided or must be careful. The researcher suggest extra care and personal assistance to special needs in these outdoor learning. Marchant (2019), elaborated in a news article, assumed that outdoor learning has a great and positive influences on students as well as teachers. The researcher further explained that healthier and happier students perform better in academic situations. The researcher focused on that education is not only limited to classroom, but the outdoor learning also encourages skills, improves problem solving techniques and negotiating risk that are necessary for development. The outdoor education is more important in primary level especially betw...