Education Outside the Classroom

An insight into an innovative and effective methodology

Education Outside the Classroom in brief

Policy-makers and researchers have been pushing for different types of science education through Education Outside the Classroom methods, hoping to address the low interest in STEM subjects, especially at a time of high demand for scientists.

This argument has been supported by the European Commission, which in 2015 published a report which calls for more collaboration between formal and informal education.

The benefits of the Education Outside the Classroom methodology are tangible. They can be achieved by mixing up a variety of activities such as field trips, community and botanical gardens, museums, zoos, scientific centres, community settings, the internet, enhanced digital learning and media.

The benefits of Education Outside the Classroom

The reported outcomes of Education Outside the Classroom approaches are many^1,2. Some students showed higher scientific and mathematical reasoning abilities, transferable skills such as self-esteem, motivation and concentration and a general improvement of social and physical skills.

These could be grouped and categorized as:

Cognitive (knowledge and understanding)
Affective (attitudes and feelings)
Social/interpersonal (such as empathy and communication skills)
Physical/behavioural (civic, moral and ethical skills).

With OTTER, we will test different types of Education Outside the Classroom activities and we’ll see which ones lead to better results and create more impact on students.

^{1. Brody, M., A. Bangert and J. Dillon (2007). Assessing learning in informal science contexts.Commissioned Paper). Washington, DC: National Research Council.}

^{2. Becker, C., Lauterbach, G., Spengler, S., Dettweiler, U., & Mess, F. (2017). Effects of regular classes in outdoor education settings: A systematic review on students’ learning, social and health dimensions. In International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (Vol. 14, Issue 5). MDPI AG. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14050485}