Sample Lesson Plan: Observation Walks

Sample Lesson Plan: Observation walk

(Walking into Wonder).

Introduction:

We live in a world that is constantly surrounded by stimulation, and surrounded with times where we can totally withdraw from what’s going on around us.  The introduction of the walk-man, and more appropriately now the iPod and smart phones with earphones, there is that opportunity every time you walk out your front door.   Studies looking at pedestrian vs. vehicle accidents found that there was increased risk and increased frequency with those wearing headphones.  Between 2004 and 2011 there were 116 deaths, 64% were male and 33% over the age of 30 (Lichenstein, 2012).  Add into that the idea of distracted driving from our cell phones among other distractions, they have found that drivers distracted by texting are 23 times more likely to have a collision.  More than 84% of distracted driving related deaths were tied to carelessness and inattentiveness (CAA.ca, 2014).

Richard Louv introduced the term “Nature deficit disorder”, which he uses to describe the growing gap between humans and the natural world around them. He initially looks at children, but many journalists and writers have identified that adults benefit from the time they spend connecting to the actual world around them (Eagan, 2012). “The woods were my Ritalin. Nature calmed me, focused me, and yet excited my senses.” (Louv, 2006) The discussion he introduces looks at behavioural disorders, the increase in obesity, the increase in colds and illnesses.

Taking the opportunity to become aware and practicing a connected experience in the outdoors, reconnects you to the world around and exercises all senses.  It allows the classroom to step out and information to be drawn from the real world around.  The experience allows a greater awareness of the environment around you, to connect to the community, history and human impact on the environment. 

Specifics:

Objectives: collect information or ideas from the surrounding area, work as a group to complete tasks during the walk, gain insight to natural world, history and art in this area.  Communicate findings to the group following the activity either through writing, data collection and research, art, discussion, or other form.

Purpose: This lesson can be used on its own, but it is a starting point to branch off from. It can be used to introduce concepts for Adventure Education, Environmental Education, or back into the classroom to enhance the curriculum.

Ages:  applicable to all ages

Subject areas: Science, ethics, language arts, art, math, writing, history, social sciences.

Skills: observation, group work, drawing, writing, designing presentations, critical thinking, critiquing.

Time: 2 hours per walk.  Using 30 minutes pre-walk preparation, 1 hour walking, 30 minutes post-walk (discussion or journal writing). Additional preparation time for map reading, plant/wildlife identification, ecosystem definitions, and other skills will be required depending on the goals for your walk.

Materials: Journals, sketchpads, digital cameras, pencil and pen. Map (either online or on paper), compass.

Environment: Wherever you can get to: a park, urban centre, hiking trail, campground, etc.  Differing times of the day offer different experiences.

Other things to prepare: Students require walking shoes, clothing appropriate for the weather and location of the walk.

The Walk

Pre-walking Activation: This activity is best introduced by sharing experiences within the group – favourite places to walk, a time where they felt most connected to the world around them, a time they were engaged in activities outdoors.  These examples can be anything from a walk in an area they just moved into, a special place that feels most connected to them, a local park where they visit regularly.  This discussion structure depends on the group size, if it is larger then break the whole group off into a few smaller groups for the opportunity to share with each other.  Ask some questions to draw out details they remember: Where was the sun that day? If they were out at night, were there more stars out and did they see any shooting stars? Was the lake more crystal and blue than they’ve ever seen? What was different and stood out to make it special to them. 

Take this pre-walking opportunity to encourage discussion that is specific to the type of walk – whether it is sensory, perspective, human impact, themed walk, mapping walk, ecology walk, etc.  
Establish the goals of the walk: why are they doing the walk today? What skills will they need? What resources do they have and will they need? What information will they gather and why? Will the information be used after the activity and why?

And then establish the walking area – using a map, establish landmarks and boundaries and timelines.

Time to walk:

With the experience set up, it is time to head out.  You can try this in a larger group, or break off into smaller groups or even solo walks. With tasks or free walk, the group heads out for approximately an hour if time allows. Merrill's principles of demonstration of the skills discussed in the pre-walk and also application of the skills, ideas and knowledge are applied at this time.

 There are different themes you can apply to the walk, each has different goals:

Free walk: Students walk with no instruction or direction for a defined period of time (5-10 minutes) in a familiar area or peaceful place.  Demonstration:The directions for the student- let your mind wander, see what jumps out, what they see, hear, feel or do.  Application: Bring everyone back together and use this opportunity to write, draw or discuss what they noticed.  Integration:A continuous writing experience is a good way to just dump ideas and observations on the page, there is no defined structure to writing, but just the instruction to write down what you remember from that period of time on paper.

Theme walk: plan a route before leaving and a particular theme; for example water.  During the walk plan short breaks to encourage discussion or short activities. Demonstrated: At the beginning start walking and ask students to look around and find things that fit into your theme. Some questions you could use: What are some ways that water is being used? Is there evidence the water is polluted?  If you can get to a river or lake, then introduce senses: How does it smell? What sounds can you hear around the water? Then you can add in, plant and animal studies, chemistry and ecosystem activities. Application: With these observations, and answers, how does water influence human presence in the world? Reflect on the impact of humans, on the diversity of plants and animals you see in the world, on the effect of pH on the population.  Integration: Design a piece of land, determine the water flow direction, the influence of outside human impacts, and how you can influence the land to live on it.

Perspective Walk: This works really well in familiar settings, introducing new perspectives in that area.  Demonstration:Walk to a high place and look down on it, identify changes in shapes, colours, etc.  Then go in with a magnifying glass – look at the small world and all the activity.  Application:This is an opportunity to discuss microclimates, and ecosystems on various scales. Integration:With each perspective have learners sketch or write about this view, how it changed their view on their personal environment.

Human impact walk: Demonstration:Walk through various areas that are highly traveled by humans, a public trail, a mall, an industrial area. Application: Discuss what the area would look like or be like before humans developed it. What animals may have been there, what plant life? How long ago do you think it was before this impact was done? What changes can you see in the 1m, 5m, 20m, etc from your location now? What areas are impacted (air, water, land) and how? Would you call this high impact or low impact? Integration: When you gather together following the walk, discuss what you think would happen if everyone vacated this area, how long would it take for nature to take back over? Could nature take back over? Succession as a natural process and what can be expected.

Systems walk: Activation: In addition to the pre-walk instructions, add in the definition of a system, and look in the class at what a natural vs human made system involves.  Demonstration: On your walk, start looking at natural systems, transportation systems (human built systems), etc.  Applicaiton and Integration: Label and identify parts of the system, the connections between these parts, and improvements you could make to the system and why. 

Mapping walk: Using map and compass to complete a walk. Activation: Use the experience to establish awareness of direction, and also to complete a walk using landmarks. Demonstration:  Establish a scavenger-hunt type walk, and have students complete the circuit with specific destinations in mind en-route.  Application: Then have the group complete their own landmark walk. “Turn left at the skinny spruce tree and follow the path for 50 steps”.  Have students look beyond vegetation and use other features “walk until the river takes a sharp left turn…” or “Walk up the slope heading northward, walking over a boulder field until you reach the dry riverbed”.  Integration: When you return to the classroom, have everyone join their maps together, compare adjectives, discuss the awareness to the environment and the details around them. 

Post-Walk

• Use this opportunity to reflect and discuss the experience the group has had, especially when you have been working in smaller groups, it gives the opportunity to share learning outcomes. This is the chance to apply and integrate the skills into other experiences. This is part reflection and part of the integration portion of the experience.

· When you return to the classroom or meeting place, give the opportunity for students to write or document their experiences and thoughts.   Bring the group together for a discussion, lead by a few questions to get ideas flowing and to connect the experience into their own day to day lives.

· Questions: What would be the result if everyone experienced this observation rich experience? How would it affect things like littering, accidents, city planning or developing your own back yard? 

Was anything different in your observations than what you would have seen in your own day-to-day lives?

What is something that you can change to improve your own environment, or one of the areas we visited?  What steps would be involved in that change?

· Use the experience to connect nature and art – through sketching, painting, poetry, prose.  Using the experience to transform into a tactile lesson. 

· Through the evaluation of plant and wildlife populations, apply random sampling and analyze the individual environments for diversity, health, etc.

· Artifact study – collecting photos, articles, sketches and descriptions of environment, use this to answer a few questions:
What would these objects tell someone from the future about the people in the early 21^st century?

· Categorize the artifacts. Discuss human-nature relationships based on each piece.  Discuss energy, sources, uses, and history.

· What would you tell someone about the area based on the artifacts you brought back with you?

· This experience can be used as an introduction into other projects or experiences through the duration of the course. 

In conclusion:

This experience can be used to highlight many different aspects of life.  It gives each learner the chance to open up additional senses, thoughts, awareness and experiences and apply them to their day to day life, and to further projects and courses.  The ideas suggested in here are just scratching the surface. 

References:

Eagn, T. (2012, March 29) Nature Defecit Disorder.  The Opnionator: New York Times. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/29/nature-deficit-disorder/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

Lichenstein, R. (2012).  Headphone use and pedestrian injury and death in the United States: 2004 – 2011.  Injury Prevention (16).

Louv, R. (2006). Last child in the woods: saving our children from nature defecit disorder.  Algonquin Books : New York, NY.