concepts in outdoor education - lecture one

OEEDU5001 Concepts in Outdoor Education

Week one

Details - Theory

1 hr lecturein which we investigate the concepts and

ideas(Lectures on Tuesdays between 11:30am - 12:30pm)

1-1.5 hrs tutorialin which we explore and discuss the

readings YOU have done.(not week 4)

Details - Practical

River journey 4 days – March 27- 30

(Thursday – Sunday)

Outdoor Enviro Education?

A bit of a misnomer? I will tend to use OE interchangeably with OEE as they will become the same.

ACHPER misuses OE when they mean outdoor recreation or outdoor pursuits.

Assessment

• Online test 30% TBA

• River knowing assignment 30 % due 1st May (in class)

• Philosophy paper 40% due 9th – 20th June

S/U for prac and attendance

Readings?

• There are readings to do most weeks.

• Available now on Moodle – or in hard copy.

• If you don’t read you will MISS vital content and the class will be boring…

Readings?

• Five specific tutorials will discuss YOUR questions from the readings.

– (Wks 5,6,8,9 & 10) (questions are fine anytime though!)

• Tutorials should be interactive and interesting

– we share the responsibility to make them so.

So what is outdoor education anyway?

Course goals

Clarify personal ideologies with respect to both the environment & education

Course goals

Explore ideas and practices of OE

Course goals

You need to be clear in your reasons for teaching OEE and how it sits in schooling

Course goals

Philosophy will/should be dynamic

Pub chat to job interview to a school or National curriculum?

Course goals

• Clarify personal ideologies with respect to both the environment & education

• Explore ideas and practices of OE

• Need to be clear in your reasons for teaching OEE and how it sits in schooling

• Philosophy will/should be dynamic– Pub chat to job interview to a school or National curriculum?

Content, Process, CONTEXT and Outcomes in OEE

Four main components of curriculum.

Four main components of curriculum

Content = what is taught.

Process = how it is taught.

Context = the circumstances in which it is taught.

Outcomes = what is learned.

Processes of learning = methods

– the how of teaching.

OE often thought of and written about as experiential learning.

(especially in Nth America).

Process

Most common model of process in OE is the

experiential learning cycle (David Kolb 1984)

Process

Contested? Simplistic? Linked to learning styles? Time frames?

Processes can be applied to a very wide range of outcomes.

Context

Outdoor education can deliberately change context – the settings in which teaching and learning occur.

(It might be the only thing it does!)

Context

Deliberately constructing alternate worlds (what?)

Enabling critical reflection (why critical?)

Looking back…

Outcomes?

…are what students come away learning – understanding,

doing, feeling…

(Sometimes “outcome” is used to describe aims or goals. Eg. On the VCE OES design)

In OE, outcomes have been traditionally described as

being:

• about the self;• about the community or others and; • about the natural world or nature.

(technical outdoor skills)(promote, enhance academic learning. USA, NZ EOTC.)

What outcomes do you hold to be most important for you

at this point?

Content?

…is the material that you might teach or introduce to

students… the subject matter

Content??

• …write an example of specific content you think OK for OE in, say, a year 10 OE class.

• Check it with a mate to ensure it is content, not a process or outcome.– Emphasis? Taken for granted assumptions?

• POST!

The River Journey

Removal from institutional settings which have hidden agendas contrary to messages we wish to convey.

Looking back

Developing a community – care, mutual trust & respect.

Setting a context

The River Journey

Developing connections with place HNR

Explore alternate ways of seeing and knowing about nature? Links to everyday?