http://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/story/kids-gone-wild
This article explores Forest Kindergartens in Denmark. These kindergartens are held not within a classroom, but in a forest. Children are taught in the forest by pedagogues, who are trained in Human Development. One set of parents sent their children to this school to help them connect more to the actual world instead of just the virtual world. These schools hold that there are lower stress levels and better motor development in children in forest schools.
This is much different than schools in the United States. Many kindergartens that I have seen have children using IPads and Chromebooks. Students are not permitted to go outdoors if there is rain. In addition, many male children, it would seem, do not receive enough time to move around, and are punished. I have noticed much higher office referrals on "indoor recess" days at my internship within a local school district.
I am not sure what I think about having kindergarten entirely outside, even in freezing weather. However, I do think there is something to consider about this approach to education. What do you think?
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