Humans are born learners
A newborn does not need any training or teaching to cry, to ask for food when hungry and so to learn mother tongue. Irrespective of the language, country or regional differences, every newborn has this ability. Our awareness of the world and our place in it is fueled by a natural sense of inquisitiveness and curiosity. With informal, home based learning and society around, the child learns through experiences, senses and mainly using trial and error methods. The reason being very simple, the identity of the newborn is not yet developed and there is no fear of failures. In fact, failures are being appreciated by the parents and society around the child as bold steps.
But, then what happens when the child enters the school?
The formal Schooling system that was planned for social learning does many things well, but it wasn't built for today's world, culture or technology. No one is at fault, but all of us are responsible; the one-to-many, textbook-based classroom broadcasts. Here, we expect a child to use only a couple of senses like eyes, ears and sometimes other sensory experiences. With the very definition of cognition, The ability of the brain’s mental processes to absorb and retain information through experience, senses, and thoughts, we are the ones who restrict the innate ability to experiment, and learn through mistakes. It's our job to create new, innovative opportunities for learners to solve problems, identify opportunities, and create value even as they face an increasingly complex and uncertain future. When we encourage this motivation in our children, we discover that their capabilities extend far beyond the limits of school and learning outcomes.
In theory, everyone agrees with the above statements and also wishes to create the systems which motivate learning. But, many times, we as teachers and educators are restricted by our own preconceived notions of syllabus and curriculums. Is there any way where we use the curriculum to the best of our ability to develop the cognitive processes in a child? One of the answers, you may find in Finnish forests, the place I stay with the natural learners and my family!
Finnish forests and natural learning!
Forests cover more than 75 per cent of the land area of Finland. Measured by the proportional share of forest land, Finland is the most forested country in Europe with 20.3 million hectares of the forests for wood production. Forest is one of the dominating elements of Finnish nature and its diversity. Finland’s annual Nature Day encourages Finnish people’s close relationship with nature and spotlights the health and happiness effects of the country’s beautiful natural settings.
“In Finland people traditionally have a close relationship with nature, but there’s a risk that modern trends like urbanisation, globalisation and the way children increasingly spend their spare time using electronic media could weaken this relationship,” says Matti Nieminen of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation (FANC). “For this reason we decided to designate a special day to celebrate the importance of nature to Finnish culture, and to highlight the enjoyment and well-being people can get from nature.” Finnish Nature Day is observed annually during the last weekend in August. (Weaver)
Finnish national core curriculum and transversal competences
One of the major components of Finland’s new curriculum are transversal competences. Study, working life, and active citizenship require a command of different knowledge and skills as well as competences in combining these. Each subject promotes transversal competence skills. What stands out with Finland’s transversal competences is the stress on managing daily life and taking care of oneself. When you speak with Finnish teachers, the conversation tends to always lead to students’ overall well-being.
As the Finnish national core curriculum for basic education states Managing daily life requires an increasingly wide range of skills. This area covers health, safety and human relationships, mobility and transport, acting in the increasingly technological daily life, and managing personal finance and consumption, all of which are elements of a sustainable way of living. Basic education encourages the pupils to think positively about their future. The school community guides the pupils to understand that everyone influences both their own and other people's well-being, health and safety. The pupils are encouraged to take care of themselves and others, to practise skills that are important for managing their daily lives and to work for the well-being of their environment.
During their years in basic education, the pupils learn to know and understand the significance of factors that promote or undermine well-being and health and the significance of safety, and to find information related to these areas. They are given opportunities to assume responsibility for their own and shared work and actions, and to develop their emotional and social skills. The pupils grow to appreciate the importance of human relationships and caring for others. They also learn time management, which is an important part of daily life management and self-regulation. The pupils are given opportunities to practise looking after their own safety and that of others in various situations like traffic and forest. They are guided to anticipate dangerous situations and to act appropriately in them. They are taught to recognise key symbols related to safety, to protect their privacy and to set personal boundaries.
To cater these curriculum requirements, Finnish teacher and education researcher Mari Parikka-Nihti came up with a research based and sustainable approach to the learning - Learning in / with the forest. She started her research and established the first forest school in Finland in the 1990s in Hameenlinna, Finland. Council for Creative Education, the research based organisation working in the field of Creative pedagogy, creates the experiences for the teachers and educators across the globe to promote this innovative learning environment.
Forest School is a child-centred inspirational learning process that offers opportunities for holistic growth through regular sessions. It is a long-term program that supports play, exploration and supported risk taking. It develops confidence and self-esteem through learner inspired, hands-on experiences in a natural setting.
The process helps and facilitates more than knowledge-gathering, it helps learners develop socially, emotionally, spiritually, physically and intellectually. It creates a safe, non-judgemental nurturing environment for learners to try stuff out and take risks. Forest School inspires a deep and meaningful connection to the world and an understanding of how a learner fits within it. Our approach to risk means that learners constantly expand on their abilities by solving real-world issues, building self-belief and resilience. The first school practitioners believe that risk is more than just potential for physical harm, but a more holistic thing, there are risks in everything we do, and we grow by overcoming them. Forest School therefore, helps participants to become healthy, resilient, creative and independent learners.
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