How to teach STEM outdoors

Ahead of British Science Week, Emma Brown shares the benefits of teaching STEM outdoors, along with activities to try with your pupils.

Outdoor learning offers numerous benefits which can make STEM more engaging and relevant for your pupils. Teaching STEM outdoors not only promotes critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity in a real-world context, but it also provides hands-on learning experiences, helping to foster a deeper understanding of science, technology, engineering, and maths.

Compared to subjects like literacy or numeracy, taking technology or engineering out into the school grounds can feel unnatural at first. That’s why in this post, Emma Brown, Training and Development Officer, is exploring experiences and approaches to support you in teaching STEM outdoors. Ahead of British Science Week from 7-16 March, discover the benefits of taking science, technology, engineering, and maths outdoors — along with activities and outdoor lesson ideas to try with your pupils!

 

Why teach STEM outdoors?

In an ever-changing and dynamic environment, ensuring that pupils understand the connections between STEM and the world around them is essential. Teaching STEM outdoors encourages considered thought about our use of natural resources and allows pupils to learn and interact with the living world, creating a holistic approach to education.

The importance of STEM outdoors lies in its ability to enrich learning by integrating science, technology, engineering, and maths with the natural environment, making subject matter more dynamic, relevant, and applicable to real-world situations. Furthermore, teaching STEM outdoors makes it easy to link learning to the Sustainable Development Goals and Learning for Sustainability, helping pupils to understand the vital role STEM plays in finding solutions to real world challenges. Further benefits of teaching STEM outdoors include promoting:

1. Critical Thinking

Solving problems outdoors encourages critical thinking and helps pupils develop scientific skills in a dynamic environment. Through high quality interactions, questions, and use of scientific vocabulary, we can develop and challenge both practitioner pedagogy and pupils’ learning and development in STEM.

2. Creativity and Innovation

Exposure to the natural world sparks creativity, fostering innovative thinking, problem solving skills, and a broader perspective, as well as building knowledge and understanding of STEM concepts.

3. Teamwork and Collaboration

Collaborative outdoor projects promote teamwork and communication skills, developing interpersonal skills which are essential in STEM fields.

4. Environmental awareness

Learning outdoors instils a sense of environmental responsibility, connecting STEM concepts to real issues like conservation and sustainability. Being in nature can make learning more engaging and enjoyable, capturing pupils’ interest and curiosity about the world around them. Skills learned in context become more relevant and applicable.

5. Multisensory Learning

Outdoor environments stimulate and engage multiple senses, facilitating a richer and more memorable learning experience. Different natural spaces can simultaneously ignite creativity and imagination whilst fostering a sense of calm and wellbeing. Feeling the natural elements such as sun, wind, rain, snow, and ice firsthand is important, as it connects us as human beings to the planet we live on.

6. Adaptability

Outdoor learning encourages adaptability as children encounter unpredictable elements, preparing them for challenges in the dynamic STEM field. A simple walk around the grounds can provide opportunities for learners to experience and observe a range of ever-changing scientific principles and their applications.

 

5 outdoor STEM lesson ideas

British Science Week is a ten-day celebration of science, technology, engineering, and maths. The theme for 2025, ‘change and adapt’, gives teachers and pupils a great opportunity to think about how the world is changing and how we can adapt to those changes. The link between climate change and STEM is critical, because STEM provides the tools, knowledge, and innovations needed to understand, mitigate, and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

The British Science week activity packs offer a variety of ‘change and adapt’ activities which promote cross-curricular learning. They’re free to download, and provide a number of fun and engaging ways to introduce this year’s theme to your pupils. At LtL we have put together a few outdoor ‘change and adapt’ lessons to go with some of the activity pack ideas to encourage teaching STEM outdoors. These activities not only reinforce STEM concepts, but also encourage curiosity, problem-solving, and a connection to the natural world.

1. Decomposition Rates Game

This outdoor science activity involves sorting waste materials by how long they take to decompose, and provides a springboard for a variety of related learning outcomes across maths and language too.

Download Decomposition Rates Game.

2. Climate Change Dodgeball

This fun, physical activity is perfect for scaffolding pupils’ scientific understanding of our changing climate, particularly the greenhouse effect and global warming.

Download Climate Change Dodgeball.

3. Interdependence in Food Webs

This outdoor science activity helps pupils to visualise the concept of biodiversity interdependence, and provides an opportunity to start to exploring the impact of human activity on our delicate ecosystems.

Download Interdependence in Food Webs.

4. The Greenhouse Effect

Through creating mini “greenhouses” in the school grounds, this outdoor activity teaches pupils about the role natural greenhouse
gases play in trapping warm air in the Earth’s atmosphere, as well as how human activity is linked to global warming and climate change.

Download the Greenhouse Effect.

5. Where is All the Water?

This outdoor activity demonstrates the finite nature of Earth’s water stores, supporting learning about the water cycle and encouraging discussion about the impacts of water scarcity on nature and humans.

Download Where is All the Water.

 

Other ways to explore the theme

Change and adaptation is all around us, and plays a big part in science. Not only do plants and animals change and adapt to their surroundings to survive, but humans are also constantly adapting to our changing world. LtL focuses on supporting schools to look at the climate challenges you face in your local environment.

By carrying out a schools grounds climate audit (available through both our Climate School 180 and Local School Nature Grants programmes), pupils can feel empowered, and teachers can feel supported to systematically identify and initiate sustainable changes in their school grounds to address the impact of climate change. The goal is to create long term nature-based solutions that are site-specific, and deliver school grounds which are adapted to our future and contribute to climate resilience through an affordable, informed, and context driven approach.

 

Discover even more outdoor STEM activities

For even more outdoor lesson ideas and activities relating to biodiversity and climate change, browse our Natural Nations resources or visit our Climate Ready School Grounds page. You can also view all outdoor lesson ideas by age and subject area, or visit our school stage hubs for early years, primary, and secondary to discover everything you need to take learning and play outdoors.

British Science Week is the ideal opportunity to try teaching STEM outdoors, so we hope this post has left you feeling inspired to give it a go from 7-16 March — make sure to tag us in your photos on social media using the hashtag #EverySchoolOutdoors! Don’t forget to sign up to our newsletter to receive the latest outdoor learning news and opportunities direct to your inbox.