Identifying the Learning Theories within Forest School Education:
The environment of a forest school focuses on child-led learning which can be related to the constructivist learning theory, “Constructivist classrooms focus on student questions and interests, they build on what students already know, they focus on interactive learning and are student-centered,” (WGU, 2020). This quote summarises the concept of constructivism as a perspective on learning and what this entails for a classroom, for the teachers, and for the students. As constructivism focuses on allowing the students to explore their interests and their environment it is easy to see how forest schools adopt this learning approach to their alternative educational ‘classroom’ as students can engage in the outdoors and act upon their inquisitions which are allowing them to build their own knowledge.
A key theorist that is associated with the constructivist learning theory is Jean Piaget (1896-1980) who had opposing views to traditional society, at the time, that child’s play is heavily important within a learners education. Piaget inspired work affiliated with the cognitive development of children and then experimented on how play could influence a child to learn schematically. “Piaget’s theory of constructivism argues that people produce knowledge and form meaning based upon their experiences,” (Teachnology, No Date), which can be related to forest schools as they are organisations that are upholders of children taking their own learning into their own hands to gain experiences through their own findings.
Constructivist Environment VS Traditional Classroom Environment:
Forest schools heavily advocate child independence which is why learning is encouraged to be constructed by the students themselves rather than being sat down in a classroom and being told how something works. O’Brien (2009, pp. 54) supports the fact that forest schools align with the constructivist learning theory due to the key skills and styles of learning that is used in the schools, “Forest School allows for constructivist learning to take place in which the children construct understanding and meaning through the activities they undertake on their own and with others. The children in forest schools produce their own meanings and understandings of the aspects of the outside environment as they have the freedom to explore the skills they are being influenced to learn as well as exploring the setting they are in as it is not as artificial as a classroom.
The obvious difference between forest schools and a traditional learning environment (i.e. a classroom) is the setting, one is predominately exploring and learning in the woodland areas and the other is a desk and table situation in a room. There are significant other differences between forest schools and a traditional classroom such as the role of the teacher, the learning motivation, the collaboration and the responsibility of the learner.
The different educational establishments have different roles when it comes to the teacher; a teacher in a classroom is there to provide instructions, at the front of the classroom and provides the questions and answers to the students whereas, in a forest school, the role of the teacher is to create an environment that will generate questions from the students by on their own terms, a teacher in a constructivist learning environment is also there to support as well as challenge the students.
The motivation of students is also a difference between forest schools and a classroom as a learner in a forest school gains motivation through realistic experiences which in turn will advance their confidence to continue to learn and explore their questions. A school classroom environment is different as the motivation from the learners come from reinforcement such as praise and incentives for having good behaviour that is up to the classroom standards. This type of learning is more associated with the learning theory ‘behaviourism’ and would not be typically seen in a constructivist type environment such as forest schools.
The difference in work collaboration in these two environments are different as a classroom of students work together, occasionally, to create something requested for by the teacher and that is their truth and/or their facts. In contrast to this, forest schools allow students to work collaboratively by scaffolding their learning to create a truth and/or a fact. As mentioned earlier, Bruner, coined the concept of scaffolding to represent what the relationships between a teacher and a learner should be however, in this example of scaffolding in a forest school or a constructivist environment, it can be applied to the students also. Students can share their own understandings of a concept to develop a mutual interpretation of something.
Finally, the responsibility of the learner is a key difference between forest schools and a school classroom as the learning resides with the student in a forest school and on the other hand, the learning resides with the teacher in a classroom meaning the students tend to be more passive compared the students in a forest school or other constructivist learning environment as they tend to active learners.
Despite the differences, it must be declared that not all school classrooms are similar to the one mentioned above as these were more generalised thoughts inspired by Dr Lam Bick Har (2013, pp. 3).
Evaluating Constructivism as a Learning Theory:
The writing on forest schools has been written in a positive light so far however, there are certain disadvantages of a constructivist learning environment that might make parents and/or guardians think twice before joining a forest school. One particular drawback of the learning theory and how it applies to forest schools is that there is a chance for it to devolve to entertainment. This is regarding the use of novelty equipment and methods that are used in the sessions and how they can overpower the true meaning of what a forest school is there for. Using entertaining methods and skills is a great way to engage and excite the learners; this is not what forest schools promote as the teaching staff are there to encourage learners to discover their own knowledge and meanings rather than relying on the teacher to provide it for them. Novel equipment, such as toys, can easily cause a distraction within the group which would lead to a teacher having to provide a more strict environment in order to control the classroom. Gleeson, 2021) agrees with this weakness and elaborates a connecting disadvantage which is that “students exposed to this kind of teaching may be unprepared for the rigours.” When students of a forest school are exposed to figuring out knowledge for themselves from a young age, they will potentially find it difficult to adopt the secondary school lifestyle as it differs from a constructivist environment radically.
Although the above disadvantages have shed light on the other side of the discussion relating to constructivist learning environments, there are still a few advantages that have not been mentioned as of yet. Firstly, Gleesson (2021) counteracts his prior weakness with a benefit of constructivist schooling by stating that, ” students work out their own solutions to the problems presented, they are not just learning specific materials; they are learning how to learn.” The benefit here is that learners are becoming active learners rather than passive ones which will be of aid as they continue to make their way through the education system. Being an active learner is a skill that, when developed early on, can be a valuable skill throughout a learners lifetime.
Is There a Difference Between Education and Schooling?
With regards to forest schools and a school classroom, there is a visible difference between the education and schooling aspect of the two; that is only due to the environment. The concept of education, to put it simply, is “the process of teaching and learning, or the organisations such as schools where this process happens,” (Definition of education from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press), which is present in both forest schools and a standard classroom. So does this mean education is the same principle no matter where it is taught? Yes, I believe so. The guidelines of the English National Curriculum is followed in both of these settings, and many other alternative educational settings so as long as the learners are being taught the principles of what the English government expect them to be taught, there is no necessity to prefer one over the other or even try to replace the alternative with mainstream education as they are both serving their purposes, just in a variety of ways.
The term ‘schooling’ is dissimilar to education as it refers to the way in which we are disciplined or instructed within our first several years of life, mainly prior to schooling age. However, the schooling of a forest school would be referred to as the guidance learned through the experiences discovered there. On the contrary, the schooling of a classroom would be depicted as the discipline and the instruction taught from guidance.
As mentioned before, there is coherent evidence that both educational establishments educate and school the learners who attend so it balances out the discussion that no one is better than the other as they both accomplish the end goal – creating future learners.
References:
A Class, 2013. Constructivist Learning and Teaching. [online] Hong Kong: The Active Classroom, p.3. Available at: <https://www.eduhk.hk/aclass/Theories/Constructivistlearning20JuneR.pdf> [Accessed 16 June 2021].
Dictionary.cambridge.org. n.d. Education. [online] Available at: <https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/education> [Accessed 16 June 2021].
Gleeson, P., 2021. The Advantages & Disadvantages of Constructivism in the Classroom. [online] The Classroom | Empowering Students in Their College Journey. Available at: <https://www.theclassroom.com/advantages-disadvantages-constructivism-classroom-7966699.html> [Accessed 16 June 2021].
O’Brien, L., 2009. Learning outdoors: the Forest School approach. Education 3-13, [online] 37(1), p.54. Available at: <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03004270802291798?scroll=top&needAccess=true> [Accessed 16 June 2021].
Teach-nology.com. n.d. Piaget’s Theory on Constructivism. [online] Available at: <https://www.teach-nology.com/currenttrends/constructivism/piaget/> [Accessed 16 June 2021].
Western Governors University. 2020. What Is Constructivism?. [online] Available at: <https://www.wgu.edu/blog/what-constructivism2005.html> [Accessed 16 June 2021].
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