Why take students outdoors to learn? The reasons are many and varied. In the 1970s children spent twice as much time outdoors as they do today. How this affects us is increasingly understood as medical professionals see the impacts on human health of increased sedentary time indoors. We incorporated field-based time as one of the critical components of our FieldSTEM Model for two reasons:
If our education system does not work to build an understanding of and appreciation for natural systems and how they are impacted by and sustain our social and economic systems, our communities will not be sustainable.
Read research related to the importance of field-based learning.