Why is Seeley Copse a good place to teach Science?

Is teaching Science outside more beneficial than doing Science in the classroom?

McGlashan, Gasser, Dow, Hartney and Rogers have written a criteria for a ‘Good site’ for children to perform science outdoors, they state that a good site needs to be: safe, accessible, diverse and of a decent size. Seeley is all those things.

Seeley provides teachers with ample amounts of opportunities for teaching, science and other subjects. If you look at the post about FIRE there are many examples of lessons and teaching episodes that can be focused on fire, and fire is only a fraction of the resources that Seeley Copse can provide.

There are many ways Seeley Copse links to the National Curriculum Science program of study (PoS) (DfE, 2013 p.148-173) for example; – Identification of different plant and animal species links to many areas of Years 1, 2, 3 and 4 – The plants section of all years PoS have opportunities for them be introduced, learnt, expanded on and taught out in Seeley Copse – Fire and the uses for it (Blog post on it) can link to both working scientifically and different chemistry links – Spending time in the forest over a year period children could look into seasonal changes in a more concrete physical way. – A few different habitats of animals that link to the Y2 living things and their habitats are in Seeley Copse: “identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited and describe how different habitats provide for the basic needs of different kinds of animals and plants, and how they depend on each other” and “identify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including micro- habitats” (DfE, 2013, p.151). – Seeley Copse has different soil types in different sections which can link to Y3 rocks: “compare and group together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties” and “describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are trapped within rock” (DfE, 2013, p.158) – Links to classification in Y4 living things: “explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment” (DfE, 2013, p.161) – Some trees in Seeley are removed for safety reasons and the people who do that can come in and talk to the children about it linking to Y4 PoS living things and their habitats : “recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things.” (2013, p.161) – With the vast size of Seeley Copse the children could do an experiment relating to Sound in the Y4 Pos linking to “recognise that sounds get fainter as the distance from the sound source increases.” (DfE, 2013, p.163) – In Seeley Copse there are many examples where children can physically see “the life process of reproduction in some plants” (DfE 2013, p.168) from Y5 living things and their habitats – Thanks to the resources in Seeley Copse the Y6 all of the living things and their habitats objectives can be covered just using the natural resources and classifications of many different living things.

Seeley Copse is a definitely better place to teach certain areas of the science curriculum than the classroom, it allows children to not only have new experiences but also have concrete physical forms of the sometimes very abstract scientific concepts that they face, making it much more accessible for all abilities and ages.

• References
• Department for Education (2013) The National Curriculum in England: Key stages 1 and 2 framework document Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/425601/PRIMARY_national_curriculum.pdf (Accessed 02 April 2020)
• McGlashan. P, Gasser. K, Dow.P, Hartney.D &Rogers.B (2007) Outdoor Inquiries: Taking Science Investigations Outside the Classroom Portsmouth: First Hand Learning, Inc.