Learning Outside the Classroom: Enhancing Learning Effectiveness
Learning at the confines of a classroom repeatedly at times becomes boring to both the students as well as the teacher. Learners tend to get bored is learning is centered only on the classroom hence some of the learning activities ought to be designed outside classroom so as to ensure its effectiveness on learners. Teaching and learning can become relatively spontaneous and shift from being teacher-centered to being learner-centered is moved from the confines of the classroom into the world at large. Teaching and learning that takes places within the premises of a class makes the process much more of teacher-centered as it is the teacher who has full control of the engagements in the classroom. This means that the learner is not fully engaged in the learning process which could have a profound effect in the overall performance of the leaners. Teaching and learning outside entails activities such as field trips, educational tours, service learning and community engagement, place-based learning as well as resources for research on experimental learning. This paper therefore analyzes the significance of learning outside classroom with reference to a personal experience of an event of learning outside classroom.
Importance of Outside Interaction for Humanities and Social Sciences
There are subjects such as humanities and social sciences that demand for an outside interaction with the world that the subjects are trying to study. Subjects such as geography and history demand more of the practical learning outside classroom than the theoretical learning that takes place in classrooms. It is for this reason that our history class organized a field trip to one of the most prominent museums in the United States. This experience that we had there was so interesting such that I felt like sharing the ordeal so as to highlight on the significance of learning outside classroom. Our visit was to the Mission San Luis museum which is one of the oldest historical sites in American history. Rich in culture of the immigrant population that settled along the site, it was a perfect destination for an history class.
Significance of Mission San Luis
Mission San Luis is situated in Apalachee Province which is in present-day known as Tallahassee in Florida, USA. The mission was built in 1633 though it was recognized and acknowledged as a U.S National Historic Landmark on October 15, 1966. The mission is believed to have developed as result of Spain's colonization in Florida and was part of the efforts by the Spanish colonizers to colonize the Florida Peninsula and try and convert the Apalachee Indians and the Timucuan into Christianity. It lasted until 1704 when it was destroyed by the Apalachee Indians themselves and the Spanish colonizers out of fear of use by militia that was approaching and had threatened their existence in the mission. This led the Apalachee Indians to flee the place with fear of possible attack by militia. The mission has however been renovated and made a designated museum in present-day and attracts both local and foreign tourists. The mission contains a wide variety of aspects entailed in the study of humanities including art, literature as well as the history of the Apalachee Indians and the Timucuans.
Understanding the Culture and Traditions
The site provided a wonderful experience of the understanding of the culture, values and traditions of the population which occupied the mission. It developed my understanding of why there is quite a huge population of natives of Indian origin in the state of Florida. Through the visit I was also able to take not of the culture of the Apalachee Indians, their architecture as well as how the lived and survived. A quite fascinating thing about their creativity is our they could construct beautiful homes and plazas where there could live and carry one various ceremonies respectively. One other factor that caught my eye is our they were rich in diet and nutrition. The site not only provides a view of the artistic history of the habitants of the mission but also provides visitors with a taste of the food that the habitants of the mission used to take. A taste of the food provided quite a tasteful experience, the food comprised of corn, beans and squash as well a fish not to forget the fruits that accompanied the delicacy which included a combination of wild fruits, berries and nuts. This provided prove that the Apalachee Indians were both farmers and hunters/gatherers.
Enhancing Learning Atmosphere Outside the Classroom
The field trip presented a perfect learning atmosphere outside the usual classroom-centered learning. The atmosphere presented in the site was not only conducive but also provided a collaborative learning atmosphere. The atmosphere encouraged team building which is and effective way of learning since it encourages the exchange of ideas something that the classroom-centered learning could not provide. Through interactions through team-building groups also, leaners were able to build relationships with one another which is effective for providing a conducive learning environment back in class. Other than the learners benefiting a lot from the field trip, the teacher is also able to monitor the learner's interactions outside class to ascertain whether individual learners are good while working in groups or not. If the findings are positive the teacher could initiate more group discussions while back in class.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, learning outside the confines of the classroom has proven significant and deserves to be implemented more in the teaching and learning institutions in order to achieve better learning outcomes. Learning activities such as educational trips should be conducted frequently especially in courses such as humanities and social sciences that require exposure with the outside world.
