Learning in the great outdoors
Mildred Hall school exploring outdoor education

Kirsten Larsen
Northern News Services

NNSL (Mar 12/99) - Staff at Mildred Hall school are exploring the idea of packing up their lesson plans and heading out the back door.

The slogan "join Mildred Hall school out the back door" will soon make its debut appearance on a banner announcing the school's new goal of trying to incorporate more outdoor activity into its regular curriculum.

A Mildred Hall committee, comprised mostly of teachers, has been reviewing the benefits of holding more classes outside to allow students to explore first-hand what they are learning about.

"There are a lot of schools with outdoor activities, but what we are trying to do is put it into our curriculum on a daily basis," said vice-principal Bill Strain.

"We want to make it an every day part of programming...not just something to do on a certain day, but more as an integral part of education. Classes like science, where they are learning about the environment, a lot of the study would be outdoors."

The outdoor education would not only be for certain grades but would be incorporated into as many classes as possible from kindergarten to Grade 8.

Once the plan is implemented, Mildred Hall will be the first school in Yellowknife to have such an inclusive program in place. Outdoor education would not just be field trips which are loosely connected to a subject the students would be learning in class, but rather it would be a crucial component to the students' understanding of the subject.

"This is not taking the student away (from the classroom) it's using the environment for learning," said Strain.

"They need to understand the environment they are living in."