Hi outres,

I think seeking definition (and understanding how different terms are used in different places in different eras) is a worthwhile exercise in understanding how others do and name things differently. (And also as an aid for reflecting on own/local usage and practice)

I always thought that doing OE indoors was stretching things a bit too far ... until encountering an outdoor centre in an environment where pollution levels outside are often too high for student safety.

Here is a piece of work I did for IOL in 2005 which was partly an attempt to define "outdoor learning". It includes the statement: "Outdoor Learning does not have a clearly defined boundary but it does have a common core."

https://www.outdoor-learning-research.org/Research/What-is-Outdoor-Learning

IOL's latest (and much briefer) version is presented here:

https://www.outdoor-learning.org/Good-Practice/Research-Publications/About-Outdoor-Learning

I hope Lee Eun-Young's study mentione by Sue will include reference to:

TURCOVÁ, I./MARTIN, A. J./NEUMAN, J.: Diversity in language: Outdoor terminology in the Czech Republic and Britain. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 5(2005), 2

I wrote about this issue ("A confusion of language") as part of my chapter for Other ways of Learning (2008). I have copied the relevant extract below.  The full chapter is at: http://reviewing.co.uk/outdoor/Other-Ways-of-Learning-sample-chapter-with-order-info.pdf

all the best,

Roger


A confusion of language
There is a confusion of language, theory and practice in experiential learning and outdoor adventure education. The confusion begins with language and terminology. In an article entitled “Diversity in Language”, Ivana  Turcová, the compiler of an English-Czech outdoor dictionary, explains some of the background:
“With regard to the outdoors, many publications are written in English and much of the basic terminology has been primarily developed in English. To understand the range of apparently similar terms is becoming more difficult, not only for non-English speakers who face the problems with translation of terms, but also for native speakers.” (TURCOVÁ et al. 2005, 110)
The variety of opinions of the British academics who were consulted in Turcová’s study demonstrates a range of different views about how key terms relate to each other. Turcová’s work is helping to clarify meanings but her purpose is to bring out differences rather than to smooth them over:
“National characteristics and norms influence subtle differences among terms and individual perception and interpretation of terms. These differences highlight regional differences in practice, as well as different theoretical standpoints, which is helpful for communication with colleagues from other countries and for international co-operation in the European Union.” (ibid. 115)
Some terms, such as the Czech “turistika”, the Norwegian “friluftsliv” and the German “Erlebnispädagogik”, are not readily translated into English because their meanings are so bound up with the history and culture from where they originate. Exploring the differences within and between British and North American terminology is both more straightforward and more complex: despite sharing the same language some terms (such as “programming”) have different meanings on each side of the Atlantic and need translating. Interestingly, many of these transatlantic differences follow a clear and consistent pattern that is having a profound influence over how people think, write and talk about outdoor and experiential education when communicating in the English language. The pattern involves a shift from learner-centred language to teacher-centred language.

On 21/04/2018 10:22, Sue Waite wrote:
[log in to unmask]"> At a recent international conference on udeskole at skovskolen in Denmark organised by Erik Mygind and Uli Dettweiler, this question came up again. I suspect that Noel is right that it is too complex to produce definitions that can encompass all the local enactments of the various forms but being clear about characteristics in different cultural contexts helps us make sense of research in the field. A colleague at the conference, Lee Eun-Young, is coordinating an international consensus project to explore this and it would be great to have participation from this network to draw on these understandings. We will keep you posted on progress with that and hope you will join in.
All the best
Sue

Sue Waite
Sent from my mobile



On 21 Apr 2018, at 09:53, Noel Gough <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

My advice is to stop seeking definitions and to be aware that any brief explanation is bound to be partial. Thumbnail definitions of terms that encompass complexities

are inherently unstable due to the depth of argument about them. This shouldn’t be confusing because we use complex terms in everyday life without feeling any need to “define” them (do you need to define “love” or “justice”?). I advise students to develop an understanding of the range (locations) of uses of terms, and to be clear about their own understandings in the context of their inquiries.

 

I recommend a poststructuralist position on questions of definition that sees words performing an ordering function by imperatively changing the circumstances in which they are formulated. If we approach “outdoor education” as a speech act that performs an ordering function then we will not ask what outdoor education means (that is, we will not

ask for a dictionary definition) but ask how it works and what it does or produces in specific and locatable discourses-practices.

 

Best, Noel

 

Noel Gough PhD
Professor Emeritus and Foundation Chair of Outdoor and Environmental Education

La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia

Honorary Life Member: Australian Association for Research in Education

Founding Editor: Transnational Curriculum Inquiry

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Noel_Gough 

 

Please note that I retired from La Trobe University on 8 July 2014.

Personal email: [log in to unmask]  

Postal: PO Box 820

Parkville VIC 3052 Australia

Mobile: + 61 417311219

 

Recent publications:

Gough, Noel. (2017). Specifying a curriculum for biopolitical critical literacy in science teacher education: exploring roles for science fiction. Cultural Studies of Science Education 12(4), 769–794. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11422-017-9834-0

Adsit-Morris, Chessa, & Gough, Noel. (2017) It takes more than two to (multispecies) tango: queering gender texts in environmental education. The Journal of Environmental Education, 48(1), 67-78. http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/CHGd4E95RwSNJfd9T3n3/full 

Gough, Annette, & Gough, Noel. (2017). Beyond cyborg subjectivities: becoming-posthumanist educational researchers. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 49(11), 1112-1124  https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2016.1174099

Gough, Noel. (2016). Australian outdoor (and) environmental education research: senses of "place" in two constituencies. Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education, 19, 2-11.  http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A469848453/EAIM?u=latrobe&sid=EAIM&xid=2918bf89

Gough, Noel. (2016). Postparadigmatic materialisms: a "new movement of thought"  for outdoor environmental education research?

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A469848457/EAIM?u=latrobe&sid=EAIM&xid=f0b762e7

Gough, Noel, & Sellers, Warren. (2016). Changing planes: lines of flight in transnational curriculum inquiry. In William M. Reynolds & Julie A Webber (Eds.), Expanding Curriculum Theory: Dis/positions and Lines of Flight (2nd ed., pp. 90-120). New York: Routledge.

 

Springer Book Series (with Annette Gough): International Explorations in Outdoor and Environmental Education

 

 

From: Outdoor and adventure education research <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Colin Wood <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Colin Wood <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Saturday, 21 April 2018 at 5:21 AM
To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: seeking definitions

 

Dear all,

 

I know it sounds like a really dumb question, but does anyone know of a good source of definitions of outdoor education, adventure education and outdoor adventure education? A student asked me and I realized that I didn't have a clear answer. I pointed her at Ford 1987,  and the first chapter of  Ewert, & Sibthorp 2014, but I feel that either I have forgotten something important or that these are such nuanced terms that they are defined only through usage. But that seemed sloppy.  

 

I checked a handful of recent PhDs to see how they had coped and most of them ducked the question by only defining one term and then magically merging the terms in the literature review. I even checked Wikipedia which suggested that there was no consensus on the meaning of terms and that they may be synonyms. So I am appealing for a source...  

 

Mind you, now that I have started to worry about the paucity of definitions: I wonder if there is any real definitional difference between outdoor learning and outdoor education... between learning outside the classroom and education outside the classroom... etc.

 

Colin

 

Colin Wood

University of Worcester

 

    



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