Roehampton University Students helping in half term!

We are 2^nd year, BA Primary Education students from the University of Roehampton. As part of the course for this year, the University has added in a brand new module titled ‘Enhanced Learning Experience’ of which the main focus is how children can still learn a lot, even though they are outside of the classroom! As part of the module, we had to undertake a week’s placement at an organisation where this could take place, and Urbanwise fitted this perfectly. We also had to choose a subject to focus on for this module, of which one of us chose PE and the other chose Maths. Over the course of the week, we were able to see how children gained access to learning outside of the classroom in places such as the Sky Garden, Museum of London Docklands, along with Whipsnade Zoo! From what we could see, the children were engaged fully and were learning about the environment without even realising it.

From what we have seen this past week,

Urbanwise take children to many different places, which allows for exploration in different subjects; often in cross curricular links. Even though Urbanwise have a strong focus on Geography, Science and History, we were able to see how our subjects of PE and Maths were integrated into the activities undertaken this week. For example, at the Museum of London Docklands, there was a section on measuring the weight of goods. This could then be taken into school, with a History, Maths and PE cross-curricular link through the maths side of measuring the goods, the PE aspect of carrying the goods safely and correctly and finally with the history of how methods of measuring and transporting goods has vastly developed since the 1800’s.

Overall, we have thoroughly enjoyed our experience here at Urbanwise, learning lots of different ways that learning can take place outside of the classroom, which we can then take forward into our own classrooms and teaching career!

Sam & Prenny