I once heard a fellow teacher make the statement, "You can't be techy and an outdoors person". I was not personally offended but rather by the ignorance of that statement!
These days, technology is specifically designed to be usable while enjoying God's beautiful world! Have you heard of wearable technology? Have you used a cell phone while on a walk or run?
So what about edtech in the outdoors? I challenge you to make it a point to incorporate the use of technology or activities that blend technology and nature. For example, this year my class and I have made it a priority to keep up a healthy regimen of running. Every Thursday, we have "Lap Day" and we run for our Physical Education period. I run with the students, we mark our hands each time we pass the mark, check the timer for pace, and enjoy a healthy snack as a class afterward. When we walk into the classroom after our run, the first thing the students do is open their chromebooks to log their laps on our shared Google Sheet (here it is). The kids love seeing the progress being made by every student and their teacher! This allows opportunity for graphing lessons, math skills to calculate the laps into miles, and an abundance of other skills that can use this as a base to develop higher level questions and comparisons.
Here's just a few other activities my students enjoy and please comment to add more ideas to benefit more classrooms:
- Student of the Week wears the GoPro for lunch and recess then footage is made into a fast paced memorable keepsake in iMovie
- Watch a book being read aloud on Youtube while sitting outside
- Use iPads for capturing photos of nature
- Assign a weekly job to be "Yearbook Photographer" and that student is allowed to take a camera outside throughout the day to capture a variety of pictures
- Assignments are nature centered to force the thinking in that direction
- Execution of readers theatre creation performed outside
- Student autonomy allows for outside choices
What is my idea of an engaging school day? A day filled with technology, the outdoors, autonomy for all, and interactive learning!
