experiential learning 4-6

Experiential Learning encourages students to:

participate in an engaging learning activity,

reflect on the meaning of the activity, their understanding and their skill development, and

apply their knowledge to new and related challenges.

Outdoor Learning falls under the umbrella of experiential learning.

"When teachers take learning outdoors they report some powerful impacts: Children’s behaviour improves, whole classes are excited to learn, and individuals who feel inhibited by the curriculum often thrive in an outdoor environment.

Play is not only central to children’s enjoyment of childhood, but teaches critical life skills such as problem-solving, teamwork and creativity."

- Ideas from the 'Outdoor Classroom Day' website

Here is a 'sense-based forest meditation' that can support your learning, your mental and physical health, and your well-being. Click on the picture of the tree if you would like to access the 'Healing Forest' website where the meditation below can also be found. You can engage in a forest meditation in any season!

Sense-Based Forest Meditation

During this meditaiton, you are encouraged to 'talk less and listen more' and to experience the nature around you with awareness. If you don't live near a forest, that's okay. Do you have a park nearby or a couple of trees in your backyard? In this activity, it is hoped you might deepen your connection with the forests, but also to help you to develop your attention and awareness (no matter where you are outside).

Sound: Listen to the sounds of the forest. Count how many different sounds you can hear. Can you hear the stillness that holds all the sounds?

Sight: Search for a spot where you can see an entire tree. Slowly trace the outline of a tree with your eyes, starting from one edge at the base of the trunk. Move your gaze up, covering all the minute details that define the boundary of the tree. If you find your mind wandering or racing, bring it back to the outline of the tree and complete your tree tracing slowly.

Smell: Take deep breaths to soak in the scents of the forest. Every object in nature has a unique smell. Pick up interesting objects and smell them to create a memory of the moment.

Touch: Sit on a rock with your feet firmly on the ground. Hold a piece of the forest in your palms – A pebble / a leaf / a twig. Close your eyes and pay attention to the touch. Connect with the forest. Connect with the earth.

Taste: Carry fruit with you. Eat the fruit slowly, as slow as you can. Imagine the sunlight that feeds the plant becomes the fruit that becomes a part of you. Observe how everything in nature in interlinked with each other.

Following your sense-based forest meditation, how might you respond to the Experiential Learning Cycle questions below (e.g. in conversation, in a reflective journal)?