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Home » Exercise Programs » Collective Voice: Outdoor education programs have benefits – Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Sarah Y.Kevin Hogarth / Saskatoon

Grade 9 students in the Collective Voice program at Aden Bowman Collegiate share their lives and opinions through columns. Selected columns usually run on Mondays in The Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

By Sarah Y.

When you look back at your education experience, how much time did you spend learning outside, doing things like going down to the river and learning about its history?

Curriculums all over the world have begun to adopt outdoor education as a necessary part of learning, and I am in favour of this change. Study after study shows that time outdoors reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety. It can help kids retain what theyve learned, and so much more.

Outdoor education benefits a persons character. Stress is an area of schooling that is often ignored when creating a curriculum, and its commonly known that exercise causes the brain to release hormones like serotonin and dopamine. These two hormones decrease stress levels immensely and we should be doing everything possible to protect kids from large amounts of stress, which has astronomical effects on the body.

Depression and stress are often found hand in hand, so lets dive deeper into some of the effects these mental health struggles have on students and the ways learning outside can decrease levels of stress and depression. Exercise is a key part of increasing levels of the happy hormones, and outdoor education is the way to do that.

Exercise in general is good for kids and teens thats rather well-known. However, could an exercise routine thats implemented frequently outside have an even greater benefit?

Speaking from experience, getting into an exercise routine is hard, but being encouraged to bike to school and taken on trips outside of the city can help. Hiking along trails and biking to school daily can make it increasingly easier to hit the 60 daily minutes of physical activity most doctors recommend.

Simple things like frequent encouragement or a small rewards system would also help. Field trips to places like Beaver Creek Conservation Area promote physical activity by having classes hike through gorgeous trails. These are all good steps toward increasing outdoor education and physical activity, but we can always be better.

Most of the examples that Ive listed are experiences that Ive had in programs that are less open to the wider public. I had to apply be chosen out of many students from a raffle. Im not saying this isnt a good way to do it more kids have an opportunity to be chosen this way but these opportunities should be adapted slowly by the entire school system.

Outdoor education is a necessary part of the learning process for youth, and should be a larger part of the school system. The benefits of learning in an outdoor environment that pushes you to your limits are unbelievable.

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Collective Voice: Outdoor education programs have benefits - Saskatoon StarPhoenix

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Home » Exercise Programs » Collective Voice: Outdoor education programs have benefits – Saskatoon StarPhoenix