Area schools will have an extra bonus for students and staff this school year. Four outdoor classrooms will be ready to use this year - one in Creighton and three new ones at Flin Flon schools.
The four outdoor classrooms are each fundamentally the same in structure - a series of large rocks, big enough to not be rolled over, in a circle with space in the middle. Students sit on the rocks while a teacher can teach either outside the circle or inside it in the round.
In Creighton, the outdoor classroom is located just south of the school proper, between the playground and the nearby Creighton ball diamond - a shelter with a roof and a concrete pad is located close by in case of bad weather.
Ruth Betts’ classroom is near the school’s Grades 4-5-6 doors, while at McIsaac, the circle of stones have been put up near the school bus turnaround. Hapnot and Many Faces will share an outdoor classroom, located on a spot of gravel behind the schools, between the Hapnot building and the nearby North of 53 Consumers’ Co-op building.
“There are 16 large boulders and they are outside in a sort of circle, so that classes can go out and do some outdoor teaching and teaching outside,” said Flin Flon School Division superintendent Tammy Ballantyne during the August 23 meeting of the division’s board of trustees.
Academic and social sciences research has shown that holding classes outside can provide further benefits for students than working in an indoor classroom. During the COVID-19 pandemic, several classes were taught outside in Flin Flon and Creighton when weather allowed to provide better ventilation for students and staff, allowing for greater prevention of possible COVID-19 infection.
“Children in natural settings were reported to be more relaxed, focused, engaged, cooperative, creative, nurturing and happy compared with children in indoor classrooms or on traditional playgrounds,” reads a 2014 study on outdoor classroom setups by a group of researchers at the University of Wisconsin.
“Nature-based early childhood learning environments provided opportunities for children to experience the changing seasons and observe the life cycles of plants, animals and insects, while providing natural materials for creative exploration and play.”
