When I say muddy learning, I don't just mean literally learning outside in the mud. It's not just about the messy physical aspect of learning. I'm also referring to the fact that learning isn't necessarily a clean mental process either...
For some reason, we humans like to organise and sort everything into categories. It seems to help us make sense of our world. We group things based on their similarities and differences (e.g. animal species, foods, cloud formations, and even ourselves!). We also do this within our education system, dividing up concepts and knowledge into clearly defined subjects. But there's crossover and not everything fits into its box perfectly. Sometimes it's a bit muddled and confusing (perhaps you could say muddy?). By attempting to box things up, we can also be in danger of narrowing our way of thinking. For example, thinking we can only teach/learn one subject at a time, believing that lessons about science, for example, are only appropriate in a science class.
So, I've created a little project to delve into this topic a bit further based on real Forest School experiences. It asks the question, what if instead of trying to create experiences to teach lessons, we turned it on its head. What if we reflect on what lessons are learned from child-led experiences? What can learning look like? You can watch the 3-part Muddy Learning series below. I hope you enjoy it!
Let's make learning muddy... In more ways than one 😉
