The free time might not be considered structured learning by some, but it is helping inform educational practices across the world and having a direct impact in the classroom when pupils return to their desks.

For the past two years the school has been participating in a global research study called Out and About, in partnership with University of Melbourne, where the children and their educators engage with the environment.

"A critical part of this work is understanding the history of the place and the Indigenous custodians. Walking with the place and finding what calls the children and educators into connection is the main objective of the work," said co-principal Peter Fahey.

"The children have been drawn to animals both seen and unseen, to the tree, plants, wildlife and especially to the river. They been known to walk in the river to feel its strength and to feel its coolness."

But with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing schooling to be conducted remotely, children have been cut off from their regular sessions at the creek and teachers have encouraged them to build a connection with their own environments - their backyard, nature strip, local parks and bushlands.

"They have adapted their thinking to allow the precious relationship to continue," said St James' educators Jacqui Jarvis and Tanya Hislop.

Families have been spending time together in nature and some of the school tasks set have had a focus on the natural environment.

"The children have designed and constructed bug houses for shelter, bird feeders, and identified local plant life which has inspired many artworks," the teachers said.

"The educators have been overwhelmed by the creativity, engagement, and connections from theory to reality. Parents have commented on the benefits for themselves and the children's wellbeing during isolation. Many families have slowing down and noticing the detail in the environment around them."

Jade Primrose's children Indy, 10, Minka, 7, and Flynn, 6, love their time outdoors and miss their fortnightly visits to Yarrowee Creek.

"They have an absolute blast getting exercise, fresh air, valuing their surrounding environment while learning about what's there," she said.

"You have to get out of the classroom to really cement that knowledge. There's only so far you can go in books and on a computer."

While learning at home the family have instead been exploring bushland near their Mount Pleasant home while remote learning.

One of this week's school activities to complete outdoors was to create a "stick jenga" puzzle.

"People look at stick jenga as fun for the kids but there's so much embodied learning happening. There's numeracy as they count by twos and fours, multiplication, estimating, ordering, sorting ... it's a numeracy smorgasbord and they don't even realise it because it's enjoyable," she said.

The children have also drawn birds they have seen at home and in the park, built a bird feeder, made a weaving loom to weave leaves, had a leaf hunt and more.

"I think kids in particular thrive when they are really immersed in their learning, which this does. That's what they really remember and talk about."

Mr Fahey said the visits to Yarrowee Creek were also a chance for kids to be kids - climbing, walking across logs, tackling stepping stones in the river and using their imaginations.

While at the creek, teachers capture the children's theories, ideas and possible misconceptions which are incorporated in to lessons back at school to help them develop critical thinking skills.

"What the research is finding is that children in the current world are consumed with the visual virtual world," Mr Fahey said. "They can complete lessons about virtual frogs and worms rather than getting out to notice the real live versions ... and because of this not necessarily understand the specifics around multiple elements that impact on them," he said.

"If it's virtual it's still abstract to them so they are not able to make that distinction, which means they are becoming consumers as opposed to active citizens."

Mr Fahey said the Out and About research project was about creating a framework about bringing context back in to the classroom and creating spaces and situations that enhance children's learning.

But it's not just the thinking skills and understanding relationships where teachers have seen a benefit from their regular trips to the creek.

"We see it in their behaviour, their attitude," he said.

"We have kids who are really hesitant about making a mistake or having a go at something, and when we take them down to the creek trying to get them to jump from one stone to another in the water, or even just to stand on a log, they are petrified," he said.

"It's such a contrast from previous generations when children were climbing trees and having to problem solve.

"By going in to nature and encouraging that child who is hesitant or scared to make that jump on to a rock, or walk across a log - we see that transfer back in to the classroom in them being able to have a go at some spelling, or make a mistake and learn from it.

"It really transfers to having a go, making mistakes and perseverance - and we see that translate from nature in to the classroom, which is part of the research."

To encourage the creativity and outdoor skills of the St James' pupils there are hay bales, branches, wood and other natural materials in the playground for children to experiment and build with during recess and lunch.

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"They're making cubbies, getting splinters, and if they fall over or get dirty or wet they have to deal with the consequences," he said.

"Academics is secondary knowledge and environment is primary knowledge ... and creating perseverance and determination in our culture is learned through primary knowledge but because we've stopped kids climbing trees, getting stuck and having to get themselves down and out of those sorts of situations, it's harder to teach," he said.

"Artificial playgrounds have an impact on that primary knowledge, and in turn the secondary knowledge of academics."

Mr Fahey said outcomes of the research project, which is also being conducted through several universities overseas, could help drive the creation of more ecology in school spaces and make them "more than a concrete virtual world".

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