Education outdoors: learning through experience

Bushwalking and running may not be everyone’s idea of ‘typical’ university study, but these activities are helping students from across the University of Melbourne discover more about learning, and themselves.

“It’s really an experiment, where the students are the subjects of their own investigation of learning,” says Dr John Quay of the Learning via Sport and Outdoor Education subject offered by the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. The subject is an option for students from across Melbourne’s new generation undergraduate courses, adding ‘breadth’ to core programs. 

“Throughout their training and preparation for the fun run and the bushwalk that are part of the subject, students take ethnographic field notes. This allows them to reflect on their experiences: what they’ve learned and how they’re learning,” Dr Quay explains.

Heavily informed by the work of the great 20th Century education thinker John Dewey, the subject is based on the principles of experiential learning. Rather than discussing experience as an academic concept, this subject takes students out of the normal lecture theatre experience and into new, physical experiences.

“We all learn and understand from within our experience,” Dr Quay says. “Who we are informs how we approach an activity, what we know about it and learn from it.

“Someone approaching a fun run as an accomplished runner will know and behave differently from someone who approaches it as a person trying to get fit, for example,” explains Dr Quay.

Biomedicine student Daniel Shea, 20, jumped at the opportunity to do a more physical subject.

“I’ve always enjoyed sport, and played at quite a high level,” he says. “Biomed is very academic, so this was an opportunity for a bit of a change, and to study something I really like.”

Although Mr Shea has a sporty background, he explains the subject catered for students with a wide range of abilities.

“We were given a training program before the subject started, which I thought was a good idea,” he says. “There were lots of options for the fun run, from a half marathon to a 5k walk, so it didn’t have to be too strenuous.”

For Science student Lauren Balcombe, 19, the subject was an opportunity to do something different from ‘normal’ university subjects. She particularly enjoyed the group aspects.

“This subject was a good way to make friends compared with normal classes. Having other people there really helped with motivation too – it would be much harder to train by yourself,” she explains.

The three-day bushwalk at Wilson’s Promontory was the biggest challenge for Mr Shea, and his biggest learning experience.

“I hadn’t done any outdoor education since Year 9,” he says. “I really enjoyed it. We split up into groups of about six, and each group had a leader. I liked that because we got to know a few other people.”

The walk was more challenging than he expected.

“I didn’t think it was going to be as hard as it was, because it was just walking. But we did a fair distance every day. I really enjoyed the challenge,” Mr Shea says.

According to Dr Quay, the purpose of learning goes beyond collecting knowledge. “The meaning of a particular fact is always connected with what we do with that fact, and who we are at that particular time,” he explains. 

“Learning therefore challenges not only our knowledge, but also impacts on who we are.”

This was certainly the case for Mr Shea, who discovered an interest in the environment through the subject.

 “On the bushwalk, I went to wash my dishes and saw a whale in the bay. It’s something I wouldn’t see normally, and I realised how different it is in the bush than in the city,” he explains. “I’ve become interested in our natural resources and the environment as a result.”

For Ms Balcombe, the biggest lesson was the benefit of working with others.

“It really emphasised that doing things in groups with the support of other people helps motivate you to do your best,” she says.

www.education.unimelb.edu.au/