Introduction

As family life has now come to be busier, school life is becoming increasingly more important in children's lives.  Children are finding less time at home to play and with security fears growing it is easier for parents to allow their children to play on their computer in the family home, than to let them out into the woods with their friends (Anning et al. 2010).  This has a negative effect on children's growth and as children lack the chances to improve important life skills, such as social and motor skills, in their own home, schools simply have to incorporate this into everyday teaching.

It is not effective to teach all skills in the classroom environment and not all children learn in the same way.  New contexts have now been introduced into some schools to improve learning and I have described in detail the advantages and some disadvantages to teaching in these ways.  I have chosen to cover Play, Museums, Montessori settings and Forest Schools and have included pictures and inspirational videos to support why I believe these have proved to be successful and are important in building children's skills.  Although these may not seem like new ideas, they have been adapted to suit the ever changing curriculum and most importantly ensure the best is obtained from each child as they achieve the education they deserve. 

I have used several reference sources to support my findings which I have referenced throughout each context and non-electronic sources are listed at the end of each post.

Reference List

Anning, A., Cullen, J. and Fleer, M. (2010), Early Childhood Education Society and Culture. London: Sage

Museum Learning

I can still recall every school trip I attended as a child and believe it is a fantastic way of making a subject come to life.  Being out of the classroom enables children to see things for themselves and gain a better understanding of what they are studying.  Children have different learning styles and cannot all learn from sitting and reading in a classroom, so by seeing actual artefacts up close it makes subjects real.   By visiting different places learners become enthusiastic, excited and keen to learn and it enables access to resources they would not have in school.

Recently we visited Cardiff Castle and The Firing Line Museum and could instantly understand what a fantastic experience it was for everyone to learn, from foundation phase right through to A level and even adults. Children are allowed to dress up in military uniform and hold muskets to experience things for themselves.  They are given the opportunity to hold the drum a ten year old drummer boy would have played going into battle, which enables them to relate to how times have changed.  Then at lunch they can use the vast, safe, outdoor area within the castle grounds to run around and pretend they are defending the castle.

The Education Officer explained how they work closely with schools to be topic specific, therefore if the class are studying WWII she will visit the school prior to the trip and present a show and tell using an evacuation suitcase.  This allows the children to build a rapport with the staff and they will know what to expect when they get to the museum and be relaxed and enthusiastic about the visit.  They can research the topic with their teacher prior to the trip and build on their knowledge when they eventually visit the site.  This increases their interest and enthusiasm for the subject and as the majority of the staff are volunteers and experts, with real experiences to talk about, children develop respect, admiration and can ask questions to understand topics better. 

The museum will also link your visit with other museums to increase learning further, so you can visit the Air Raid Shelter within the Castle walls or The Cardiff Museum.  The Firing Line Museum explained how important and successful museum visits and the interactive approach can be for capturing children's attention, as in the past even the most disengaged learners in a classroom setting become imaginative, animated and passionate in the museum.


It's not just about history though and these visits are a great way to use cross curricular teaching.  Literacy skills can be hugely improved in many ways but in particular by getting children to write about what they have experienced.  When studying The Egyptians, a visit to Swansea Egyptian Center to study Hieroglyphs will introduce children to coding and improve numeracy skills and at Cardiff Castle, children are introduced to various technologies through the ages to show how Science has developed.  

Some of these museums can cost however and this is a disadvantage to low income families. However if the schools can fund the transport costs then some museums are free.  The video below is based on the free to visit, London Science Museum, which I have also had the pleasure to visit and can confirm, with its interactive approach and real life environment, illustrates perfectly how from one museum visit students can cover the whole curriculum.