Open air educational spaces and learning environments

Educational spaces are a fundamental aspect of school activities and help define the multidimensional nature of educational contexts; they make an active contribution to training, and certainly should not be understood and represented as mere containers, as neutral terrain in which the relationship between teachers and learners simply takes place. The features and configuration of educational spaces become more significant in the field of outdoor educational curricula and land cultivation practices, since the change of the setting affects all aspects of the educational relationship. The aim of this paper is to draw attention to the unique advantages of open air spaces for horticulture in terms of learning environments; it will also show how students can use the interaction between numerous elements to build their own paths of knowledge. In particular, the following aspects will be examined: the social dimension of learning; collaboration; openness to difference as a resource; the use and development of authentic learning contexts; and the importance of promoting a wide ranging, multifaceted vision of knowledge in the field of ecology.