Making Sense

To fully understand how children learn we need to understand how they experience that learning.

A lot of what we as adults have learned in life feels innate.

Most of us don't remember being taught to walk or talk, we don't necessarily remember being taught to hold a pencil or crayon, or how to wash ourselves. We just 'know' these things. Yes, for some of us, these skills were trickier than others, but if we have 'mastered' them, we do them without a second thought. 

We never had planned 'lessons' in tidying up, most of us started when we were small by putting things back in a toy box, hopefully as a game!
Yes, it may have been a struggle once putting things away ceased to be fun, but we all understand the concept - even if we're not good at it! I appreciate there are factors surrounding something this' simple' which means even as adults there is a vast scale of who does and doesn't do this well...!

In education, we go through waves of 'fashionable' learning, with Governments leaning towards one kind of educational philosophy or another. Even with Pedagogy Local Authorities, School Management, or even Department Heads will place more emphasis on one than another.

If you've been in education long enough you see the same ideas come back round as new!

Part of the issue I have with ANY of these 'fads' is that not only are they promoted as THE answer to making learning 'easier', but they frequently have a narrow interpretation and seem to infer that all children can access learning within this concept when we all know that even adults access learning in different ways!

For example, when putting together a flat-pack wardrobe do you require someone to help? Do you prefer it if someone reads the instructions to you as you go? Do you read it yourself? Do you just look at the diagram? Do you lay all the parts out beforehand or tear open bags as you go?
If you all end up with a functioning wardrobe was any of these processes 'wrong'?

Children learn in a multitude of different ways. A group will require the instructions to be read AND reading it themselves AND looking at the diagram AND working with someone, with different children needing their task adjusting to be heavy on listening, or reading, or pictures, or teamwork to be successful. They are as individual as we are.

What underpins how any of these children learn is how these children experience the world, and one of the biggest disservices in education is ignoring the human senses. 

For a start, most of us are taught there are 5 senses when actually there are 8!

Even if we were made aware of the 3 lesser known senses schools rarely acknowledge them and they are missed out of planning activities. Yet these are intrinsic to human development, and without allowing and encouraging children to grow holistically, trying to 'educate' them is going to be difficult!

We all learn best through doing a task, even reading something is actually DOING!

Working on the assumption that everyone has a firm grasp of what touch, sound, taste, sight, and smell are, we're going to look at Vestibular, Interoception, and Proprioception - not such quick easy labels!

The Vestibuar Sense is your inner balance.

It influences simply walking, running, and hopping, as well as walking along a line or on a beam, but it also impacts balance as in feeling dizzy and/or disorientated, and the ability to pay attention to something.

This sense is closely linked to the visual system and is responsible for assisting 'gaze stabilisation' allowing to keep object in focus while the head moves, as well as keeping the head still while the eyes move!

This, like all senses, develops over time and can be impacted by illness, such as inner ear infection, but the more we use it, the stronger it becomes!

The sense of Interoception is the noticing and understanding of sensations inside the body. It can simply be noticing your heartbeat (pounding or not) and tummy rumbles!

Being aware of what's happening INSIDE your body helps you know if you're hungry, or if you feel hot or sick. We all know there is a sliding scale of these things but we learned them over time, it's why we know we're going to need the toilet soon but young children leave it till the last minute!

They have to LEARN how to interpret the cues their bodies give off. If you don't recognise you are thirsty it doesn't mean you will be paying attention regardless!

Have you ever heard of Proprioception?

This is the way our brain communicates with our muscles and joints to create movement. It's one of the senses we hear very little about - but is very important!

This influences 'clumsiness' or accuracy in large movements such as moving around a room, but also impacts small movements like writing, building with lego, or fastening buttons.

Body awareness, knowing what your limbs are doing and where they are, is essential! If anyone has ever stood up after sitting with a leg tucked up which is now numb, trying to walk or stand is really difficult! This is what happens when your Proprioception fails!

These senses underpin learning. ALL learning.

All senses are physical things, and these three require a lot of physical movement to hone them into useable skills and to optimise all other kinds of learning. A child who cannot focus on a book or whiteboard will not take in the information on it, written or drawn!

A child who doesn't recognise that they are cold, or thirsty, or even uncomfortable will still be cold, thirsty, or uncomfortable! Trying to listen & learn in these circumstances is very difficult.

Similarly, perfecting large movements leads to perfecting small movements, and hand-eye coordination is required just as much as grip whether writing with a pencil or typing on a keyboard!

Forest School can help with all eight of these senses!

We see, smell, hear, and touch the environment every session. We taste the air, whether it's crisp or balmy!

We learn to climb trees, move across uneven ground, and recognise if we are hot or cold!

The basic essence of Forest School covers the development of ALL the senses.

Of course, a good PE curriculum helps, as does ANY outdoor activity that families engage in. Many indoor activities also improve these senses, Forest School is not the sole provider!

In recent years everyone's lives have become more and more sedentary. Statistics show that children are not outside as much as they used to be (BJS 2015):

This indicates that these lesser-known senses are in danger of being underdeveloped.

Forest School is one way we can help children exercise these skills. For those of us already providing sessions, we are a ready-made entity able to support this, helping eliminate some of the barriers to learning inside a classroom while children explore outside.

Most of us are doing it whether consciously or not!

Long may it continue!