Bring the past to life by visiting historic sites

When learning about history in the classroom, students can find it difficult to visualise what life was like in the past. They often feel history is too far removed from their daily lives to be relevant and, as many teachers know, explaining the enduring impact of history on today’s society is challenging.

By visiting historic destinations, such as Cockatoo Island / Wareamah on Sydney Harbour, teachers help their students to meaningfully engage with history and complement what they have learned at school. There are 4 key benefits of visiting historic sites:

1. Students establish a tangible connection to the past.

2. Students become active participants in their own learning by asking questions, making connections and undertaking historical enquiry.

3. Students develop an appreciation of the legacy and continued relevance of past events.

4. The study of history is enriched as students engage directly with spaces and stories that shaped history. We invite you to book one of Cockatoo Island’s stage-specific education programs. The island features a UNESCO World Heritage Listed Convict Site as well as a historic shipyard, meaning students have a unique opportunity to engage with –and deepen their understanding of – Australia’s layered history. PLUS: You can extend your excursion with a stay in cockatooisland.gov.au

Cockatoo Island’s campground. Choose from 3 camping options, catering for di erent needs and preferences.

Scan the QR code to learn more and make a booking.

Here, external learning was defined as any out-of-classroom activity, which could also mean learning which incorporated the external environment. This meant art-classes in the field, statistics involving use of school grounds, and so on. The study ran for a year, and compared classes which were frequently exposed to external learning with classes which were exposed to external learning less frequently, around two hours a week.

Wellbeing was self-evaluated via questionnaire, so results are to be taken with this caveat, but the benefi ts of external learning were shown to be the greatest in pupils of low socio-economic status, and those with hyperactivityinattention conditions.

Results were most pronounced when pupils were exposed in fewer, but longer sessions outside the classroom. These results may indicate that an increased frequency of external learning can create more equitable learning conditions in the classroom.

Regular external learning was found to increase prosocial behaviour for all students.1

Another study, also done in Denmark, showed external learning was associated with improvements in physical activity for boys, though not for girls. The study measured PA by using accelerometers, which were att ached to children for a week. This allowed researchers to compare physical activity between external learning days and non-external learning days. The study found that days with learning outside the classroom increased physical activity in boys, and on those days, more physical activity was recorded during external learning time than in classroom time.2

Another study, conducted more recently in 2021, found that there were no gender diff erences in increased physical activity associated with external learning.

It also posited that learning outside the classroom may promote physical activity due to the nature of learning opportunities when outside, or in “greenspace”. The study reads:

“Often, EOtC includes learning activities that demand pupils to move, e.g., measuring and estimating the volume of trees in maths class or incorporating tag-and-relay races in language lessons.” 3

In current Western classroom models, children may spend much of the day sitt ing. Physical activity is treated as an “extra”, meant for cocurricular activity or infrequent PE sessions. In some schools, increasing physical activity during the day is imperative as children may face barriers to physical activity outside of class. These may include cost barriers to gett ing involved in cocurricular sport and time-poverty, among others. This means that some of our vulnerable students cannot access the myriad benefi ts of physical activity, such as improved cognition, academic achievement and overall wellbeing. Therefore, external learning as a method of promoting physical activity may create a more equitable learning environment in some cases. These studies indicate that increasing physical activity may be one of the mechanisms by which external learning improves student wellbeing.

Another possible mechanism of outside learning improving student wellbeing is simply being outside.

Exposure to natural environments has been associated with lowered stress and can help with symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Those with attention-deficit disorders can also improve their symptoms by spending time outdoors. Although what counts as a “restorative” environment is contested, most research agrees that being in nature has some wellbeing benefi ts.4

In conclusion, it seems that the excitement that comes from that special excursion feeling at school is backed up by real benefi ts to mental and physical health. No matter what the occasion, whether it’s a short trip to the school field, a longer sports excursion to the local park or beach, or even an overnight camp or flight, students stand to reap long-term benefi ts from added