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ED1080: BODY, MIND AND NATURE: LEARNING OUTDOORS FOUNDATIONS (2014-2015)

Last modified: 28 Jun 2018 10:27


Course Overview

This course offers significant experiential learning outdoors in natural and urban environments, mainly around the campus. The course is designed to bridge theory and practice relating to students own personal engagement with outdoor environments. It covers sensory awareness, disciplinary, ecological and creative perspectives. Students are expected to engage in on-line discussion fora as well as the out of doors experiential activities.

Course Details

Study Type Undergraduate Level 1
Session First Sub Session Credit Points 15 credits (7.5 ECTS credits)
Campus None. Sustained Study No
Co-ordinators
  • Dr Donald Gray

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

None.

What other courses must be taken with this course?

None.

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

None.

Are there a limited number of places available?

No

Course Description

This course will explore and critically examine both built and natural outdoor environments, taking account of historical, philosophical and psychological dimensions that impact on human (particularly child) development and implications for learning, health and well-being.
The course will examine the work of key thinkers in the area of learning and nature such as Patrick Geddes, Maria Montessori and John Dewey and the impact that their work has had on current thinking and practice. Their work will be further examined in the light of current understanding from research (eg Chawla; Kaplan; Kellert; Sobel; Rathunde).
Drawing on recent research and thinking in the area of human interaction with nature, the course will elaborate principles that can be applied to personal actions and planned activities for young people in educational settings. This will be further reviewed with reference to recent theories of human-nature relationships such as E O Wilson's biophilia hypothesis.
Building on an understanding from the theoretical and philosophical literature, and with reference to current initiatives in Scottish Education such as the Curriculum for Excellence, students will begin to develop the skills and abilities to apply such principles to their own personal lives and to the planning of educational activities for a range of ages and abilities, incorporating principles of inclusion.
Students will develop an understanding of key elements of some ecological systems eg woodlands to begin to build a knowledge base from which to draw for experiential enhancement of learning opportunities. This will be accompanied by an introduction to health and safety issues in outdoor settings and to begin to develop skills of risk assessment in working with varying age groups.
Students will be expected to focus on a key element of an outdoor environment and explore this with respect to learning in a specific curricular area.
As well as the knowledge and skills elaborated above students will also have opportunities to develop their enquiry skills; presentation techniques and interpersonal and collaborative skills in professional contexts.

Contact Teaching Time

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

Teaching Breakdown

More Information about Week Numbers


Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 31 August 2023 for 1st half-session courses and 22 December 2023 for 2nd half-session courses.

Summative Assessments

1st Attempt: Project Presentation (40%) and Individual essay 2,000 words (60%).

Resit: Failed criteria within the Individual essay.

Formative Assessment

Tutorial/workshop sessions will provide opportunity for student-student and student-tutor interaction. Formative assessment will be provided during this interaction and during student-led discussions and tutor-led tutorials.

Feedback

Students will receive appropriate feedback in sufficient time to enable them to take action to improve their work either on a week to week basis as appropriate or within four weeks of handing in of written assessments in line with the policy of the School of Education. Appropriate feedback will be provided indicating how marks have been arrived at and what actions the student might take to improve on the work they have submitted in future.

Course Learning Outcomes

None.

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