The Lawrence Hall of Science
The public science center of the University of California, Berkeley.
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Outdoor and environmental education experiences are rich with opportunities for Social Emotional Learning (SEL). Almost any outdoor experience—such as a science investigation, moving across challenging terrain, a discussion about environmental issues, nature observation activities, or a habitat restoration project—involves social interactions and poses opportunities to develop SEL skills. This list of resources includes activities to support students’ social emotional learning during programs and field experiences, ideas about leveraging existing organizational structures to support SEL, connections between learner-centered instruction and trauma-informed teaching practices, and stories from field educators using this approach in their own programs.
This activity includes several games about animal sounds. Using their sense of hearing and communicating with various kinds of noisemakers, learners role-play predator and prey. They explore what it’s like for vision-impaired animals, and those that are active at night. They learn different ways animals use sound to attract mates, frighten away predators, navigate, and more. Several extension activities are suggested including field trips, recording animal sounds, and trying to mimic an animal call.
In this outdoor activity that can be combined with a hike, learners try to match a “mystery community” by shaking animals out of different trees and shrubs. Learners get a closeup look at organisms living on a particular tree or shrub, and consider which plants seem to host the most animals and how certain interactions among animals in a community help keep the community going.
In this outdoor activity and bingo-like game, learners explore why and how seeds spread far from the plants that produce them. To understand natural adaptations that let seeds and fruit be dispersed, learners make modifications to dried beans and peas so they could be dispersed by natural forces like water, air, or an animal moving from one place to another. In the “Seed-Go” Game, learners match ways that seeds are dispersed, to fill rows on the game board.
In this outdoor game, learners simulate a herd of deer trying to survive in an area called the “home range.” Learners explore the concept of “carrying capacity”—what size population of an organism can be supported by the food supply in the organism’s home range.
Participants discover how the environment around a building affects the growth of plants.
In this outdoor activity and game, learners collect and sort leaf samples to determine how many types of plants grow in the activity site. Learners are introduced to the concept of “species” and start to see differences and similarities between the plants around them. Included with the activity instructions is the “Leaf Characteristic Game,” as well as ideas for going further with leafy art projects.
In this outdoor activity, learners measure familiar objects in nature to practice working with the metric system. The goal is for learners to develop their “metric senses” by measuring and estimating in metric units the mass, length, temperature, and volume of familiar objects. This activity can be adapted into an indoor activity on a rainy day.
In this outdoor activity, learners use a “litter-critter” wheel to help them identify different animals they find living in a natural litter habitat. Learners also become familiar with body parts of litter habitat animals, and use that knowledge to identify animals they find. This activity addresses the concept of decomposition as well, and can be expanded to address specific aspects of biodiversity across various litter habitats, including those affected by human litter. Depending on the age of the learners, they can make the litter-critter wheels themselves.