Outdoor Education in Adult Education: Welcome!

Welcome to Outdoor Education in Adult Education.

Amanda MacIvor

5530670

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for:

Facilitating Adult Education

Adult Education 4F32

Bachelor of Education in Adult Education.

Centre for Adult Education and Community Outreach

Faculty of Education, Brock University.
St. Catherines, Ontario

Jane Cudmore, MA

March 17, 2014

Welcome to Outdoor Education in Adult Education

A setting that is as diverse as the world around us affords a greater variety of experiences, and opportunities for learning.  The extension of the classroom in to real-world settings, the outdoors, provides additional benefits to the students, including desirable skills to carry forward into other courses, jobs and life challenges.  With a few suggestions, this educational strategy is available to any instructor/facilitator at various ages.

Looking into desirable skills, outdoor education has been found to boost critical thinking, decision making, team work, communication, active listening through genuine learning experiences. In addition to self-development of each student from self-confidence, to community and environmental awareness and comfort in stressful and new situations to name just a few.

Most of us come from a traditional education system, where all learning is said to happen within the classroom, teacher at the front of the room and what is learned is dictated by one individual.  The learning is often memorizing, theory and equations. "Experiential teaching is an exceptional way to have students feel growth and knowledge.  Outdoor education eroded all prejudices I had against experiential learning." (Kavanagh, 2010) It is the application of ones current knowledge base in real world experiences, and adding to that with new information, and then being able to take that knowledge and integrate it into your day to day life whether that be your job, schooling or day to day family life (Kavanagh, 2010).

Use this opportunity to explore some ideas, a sample lesson and discuss with others the use of Outdoor education in the adult learning environment, and the benefits of using it to support the curriculum and extend that into their real-world successes.

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Kavanagh, E (2010).  A mathematician carves a paddle.  Pathways: The Ontario journal of outdoor education. 23 (1), 26-29.