Physical education has the potential to achieve the desired outcomes of alternative provision schooling by re-engaging young people in learning, supporting their social and emotional development and facilitating their reintegration into mainstream schooling. To do so, however, it requires sufficient and appropriate space because, unlike other…

There are arguably advantages to adopting a cross-curricular approach to planning, teaching and learning. This approach often works well for incorporating scientific skills and the wider perspectives of geography, technology and maths. It can help children to develop and consolidate their understanding through practical application and gives them…

A wealth of research evidences the positive impact of the outdoors for young children. Yet there is little relating to the experiences of babies and toddlers who attend daycare settings. This paper offers new knowledge about outdoor provision for under twos in the English context where there is a lack of explicit policy support for outdoor…

Practice-oriented, socio-material investigations have surfaced the emergent nature of professional knowing and the significance of things for organising such knowing. However, in these accounts, one significant organising actor is largely overlooked: time. This paper foregrounds time, exploring how different temporalities orchestrate knowing in…

Climate change scenarios project higher flood risk, so knowing how households can increase socio-ecological resilience is essential. Children rarely feature in UK policy guidance about how households prepare for floods, and research is limited about children's roles in local resilience building. Using a participatory action research, child-centred…

In this article, the author offers some practical support for teaching about weather, climate and climate change. In England, weather and climate are traditionally taught within the geography curriculum, although it is actually a very scientific subject, involving skills such as making careful observations and measurements, interpreting data…

There is growing evidence that children in the UK are suffering from a lack of engagement with nature and the outdoor environment. This paper investigates the attitudes of children towards the natural environment and focuses on Forest School programmes as a mechanism to promote a "pro-environmental" attitude. The study identified that…

The concept of progression is applicable to how students' geographical understanding can advance over a period of time, and how courses can be designed to facilitate such advances. Understanding is a product of experience, ideas and mental processes, and the interrelationships between them. The ideas which are most characteristic of geographical…

This article discusses how a regular walk in the wind or the rain can help develop science knowledge and skills. The author describes one "welly-walk" and links it to National Curriculum for England requirements so that readers can see how easy it is. (Contains 1 figure and 1 box.)

Examined the size, purpose, and use of three outdoor playgrounds attached to nursery schools, focusing on the attitudes of teachers to these outdoor areas the poor design of playgrounds in general. Concludes that more attention needs to be directed to the design and role of nursery school playgrounds. (MDM)