No Matter What the Question Is, the Answer Is: You Learn It Outside!

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We are great believers in out-of-classroom learning. In the fifth conference on this topic, which took place this year, we focused on resilience, since besides studying science and Hebrew – this type of learning can rehabilitate feelings of security, wellbeing and partnership, which are so needed today. We had a chat with the Head of the Education Department at Ramat Hanadiv

a scene from the Fifth Israeli Conference on Out-of-Class Education

Imagine groups of adults running around and playing under the trees in the gardens: men and women building with pine cones and sticks, leading each other along with their eyes closed, and perhaps even making animal noises and communicating in strange ways. If you happened to wander around Ramat Hanadiv Gardens on the day of the Fifth Israeli Conference on Out-of-Class Education – ‘Learning Is Different Outside’, that is probably what you saw.

Like may others, we also think that the best classroom in the world is nature (a field, yard, grove or community garden). Everything can be learned outside hands-on: science, history, and mainly life skills and emotional and social skills. In the last five years we have initiated and hosted an annual conference on out-of-class learning, which is the highlight of our routine activities in this field.

At the conference we offer educators, environmentalists and anyone interested a range of workshops and hands-on activities that can help anyone who wants to teach outside and seeks to expand his or her toolbox. We aim to share content on how to use nature and outdoor spaces for teaching, learning and personal development, and testing and exchanging ideas.

This year, due to the trauma of the war, the challenges facing children (and all of us), we decided to focus on the healing power of nature

a puppetry in nature workshop

This year, due to the trauma of the war, the challenges facing children (and all of us), and the decision to connect the conference to healing and recovery – we decided, in collaboration with Dr. Nirit Lavi-Alon from the educational staff at Ramat Hanadiv and conference staff member Michal Sadeh from ‘The Ideas Tree’, to focus on the healing power of nature. On this backdrop we held workshops on developing personal resilience and strengthening the sense of wellbeing, including a puppetry in nature workshop that demonstrated how characters from natural materials are used for communication and wonder; mindfulness in nature as a place to deepen the ability for attention, empathy and support; developing resilience through shamanism and more. As in previous years, the presenters ran the workshops voluntarily, out of a desire to pass on their knowledge and experience and in the belief that to expand learning outside there is a need to disseminate knowledge, ideas and tools, and particularly to facilitate experiences and discourse among colleagues.

Outside learning has been part of education at Ramat Hanadiv since its inception 25 years ago

Nature Is the Best Classroom

Outside learning has undergone many changes over the years; to understand it better we had a chat with Gome Sheffer, Head of Education at Ramat Hanadiv.

How long has Ramat Hanadiv been working on out-of-classroom learning?

‘Outside learning has been part of education at Ramat Hanadiv since its inception 25 years ago. The things that change with time are the circumstances and contexts for reality and the new needs generated by this reality.

Tell us a bit about the changes in outside learning over the years.

‘About 25 years ago people spoke about the desire to take children outside to familiarise them with nature and protect it, as well as the research aspect.

In recent years we have come to believe that outside learning is significant for all aspects of teaching (Not only in the field of science), and that it is possible to learn anything outside

This approach still exists today, particularly with respect to science education; thus, students receive added value from learning in nature. In recent years we have come to believe that outside learning is significant for all aspects of teaching, and that it is possible to learn anything outside. In fact, it doesn’t matter what the topic is – the answer is “you’ll learn it outside”.

During COVID-19 the Ministry of Education declared going outside to be “the solution for the social and emotional needs of the students”; we and other agencies saw this as an opportunity for implementation. We ran training sessions in which we taught teachers how to go outside and we produced study materials. Two years ago, the Ministry of Education declared climate change to be a main topic. We said it can be taught conservatively through a computer presentation in an airconditioned classroom, or we can go outside with the children and understand what it means, feel it physically and see it in the field. Since 7.10 we have been focusing on the war, trauma, resilience and how nature can help in this context.

In the last five years a change occurred at Ramat Hanadiv in our approach to outside learning, and we transitioned from the scientific-academic world to a slightly softer space, from a research-oriented language to a language that talks about going into nature to spend time int it, acquire the positive feelings and values that it brings with it and wander around it aimlessly. This softness allows us to be flexible and adapt a different story to outside learning each time.’

צוות אנשים מתחום החינוך, בכנס, יושבים על הדשא במעגל בגנים

Besides the conference, are their other training sessions and workshops in this field?

‘Yes. After we decided that this year the focus would be on healing and recovery, we produced several workshops for educational staff to choose from. The cognitive workshops relate to nature as a place for introspection, wonder and renewal, some focus on a specific tool for developing resilience in nature, such as phototherapy, and others focus on an open emotional discourse that is facilitated by the natural space. We offer educational staff from schools in the region to come here for a two-hour meeting on these topics – to surrender to guidance, disconnect from their professional work, from their paper and pen, and enjoy the experience. If the experience is positive and they want to acquire more tools, they know we can enrich them. The feedback we receive is great, demand is high, and there are returning audiences’.

Even if you aren’t educators, but you’re curious to know how nature can support us, you’re welcome to have a look at the conference booklet here (in Hebrew), expand your thinking and be inspired.