Children with Reading Disabilities and Outdoor Education

Abstract

This study explore if children with reading disabilities have differences in experiences and show different behaviors during indoor school and outdoor education in Norway. In the first study children with reading disabilities are compared with the rest of the classes in how they report wellbeing in different school settings. Thirty children participated in this study. In the second study the answers from the six children with various degrees of reading disabilities were analyzed further, and qualitative observations of their behavior, both indoor and outdoor, were analyzed. The studies reveal that outdoor education can reduce the amount of unpleasant elevated arousal. Unpleasant elevated arousal can lead to internalized and externalized problem behavior for the group of children with reading disabilities.

How can the technology be integrated in Outdoor Movement Education for children and the youth with special needs?

“…Outdoor Education can also impact the reduction of stress compared to indoor education. In this sense, a program that includes both environments could be evaluated as the stress accumulated during indoor activities could be released during outdoor activities without losing the basic focus which is the education of the students while continuing to contribute to their learning (Fiskum & Jacobsen, 2015). In a formal educational environment and also considering the training of support teachers, particular attention is provided by Information and communication technologies (i.e., ICT, TIC).…”

Norwegian teenagers’ experiences of developing second language fluency in an outdoor context

“…In addition, outdoor education has been found to reduce students' stress levels (Dettweiler, Becker, Auestad, Simon, & Kirsch, 2017), which might be important to reducing FLA. Research has also found that a change of environment may change the students' attitudes towards learning (e.g. Fiskum & Jacobsen, 2015;Skaugen & Fiskum, 2015). Fiskum and Jacobsen's (2015) study looked at children with reading disabilities, but still the findings might have relevance for young teenagers and their development of L2 fluency.…”

“…Fiskum & Jacobsen, 2015;Skaugen & Fiskum, 2015). Fiskum and Jacobsen's (2015) study looked at children with reading disabilities, but still the findings might have relevance for young teenagers and their development of L2 fluency. Several studies have also found that communication between learners is different in an outdoor environment than in a classroom setting (Fägerstam & Blom, 2013;Fiskum & Jacobsen, 2012a, 2012bMygind, 2014).…”

“…According to Deci and Ryan, intrinsic motivation is important for cognitive and social development, and they argue that learners need to experience competence, autonomy, and relatedness in order to be motivated to learn. Because outdoor education offers a variety of affordances, it might open for more choices of activities or ways to handle tasks, which might lead to a greater feeling of autonomy as well as more possibilities for mastering tasks (Fiskum & Jacobsen, 2015).…”

“…Gregersen, 2003;Steinberg & Horwitz, 1986). An outdoor environment might offer this because it represents a less formal learning arena where learners might feel less observed and assessed (Fiskum & Jacobsen, 2015), which might indicate that there are other and more opportunities for learning than in a classroom setting. Learning outside the classroom is commonly labelled outdoor education.…”