Our Coast, Our Sea - Learning and teaching with the coast

Getting the best out of learning projects

A visit to the coast can be a very rich experience, with a lot to take in and to reflect on. This will be especially true of a residential trip but is also the case with a single visit. There may be many possible learning outcomes that you couldn’t predict. Learners may experience new things that you didn’t intend to show them or which don’t fit squarely into the topic you are teaching. You can squeeze more learning juice out of any coastal learning project if you:

Involve students as researchers

Give students plenty of research resources and tasks to find out key information to plan the visit. Or for example, they might create identification guides so that they know what to look out for. You might encourage individuals to decide on a personal enquiry as well as the group project.

Have an open mind about learning outcomes

Encourage students to make connections between the topic you are focusing on and other things they are interested in. For example, a student interested in history may have useful insights into the fishing industry. If you are a secondary/FE/HE teacher inform other departments of the trip so that they can connect learning to other subjects.

Allow time for reflection

Ensure that students are able to record and share their different observations and questions about the trip.

Encourage follow-up activity

• As well as doing group activities to follow the trip, encourage individuals to do things that suit their interests or creative skills. If any students took photographs they could upload them to the Flickr group for this project.
• Encourage them to visit the pages on Events and Getting Involved.
• Use the trip to inspire students to take the lead in a Sustainable Schools initiative