Book Review on Outdoor Education or Adventure Learning 3

Ken Gilbertson, Timothy Bates, Terry McLaughlin and Alan Ewert

Outdoor Education Methods and Strategies

United States of America: Ken Gilbertson, Timothy Bates, Terry McLaughlin and Alan Ewert, 2006

224pp. US $46.00

ISBN – 13: 978-0-7360-4709-8

ISBN – 10: 0-7360-4709-3

The purpose for the authors to write this book is to help all educators who uses outdoor as a learning setting. This book clearly defined teaching methods for people who teach in a variety of organizations including schools, government agencies etc. These methods apply to many subject areas such as physical education, science education, environmental studies and recreation. This book wills benefits both new and veteran in provoking students’ awareness appreciation and knowledge of the outdoors. 

This book intends to help to identify and use the best methods for the participants. It covers definitions of outdoor education, fundamental learning theories, professional expectations of the outdoor educator, how to structure a lesson, and an extensive set of educational methods and their best application to foster optimal learning.

The authors try to allow us to have a better understanding of why they use certain teaching methods to meet the different needs of the participants by having some real-life example, example to express that experience doesn’t equal to ability to teach, they have real-life stories to help us to understand better at page 18. To allow us to visualize better of certain theories and how we can approach the participants, it consists of several of diagrams and pictures example the Priest’s model of outdoor education at page 5 and outdoor education being a blend of various subject area at page 6.

The authors also mentioned that different people have different learning styles and multiple – intelligence. The authors believed that people rarely have only one type of intelligence, which most people are able to adept in both physical abilities and cognitive intelligence. A person tends to be stronger or more intelligent in one or two areas rather than all of them. According to Garner, there are eight types of intelligence; verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, body-kinesthetic, musical-rhythmic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalist. This can found at page 38 where it says in detail on the Garner theory.

The authors also clearly mentioned that doing of feedback and assessment is important in assisting the success rate of the camp or the learning process. According to the authors, they felt that most of the outdoor educators treat education as an action that the teacher, not the student, engages in. Many educators may not think of assessment as part of outdoor education. Assessment was not expected in non formal settings and not done in informal settings in the original definition of formal, non formal, and informal education (Tamir 1990). This can be found at page 96 – 97 of the book.

In conclusion this book gives us lots of detail on the teaching methods, learning style and the importance of feedbacks. This will assist both new and experienced teachers in this field to be more assured of what they are doing and that they will be more aware of what they can do to bring out the awareness toward the students or participants.