Figure 2
Our emotive drivers of learning
Writers, adventure learning instructors and participants use the term ‘adventure’ interchangeably with many others: outdoor education, outdoor learning, outdoor pursuits, even physical education. There appears to be no consistency and no clear definition between any of these, which is very confusing for the reader. The common, underlying understanding is that all the terms refer to learning by engaging with nature and being outdoors, but such a broad definition is not really much help. Adventure can be thought of as a branch of outdoor learning, which really is the same as outdoor education, an overarching term that embraces both adventure (adventurous activities) and environmental education.
While Figure 2 may look quite complicated, it shows how the senses are brought together through outdoor learning, which can itself be divided into adventure learning and environmental education, because each emphasises the different relationships people have, but all these relationships are grounded in experience.
An adventure is an unusual experience, with some degree of excitement and uncertainty attached; this implies some daring on the part of the participant towards an unknown (risky) outcome. Learning is the systematic acquisition of knowledge or skills through study, instruction or experience. Learning itself cannot be measured, but its results and consequences can be. The two apparently incongruous terms come together to define an educative method of experiential, activity-based learning that allows a journey of personal and social inquiry and discovery. Embedding adventure learning within a targeted curriculum, such as school learning requirements, provides a method by which educators can direct the learning, while learners discover the learning. The excitement and uncertainty are embodied in the joy of ownership and unearthing knowledge, the risk is attached to whether the learners will succeed in the given activity. The impact of learning facts through experience is far more powerful than listening about facts discovered and imparted by others.
Adventure and environmental education are both aspects of outdoor learning that holistically engage the senses and involve the spectrum of our relationships
Figure 2
Our emotive drivers of learning
encompassing our environment. Adventure, however, is distinguishable from environmental education in being physical and demanding, encouraging people to think through solutions in order to attain the progression of skills as well as to achieve personal development goals. Because it is physical and personal, there must also be the opportunity provided for people to absorb and reflect on the experience, as the learning cannot be memorised from another source, such as a book and traditional behaviourist teaching has little impact, we have to be able to try an activity for ourselves rather than having someone just talk through the motions of it. Adventure is a really broad term and to say we are doing adventure learning does not mean doing something dangerous or in the middle of nowhere, it simply means doing something different.