Prince, Heather (2017) Making sense of the sensory outdoors. In: European

Institute of Outdoor Adventure Education and Experiential Learning (EOE)

International Seminar, 28 June - 2 July 2017, University of St Mark and St John,

Plymouth, UK. (Unpublished)

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Making sense of the sensory

Dr Heather PrinceAssociate Professor of Outdoor & Environmental Education

Tit le

• Bullet Point 1• Bullet Point 2• Bullet Point 3

Just ificat ion and m eaning for learning and pedagogy, and wider understanding of issues?

Through experiencing nature,do young people act ively seek a relat ionship or connect ion with it?

Just ificat ion of learning and pedagogy

Creat ivity

Ownership

Progression

(Graham , 2014)

Tit le Pedagogical approaches

Curiosity, explorat ion, inquiry, experience, com m unicat ion

Forest school?

Outdoor play?

Nature kindergartens?

Bush kinder?

Sm elly cocktails“The best act ivity I have ever done in the outdoors!” (MA I nternat ional student , 2015)

Sensory act ivit ies: derived from writ ings and pract ice such as Steve van Mat re (Earth Educat ion) and Joseph Bharat Cornell. Now often not (or wrongly) at t r ibuted and m any pract it ioners are devising their own act ivit ies

Dra

win

g s

ou

nd

ma

ps

“Mult isensory experiences in nature help to build the cognit ive const ructs necessary for intellectual developm ent ” (Louv, 2008, pp85-86)

“All young children are ever-present rem inders of the fact that their senses of seeing, hearing, tast ing, touching and sm elling pay an incredible role in what is learned and retained” (Kalisch, 1999, p.30)

Knowledge, understanding and awareness

Collect ing, sort ing, classifying leaves by shape, sm ell, touch

Count ing to assess dom inance or abundance

Species ident ificat ion

Research design cr it ique

‘arco ir is’

Sci

en

ce,

ma

ths,

la

ng

ua

ge

&

com

mu

nic

ati

on

, cr

ea

tiv

ity

Raising awareness about disabilit ies

Disabling the enabled

Mask m aking: design & technology

Observat ion of deprivat ion of a sense on other senses, body m ovem ent & cognit ion

Act ivity: Orienteering in a sm all area of woodland

Large scale m ap

Score course

Co-const ruct ion of narrat ives about equality, diversity and inclusion.

Creat ive but nauseous students!

Experiences in nature are indispensable foundat ions for the individual developm ent of at t itudes and values towards the environm ent (Bögeholz, 2006)

To enhance sustainability, educat ion and learning m ust play a key role in changing at t itudes and behaviour (Cooper, 1998)

Outdoor experiences that involve understanding and experiencing nature can change behaviour and at t itudes and are key at t r ibutes of sustainability (Barnes & Sharp, 2004; Prince, 2017)

‘Naturalist ic necessity’ (Kellert , 2012)

Relat ionship or connect ion with nature?

“‘Ways of seeing’ pr ivileges sight relat ive to other sensory m odalit ies” (Macpherson & Minca, 2005)

“Touch assum es a proxim al and perform at ive form of knowledge that exceeds representat ion, thus breaks a distance between subject and object ” (Goeser, 2014)

‘Hapt ic’ experiences

Colour as a m ult ispecies sensory process or network that generates biosem iot ic m aterial effects with their own m etaphorical m eaning (Yates, 2013)

Sensory v creat ive?

Link between sensory act ivit ies and increase in pro-environm ental behaviour is com plex

Sensory act ivit ies outdoors enhance interest and m ot ivat ion (as in other outdoor experiences) and cognit ion, although evidence is needed

Can be in local and fam iliar environm ents, low cost , with lim ited teacher expert ise (survey 2017) and address core curr iculum areas

Concluding thoughts

Wild is a child

Wild is a child who stays out unt il dark Wild is the child that lights fire with barkWild is a child with m ud on their kneesWild is the child who clim bs up in the t reesWild is a child a long way from hom eWild is the child with no need for a com bWild is a child who wipes their bum with a leafWild is the child who uses a st ick to brush their teeth.Wild is a child who sleeps under the starsWild is the child who keeps tadpoles in jarsWild is a child who fell out of a t reeWild is the child with their own parking space at A&EWild is a child that I would like to be.

Rowan Ashworth (2007 - ) Winner of the Wordsworth poet ry pr ize, 2017

ReferencesBarnes, P. & Sharp, B. (2004) . The RHP com panion to outdoor educat ion. Lym e Regis, UK: Russell House Publishing.

Bögeholz, S. (2006) . Nature experience and its im portance for environm ental knowledge, values and act ion: recent German em pir ical cont r ibut ions. Environm ental Educat ion Research, 12(1) , 65-84.

Cooper, G. (1998) . Outdoors with young people. A leader’s guide to outdoor act ivit ies, the environm ent and sustainabilit y. Lym e Regis, UK: Russell House Publishing.

Cornell, J.B. (1979) . Sharing nature with children. Nevada City, US: Dawn Publicat ions.

Goeser, A.H. (2014) . A hapt ic geography: How it feels to be Outward Bound. Unpublished PhD, University of Nebraska, US.

Graham , S. (2014) . Outstanding outdoor teaching and learning. Presentat ion given at the Associat ion of Heads of Outdoor Educat ion Cent res (AHOEC) Lake Dist r ict Regional Meet ing, 17 January.

Kalisch, K. (1999) . The role of the inst ructor in the Outward Bound educat ional process. Kearney, US: Morr is Publishings.

References (cont inued)

Kellert , S. R. (2012) . The naturalist ic necessity. I n Dunlap, J. and Kellert , S. R. (Eds.) Com panions in wonder: Children and adults explor ing nature together (pp.113-136) . Cam bridge, MA, US: The MI T Press.

Louv, R. (2008) . Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. Chapel Hill, NC, US: Agonquin Books.

Macpherson, H. and Minca, C. (2005) . Landscape, em bodim ent and visual im pairm ent : an explorat ion of the lim its of landscape knowledge. UNESCO University and Heritage 10 th I nternat ional Sem inar, ‘Cultural landscapes in the 21st century’.

Prince, H.E. (2017) . Outdoor experiences and sustainabilit y. Journal of Adventure Educat ion and Outdoor Learning, 17(2) , 161-171.

Van Mat re, S. (1999) . Earth Educat ion … a new beginning. Grenville, US: I EE.

Yates, J. (2013) . Orange. I n Cohen, J.J. (Ed.) Prism at ic ecology. Ecotheory beyond green. Minnesota, US; London: University of Minnesota Press.