The Influence of Outdoor Learning on Students' Short Story Writing Skills

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of outdoor learning methods that utilize the school environment as a learning resource on students' short story writing skills. Despite the importance of writing proficiency, many students struggle with generating creative ideas and structuring narratives effectively. Traditional classroom-based writing instruction often limits students' exposure to real-world experiences that can inspire storytelling. This study aims to address this issue by implementing an outdoor study approach that encourages students to engage with their surroundings to enhance creativity and writing fluency. This research employs a quantitative experimental design involving 60 junior high school students, divided into an experimental group, which participated in outdoor study sessions, and a control group, which received conventional classroom instruction. The study used two primary instruments: short story writing tests to assess students' narrative skills and observations to evaluate engagement and participation. A pre-test and post-test comparison was conducted to measure improvements in writing ability. The findings indicate that students who engaged in outdoor study demonstrated a significant increase in short story writing skills compared to those in the control group. Post-test scores showed improvements in idea generation, descriptive details, plot development, and overall writing structure. The results suggest that outdoor learning can serve as an effective alternative to conventional methods by providing students with authentic experiences that stimulate creativity. Given these findings, educators are encouraged to integrate outdoor study strategies into writing instruction to enhance students' engagement and storytelling abilities. Future research should explore the long-term effects of experiential learning approaches on students' writing proficiency across different literary genres.