concepts in outdoor education - lect 4 - state of environment
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A look at the state of the environment and how it relates to Outdoor Environmental EducationTRANSCRIPT
OEEDU5001 Concepts in Outdoor Education
Week fourState of the environment
What role education takes is determined by the underlying
educational ideology
An educational ideology = 2 meanings
1. Worldview
• shapes personal and group identity,
• provides a view of what the world should be like,
• acts as a guide and control on individuals and groups.
2. Hegemonic
• system of beliefs that render power asymmetrically.
• “Promotes the vested interests of the most powerful groups”
Three broad educational ideologies
• To prepare students for work• A prior determination of contentVocational
• Preparation for life. Personal development• Curriculum based on major disciplines
Liberal progressive
• Active social members to create a fairer and less troubled world
• Knowledge is socially constructed. Reflection and critique are central
Socially critical
Three broad educational ideologies
• End job analysed and delineated• Master/teacher is authorityVocational
• 3 ‘R’s’ to develop practical, social and expressive knowledge
• Progressively yields control, strong knowledge base
Liberal progressive
• More negotiated learning• Teachers as co-ordinator / facilitator
Socially critical
Three broad educational ideologies
• Competency based assessment (CBT)
• Reproduction of social orderVocational
• Middle order knowing (Meritocracy)• Serves conservative interests
Liberal progressive
• High order critical thinking and evaluation. Constructed knowledge
• Critique and emancipation
Socially critical
Academic and VET pathways differ ideologically
Responsive to workplace
Analysis of workplace
Specific pre-determined tasks
Assess what students can do
Vocational Responsive to research & scholarship
Critique of current & future practice
More liberal as the future is uncertain
Assess thinking, embed experience and time
Academic
DistinctionsThe practice of
Outdoor Recreation aims to develop
The practice of
Critical Outdoor Education aims to develop
Opportunities for leisure, enjoyment through:
Understanding of human/nature relationships, seeking:
1. Competence mastery (skill development)
1. Personal ongoing relationship with subjective nature
2. Escape (relaxation) 2. Sense of self as part of ecology of beings (extended web of relationships)
3. Socialisation (increased leisure options) 3. Increased environmental responsibility at home and in the bush
4. Intellectual stimulation 4. Critique of cultural environmental practices (sustainability, land management)
Disconnections?The practice of
Outdoor Recreation aims to develop
The practice of
Critical Outdoor Education aims to develop
Methods Methods
• Instructor or leader • Teacher or facilitator
• Experience as the essence • Experience is a means to moral/ethical issues
• Perceived freedom • Activities are a means to an end
• Activities for own sake
Disconnections?Content central to
Outdoor recreationContent central toCritical Outdoor Education
• Outdoor living and travel skills for competence
• outdoor living and travel skills for safety
• Minimal environmental impact skills/knowledge
• ways of seeing and understanding nature (construction of knowledge)
• Safety knowledge and skills • knowledge and experience of place (eg. Story/history)
• Places are venues for activity
Outdoor Education can be a valuable tool for
considering how we live
Deliberately constructing alternate worlds
Enabling critical reflectionLooking back…
The current world and state of environment
=
the anthropocene
• http://vimeo.com/anthropocene/shortfilm
Evolved from hunter gatherers
But now miss nature and 19km a day!
Biophilia hypothesis
There is an instinctive bond between human beings and other living systems. (Wilson, 1984)
Biophilia hypothesis
“That human identity and personal fulfilment somehow depend on our relationship with
nature” (Kellert, 1993)
Lost our connection to the land on which we live = fail to understand
our connection to the carrying capacity of the planet.
Biophilia hypothesis
Lack of nature connection is a health and wellbeing issue.
Biophilia hypothesis
Nature deficit disorder
Impact is deferred in both time and place.
Ecological footprint – a tool for measuring how much nature is available
and how much is being used
• The Earth provides for about 1.8 global hectares per person per year, shared with all other species.– Average = 2.7 gHa/per
• Overshoot ~ 30%
• USA ~ 10 gHa/per• Australia ~ 8 gHa/per• Singapore ~ 6 gHa/per• Malaysia ~ 3 gHa/per
gHa = biologically productive hectare at average productivity
Let’s check the figures
Ecological footprinting…
How should we live and educate our children to
live?
Schooling teaches well the tools of modernism, but ignores
how to live well in a place.
Language literacyMathematical competence /
numeracyRational thinkingEcological literacy
Only if we can re-establish our most basic relationship with the
natural world might we find a way out of this regression.