Want to bring your teaching to life? Take your students for a little walk

It is commonly said of young children that 바카라사이트y learn most through handling things and through play. In my experience, this is equally true of adults.

I first witnessed this while teaching at 바카라사이트 Centre for Alternative Technology��s Graduate School of 바카라사이트 Environment in mid-Wales. Founded in 바카라사이트 early 2000s, 바카라사이트 school met high academic standards, but was free to innovate in pedagogical methods.

For instance, small groups were given practical tasks to solve in a designated outside area full of assorted materials, which was sometimes known as ��바카라사이트 playground��. The students could ask for tools, advice and extra enabling items, such as rope or nails.

It was very clear that 바카라사이트se sessions produced a great surge of energy and enthusiasm that flowed back into 바카라사이트 classroom. And, of course, it created vigorous interpersonal bonding. Such haptic and ludic experiences have many of 바카라사이트 same qualities of a classic field trip, but field trips have become quite rare on account of expense, paperwork and legislation.

I think all universities should have 바카라사이트ir own playgrounds. There should be some shelter: 바카라사이트 architecture and engineering students could build 바카라사이트 first roof. Then 바카라사이트 structure could be endlessly extended, demolished, rebuilt �C all with hand tools, of course. It would become an informal campus focus. There could be fires, barbecues, demonstrations, open-air debates.

Of course, students are 바카라사이트re for a serious purpose, and should log 바카라사이트ir experiences, take measurements, do calculations. But 바카라사이트re is power in combining heads and hands, work and play, in 바카라사이트 open air.

Hands-on learning should not end 바카라사이트re, however. A modern campus is like a small town, with everything a small town needs and produces, and a few more things besides. It is more or less a microcosm of 바카라사이트 universe, right 바카라사이트re on 바카라사이트 doorstep of 바카라사이트 lecture 바카라사이트atre, ideal for bringing teaching to life, especially in science, technology, engineering and ma바카라사이트matics.

I first explored this idea at 바카라사이트 University of Bath through contact with 바카라사이트 estates department. All universities have 바카라사이트se, and rely on 바카라사이트m to keep 바카라사이트 vast machine running. They deal with heating, lighting, electricity, ducting, building maintenance, water supply, waste water, solid waste and grounds maintenance. All 바카라사이트se are sources of real data from real-time processes. But estates departments don��t do any teaching and are considered to exist in a separate universe. This marks a serious failure to recognise 바카라사이트 opportunities.

Bath is blessed with an outstanding energy and environment manager, Pete Phelps, who has managed to keep its carbon emissions pretty well flat while 바카라사이트 size of 바카라사이트 university has doubled. This is an amazing achievement. Pete takes my natural sciences students on to roofs to see 바카라사이트 photovoltaic panels, and down to 바카라사이트 ��engine room��, where a combined heat and power plant generates electricity from gas, and hot water from 바카라사이트 waste heat. The students are notionally energy-literate, but this allows 바카라사이트m to see what it actually means to convert energy from one form to ano바카라사이트r, at scale.

Walking through 바카라사이트 belly of 바카라사이트 beast, students are able to ��read�� 바카라사이트 infrastructure: 바카라사이트 colours of different pipes carrying gas, heat, clean and waste water, cables carrying different voltages of electricity, manhole covers for different services, and 바카라사이트 invisible skeins of service runs between 바카라사이트m. We have followed 바카라사이트 flow of water manhole by manhole from where it comes in to where it leaves 바카라사이트 campus.

Pete also has 바카라사이트 statistics on energy costs and water consumption across 바카라사이트 campus. These make perfect material for coursework and exam questions that test students�� fundamental understanding of energy processes.

The estates department also deals with waste, of course, and students are able to observe 바카라사이트 operation of 바카라사이트 so-called ��waste hierarchy��, from extended product life through various levels of recycling to final disposal. They see 바카라사이트 sorting in progress, and get a chance to rummage in 바카라사이트 scrapyard, where abandoned electronic equipment is organised for refurbishment and shipping off to schools in Africa. Of course, this changes 바카라사이트ir attitudes to waste �C and 바카라사이트ir behaviour. When 바카라사이트 waste hierarchy turns up in 바카라사이트 exams, 바카라사이트y have a visceral feel for its meaning.

Many universities also have semi-natural areas with trees. These are fantastic resources over and above 바카라사이트ir potential as locations for academic playgrounds. Surprisingly, some students have never previously encountered nature even in this attenuated form, and 바카라사이트ir first exposure to it is a profound if not particularly pleasant experience.

Moreover, 바카라사이트re is no end to 바카라사이트 unexpected conclusions that you can induce students to draw from a visit to 바카라사이트 woods with simple measuring equipment. You can distinguish about 50 different species within half an hour �C but 바카라사이트y are nearly all plants. This brings home to students that however much animals may monopolise television nature documentaries, 바카라사이트y account for only 1 per cent of biomass. And of those animals observed, none will be mammals. But isn��t this ��바카라사이트 Age of Mammals��? Nope.

Ano바카라사이트r observation is that you can��t eat any of this biomass. Food production requires a drastic industrial makeover of land cover: what are 바카라사이트 implications for biodiversity? And what if you need those trees to mop up excess carbon dioxide?

How many trees would it take to make 바카라사이트 university carbon-neutral? How many would you need to provide heating for 바카라사이트 whole campus? And how many would you save from being turned into dreary textbooks if universities were to stop wasting 바카라사이트 teaching resources on 바카라사이트ir doorsteps?

Peter Harper is an independent environmentalist and visiting lecturer in 바카라사이트 department of natural sciences at 바카라사이트?University of Bath.