Cityscape : an exploratory study of visual approaches to learning through urban-outdoor

Abstract

Over half of the world’s population lives in an urban environment. Visual approaches to learning in urban environments can offer interdisciplinary strategies for students to utilize the outdoor classroom to explore and increase their creative capacity. In this exploratory study, design thinking and design-based research were utilized to observe and interact with the lived experiences of a Grade 3/4 class in Victoria, BC as their teacher facilitated both short and long-term visual approaches to learning outdoors throughout the school year. Lesson length and level of creative competency seemed to be determining factors influencing the opportunity of a student to reach flow state, which is when they are fully immersed in a feeling of focus and engagement during a lesson. Cityscape will serve as a case study for the ways in which teachers can implement design thinking and visual approaches to facilitate place-based learning in an urban context.