Lens on Outdoor Learning

by Wendy Banning, Ginny Sullivan

Overview

The outdoors is full of rich learning experiences for preschool and pre-kindergarten children. Lens on Outdoor Learning is filled with stories and colorful photographs that illustrate how the outdoors supports children's early learning. Each story is connected to an early learning standard such as curiosity and initiative; engagement and persistence; imagination, invention, and creativity; reasoning and problem-solving; risk-taking, responsibility, and confidence; reflection, application, and interpretation; and flexibility and resilience. Much of the teaching in these experiences is indirect and involves provisioning, observing, and conversing with children as they spend quality time in nature. Children's dialogue and actions are included in each story to show just how engaged they became during these experiences. Lens on Outdoor Learning will inspire early childhood professionals to use this outdoor approach in their own setting.

Wendy Banning is coordinator of Irvin Learning Farm, an inquiry-based, hands-on outdoor learning space for children and adults in North Carolina. She is also an educational consultant, teacher, trainer, and photographer.

Ginny Sullivan is co-principal of Learning by the Yard, a partnership of landscape architects and educators that helps schools develop their grounds as habitat, focusing on native plants. Ginny consults, trains teachers, and involves schools and centers in the design of their outdoor spaces to help children learn about the natural world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781605540245
Publisher:	Redleaf Press
Publication date:	11/23/2010
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Wendy Banning: Wendy Banning has extensive experience as a school director, consultant, and teacher in both public and private settings. She founded and directed a small private school in North Carolina committed to project-based learning and outdoor curricula where she both taught and trained teachers for 14 years.

Wendy is involved in numerous photo documentation projects and her photos of children, their experiences, and their learning presently appear in A Place to Play, published by University of Michigan Press.

Wendy completed her undergraduate degree in education at the University of Michigan and pursued additional graduate level coursework at Eastern Michigan University.

Ginny Sullivan: Ginny Sullivan is co-principal of Learning by the Yard, a partnership of landscape architects and educators who help schools develop their grounds as habitat, focusing on native plants. She trains teachers to help children learn in and about the natural world. Ginny has developed outdoor learning environments for Smart Start, public and private schools as well as a center in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Ginny completed her undergraduate degree at Stanford University, a master’s in curriculum development from U-Mass Amherst, and holds an MA in landscape design from the Conway School of Landscape Design and Planning. As a teacher educator, she designs indoor and outdoor environments to enhance both teaching and learning.