Linköping, Sweden
January 19
Using the Body and Mind in Linköping
By Maddie Reitz
Day four began with a short trek through the city of Linkoping to their University, lead by Anders Szczepanski. Once we arrived on the University grounds we stopped in a large open field for our first activity, a look into “Evo Training” with Paul Silfversrale and his counterpart Stephen. Paul talk is through the basics of Evo Training, a practice based on the importance of natural movement and the integration of training the body and the mind together. Paul and Stephen lead us through some exercises for honing our reflexes and partner movement, as well as a “talking and listening” exercise where partners moved in unison to bring their energy level down and telex from an “elevated state.” This exercise has potential applications for calming oneself down during a stressful time or for calming down a class of rowdy school children before an outdoor lesson.
Paul soon had to leave to instruct another class, but Stephen continued to encourage us to engage with the environment around us, and let the natural features call to us and inspire movement. Simple activities such as a game of “the floor is lava” with some rocks and tree roots and climbing small trees took on a new meaning as we considered how landscapes can invite people of all ages to move and explore.
Exploring Linköping
Balancing our way down
The ground is lava
Experiencing beautiful parks
When we returned to the main field area to warm up with a fire, Anders explained how the exercises we had practiced as part of Evo Training improved memory, as they engaged mirror neurons- neurons that fire both when we perform an action and when we see the same action being performed by another person. This small insight showed just one way that learning with “the hand, the head, and the heart” is scientifically proven to increase retention of information.
Lastly, Anders showed us a variety of exercises that engaged both the body and the mind in learning. In one exercise, we used colored lengths of rope to make shapes and spell words on the grass, making us think creatively, move around and interact with the outdoor setting, and work collaboratively. This helped to show how outdoor education is applicable to any topic, not just ecology, as the activity we did would teach kids geometry, vocabulary, cooperation skills, and more. Most educators may never think to use a rope to teach kids to spell words, or about how that might be more comprehensible to some young minds than traditional writing exercises.
After a short lunch break in a gorgeous greenhouse cafe, the group walked to another part of Linköping about 30 minutes away, observing woods and the sprawl of the sparsely developed city along the way. Once at our new destination, we briefly toured the yard of another I Ur och Skur (In Rain or Shine) Preschool. Although the school itself was sandwiched between roads and apartment buildings, the nearby forest served as a resource to the school and the local community.
In the yard next to the school we met Buster, a young therapy dog in training, and his master. Buster illustrated how animals could be involved in outdoor education, and even indoor teaching methods that prioritizes learning with the body and interacting with what is right in front of you. We also learned that Buster was an excellent tool for promoting outdoor education to students themselves, because even students who were unsure about going out into the forest could be convinced to venture out if they knew that a familiar dog would be by their side.
After saying goodbye to Buster and his human, we walked through some more excellent natural playgrounds, a small woodland, the beautiful Gamla Linköping Open Air Museum, and finally back to the hostel.
