OUTDOORS: The Rules are Different
An Introduction to Experiential Learningby Jim Zuberbuhler
The following article was published in the Fall 1995 issue of Independent School magazine.
A dean of students substitutes her title and job expectations for three days of sharing wilderness life with her students. A seventh grader identifies a saw-whet owl by its call. A sixteen-year-old student delays a fifty-five-year-old math teacher on his first rock climb... These kinds of outdoor experiences are becoming more and more common in schools all across the country. And with good reason.
Outdoor experiential education is about putting people in a natural environment where the rules are different. Age, job, money, clothes, cars, status, title, ethnicity, gender, lifestyle and personal appearance, which often define who we are in our school communities, count for very little in an experientially based outdoor program. Educators are discovering that the external measures of success so common in our everyday lives matter much less outdoors than the more central qualities of honesty, integrity, compassion, confidence, and a strong sense of self-worth. Experiential programs provide opportunities for individual strengths and weaknesses to come to the fore, allowing individuals and groups to appreciate meaningful differences among people, cutting through the packaging by which most people define and protect themselves.
In addition to the body of academic knowledge we attempt to impart to students in our classrooms, there are ideals and values we want our students to take from our educational communities when they leave us to become citizens of the world. What do we hope for when we make wishes for our students? Do we wish for high SAT scores? Perfect results on AP exams? Or do we wish for the qualities just noted? Experiential education presents unequaled opportunities for teachable moments and new insights into relationships. It is about what happens inside people --- the growth and development educators constantly encourage.
This understanding of the value of outdoor education (and environmental education) is relatively recent. Twenty-five years ago, only a handful of true outdoor programs existed, and with few exceptions they were barely tolerated by most administrations and faculty. Because the use of wilderness as a classroom was suspect, most outdoor programs could only schedule trips over weekends and on breaks. Environmental studies programs were just beginning to sprout on college campuses. Today, however, almost every independent school offers some kind of environmentally oriented course or outing. Those schools that truly embraced the concept have developed comprehensive outdoor education curricula, hired full-time professional wilderness staff, and run trips that are integrated into the academic year.
There are obvious benefits to just getting kids outdoors, not the least of which is having plain fun and teaching them something about the environment. Teaching students about the world around them is particularly valuable since students everywhere express a great deal of concern about the environment and its protection. With students already expressing an innate interest, schools can design successful programs that look at a variety of topics, everything from the larger concern for water quality, energy use, habitat and diversity enhancement, to the more immediate questions about school supplies and the zero-waste lunch. It's a great way to weave pure science with human relationships.
But many schools have discovered ways to use the outdoors to accomplish much more. Since schools often have to address large societal problems --- the effects of broken homes, drug and alcohol dependency, racism, violence --- many of them are designing experiential education programs that help students and teachers explore the issues in ways they can't in the traditional classroom setting. Experiential learning programs help bridge the gap, providing a safe forum for discovery, risk-taking, encouraging students to step outside their self-imposed boundaries. Stereotypical social cliques are also set aside, allowing students who wouldn't normally mix to get to know one another. Quite often it is the student who has never distinguished himself or herself, academically or socially, who shows great leadership outdoors or is the most comfortable in a strange new environment. Programs can also demonstrate to children that adults too must face challenges and personal fears. In short, experiential programs provide opportunities for groups to get to know each other on a deeper level and work together with a focus on improving communication and cooperation skills. Teachers become better teachers. Students become better students.
Outdoor education programs come in numerous sizes, including day trips from school, residential programs based at a camp or conference center in a wilderness setting, front country programs (usually within one mile of a road), and backcountry expeditions into a national forest, state wilderness, or similar large natural area. Outdoor programs may take place throughout the year in many different kinds of settings, including mountain, desert, ocean, river, woodland, and wetland environments, each setting providing different challenges. One popular form of outdoor education today is the challenge course, which is a ropes course often used to introduce students to experiential learning or as a warm-up for an extended outdoor trip.
The teaching of outdoor skills if often incorporated into experiential programs. In fact, adventure-based education is one of the fastest growing components of outdoor education. Hiking, camping, backpacking, rock climbing, mountain biking, canoeing, kayaking, rafting, orienteering, horseback riding and backcountry skiing are popular activities in many programs. Why? Basically because these trips are memorable experiences, and because adventure activities create opportunities for individuals and groups to develop new ways of interpreting the wild natural world. Wilderness trips provide students with the optimal opportunity to embark on an adventure in learning by experience. A willingness to challenge oneself physically and emotionally are integral components of outdoor programs, because pushing oneself this way can enhance self-reliance, confidence, self-esteem, and communication skills. Schools also hope that students will have fun, build a core support group of friends, take responsibility, and transfer their newly acquired wilderness skills and ideas to the school setting. And, of course, there is still time for science and social studies lessons on these trips, as well as for work on writing and oral communication skills through journal writing and group discussions.
Backcountry courses present students with a set of physical, intellectual and personal challenges that require both cooperation and initiative. But, perhaps the most exciting part of extended programs is the esprit de corps which develops among the group and persists throughout the students' years at school and often beyond.
All regions of the country offer opportunities for backcountry adventures. Out West, independent schools have taken students backpacking in locations like the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Joshua Tree National Park, kayaking off the coast of Mexico's Baja California, and paddling trips on the Colorado River.
In California alone, there are numerous schools that have established strong outdoor programs. At Chadwick School, in Palos Verdes, the outdoor program is a fundamental component of the curriculum for middle and upper school students. The school's Outdoor Education Catalog states that the program extends the opportunity for a wealth of powerful experience. Students challenge themselves and help each other on rock climbs and on rivers. On the trail and around the campfire, people become friends with each other and they come to feel at home in the wild world. These experiences become a strong force in their lives. This process of discovery and growth leads to an increased sense of self-worth and to an expanded capacity for compassion, community spirit, and sensitivity to the environment.
Other California schools are buying into this notion. Crossroads School, in Santa Monica, created an outdoor program at the inception of the school; most students at Crossroads participate in the program with a full slate of trips, many of which are integrated into the academic calendar. Others include Polytechnic School, Marin Country Day School, Army Navy Academy, Laguna Blanca School, Midland School, Cate School, The Thacher School, LaJolla Country Day School and The Chandler School. Up the coast, the Oregon Episcopal School (Oregon) has successfully integrated outdoor environmental programs for years, taking advantage of the Pacific Northwest's abundance of wilderness.
What do schools need to know to run a successful program? First of all, the instructors are at the core of any good experiential program. They should be viewed as leaders and teachers. Instructors play the most vital role on a course; they establish group and individual goals, set the tone for a course and act as a window to a world that is new to most students. Instructors teach outdoor skills and natural history and model behavior for students and faculty. Most importantly, they are concerned for the physical and emotional well-being of students on courses and have the professional outdoor leadership credentials and experience, medical certification and interpersonal skills to make programs safe and rewarding. Instructors, in essence, are risk managers, providing the safest possible trip or program for participants; they ensure that the program is an adventure, not an epic.
For those interested in starting a program, it may be helpful to know that there are a number of professional organizations that specialize in providing independent schools with outdoor programs and consulting services. The Boojum Institute for Experiential Education, based in Idyllwild, California, is one example of a non-profit wilderness organization which provides outdoor programs designed to meet schools' specific needs. The Institute was founded twenty years ago by graduates of Prescott College, an Arizona college dedicated to experiential education. Boojum, which is a member of the Association for Experiential Education, operates as the outdoor education program for many schools and in other instances, complements established outdoor education programs.
Chadwick School is an excellent case study of how an institute such as Boojum can assist in the development of an outdoor education program. Twenty years ago, the school contracted with Boojum to provide experiential programs for students. The Institute served as Chadwick's outdoor education program; Boojum instructors and Chadwick faculty worked together year after year, eventually developing a comprehensive outdoor education program. Boojum assisted Chadwick in developing its own in-house expertise as the outdoor education program became an integral part of the school's curriculum and philosophy. Today Chadwick has an exemplary outdoor education program staffed by two full-time outdoor educators and supported by a large number of faculty.
Another such organization helping schools is The Web of Life Field School, a program of the United Camps, Conference Centers & Retreats Gathering Places, based in the San Francisco area. They provide schools with environmental science programs at a variety of camps located throughout the Northern California region. Students may study coastal redwoods in the Santa Cruz mountains or the geology of the western slope of the Sierra Nevada.
Whatever direction a school chooses, it is particularly important to remember that safety is key. It cannot be emphasized enough. It must be stated as the primary focus of each trip or activity a school undertakes. Each student plays a vital part of every activity and contributes toward the learning, safety and comfort of the group.
Experiential programs should seek to broaden participants' awareness of the natural environment, improve communication and problem-solving skills, and examine new coping strategies. An important part of experiential education is to provide opportunities for students to feel the extraordinary sense of accomplishment wrought by succeeding at difficult activities such as rock climbing or reaching a 10,000 foot peak, or running a Class 4 rapid.
Introducing students to the natural world in a way which inspires a meaningful connection with the wilderness is necessary if we are to nurture a generation of environmental stewards. Programs should encourage an understanding and appreciation of ecology and natural history, teach students outdoor skills and provide participants with an enjoyable experience. Having fun is generally a prerequisite to learning in a wilderness environment, and it happens naturally. Many students report that their outdoor programs were not just rewarding and memorable experiences, but life changing events. If a school's goal is to truly educate a student, it must reach out to the whole student --- mind, body and spirit. What better classroom exists for accomplishing this goal than a great river, an vast desert, an endless woodland, a remote beach or a mountain peak?
What is a Ropes Course?
Challenge courses, often referred to as ropes courses, are thoughtfully organized series of experiences using trees, logs, ropes, cables and other tools, some of which are at ground level and others which are high off the ground. These courses can be constructed in either urban or wilderness settings and are a particularly good way to provide school groups with a unique opportunity to work together on a series of initiative games, problem-solving tasks, and "risk taking" activities. such activities bond the group and encourage the use of healthy behavior such as improved communication skills, cooperation, trust, supportive feedback, and leadership.
Typically, programs begin with the introduction of the challenge course concept to participants. Personal and group goals for the program are established; teams versus groups, communications and trust issues and problem-solving techniques are discussed. Participants are asked to make a commitment to participate, to have fun, to learn more about the concepts, and to be willing to learn. All aspects of conducting a safe program are discussed. Participants are then put through a series of initiatives and low and high challenge elements. While some of the activities may have an element of perceived risk, a variety of systems are employed with elaborate safeguards to protect participants from injury. Safety and cooperation are emphasized by trained instructors who guide participants through the experience.
The team-building ropes course is an extremely powerful developmental tool. The program is set up to allow ample time between activities to process the events that took place. It is here that relevant metaphors are shared and the group is able to identify what has been learned and how that might be transferred to future activities and to the school and/or work environment.