Sophomore government and politics major
Last week, I was taking a “study break” to check Facebook when a post from the urban photography blog Humans of New York appeared on my news feed. The post featured a photo of a normal-looking guy standing behind his bike with a captioned quote about how his job as a teacher was becoming more difficult because “it’s hard to instill the importance of memorization when information is so freely and instantly available.”
Renewed focus on finding innovative, modern solutions to today’s education problems have focused primarily on integrating technology into the classroom. Because today’s children are spending more time with iPads, smartphones and the Internet than ever before, school systems have been frantically pumping money into high-tech, high-cost electronic resources, hoping to bridge the gap between Generation X policymakers and Generation Y students.
I remember entering Mr. Wehr’s eighth-grade geometry class that first morning back after summer break and staring at the mammoth SMART Board screwed into the middle of the dry-erase board. Montgomery County paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to install these boards, which essentially became glorified projectors, in schools across the county. Teachers couldn’t navigate the complex web of options, and students saw little change in classroom setup. Teachers still were lecturing, and students still were sitting in desks for hours on end, only this time, they were all staring at a screen instead of a dry-erase board. The same monotonous classroom simply had been made more expensive and disguised as something innovative.
I see a fundamental problem in incorporating excessive technology into today’s classrooms that leaves a void for another kind of progressive education. A generation that indulges in screen time at home is being rewarded with more at school? Haven’t you ever sat in a class on a beautiful day, gazing out the window and waiting for the minutes to tick by so you can escape the dungeon of any given basement lecture hall? Bringing education outside can help increase student participation by addressing a wider range of learning styles and needs, and it’s time this university adapt some more nontraditional approaches to learning.
Outdoor learning is less a technical term and more a general concept. The idea of a professional outdoor recreation industry is a relatively new phenomenon that has been evolving since the 1970s. On the surface, it may appear to be an overgrowth of the tourism or hospitality industries, which perhaps improve our overall quality of life but aren’t critical to our growth and development as a society. Yet some of the biggest learning moments in my life, even before I became involved with the Maryland Adventure Program in college, happened not in a classroom but on a soccer field or at summer camp. Recreation unites strangers and forces them to achieve a common purpose through various physical, logistical and social challenges. The result can be greater self-esteem, sense of purpose and enhanced peer relationships while aligning with mandatory state expectations for curriculum and testing.
From Thursday to yesterday, I had the privilege of attending the Association for Outdoor Recreation and Education national conference. What amazed me most about this group of the nation’s most passionate outdoor educators, other than a slew of impressive facial hair, was its commitment to designing programs that reach all students, not just those who perform well on tests. They recognize learning is a complex and continuous process that shouldn’t be limited to paper and pencil.
If you’re bored of the traditional classroom and looking for ways to incorporate the philosophy of outdoor education into your life, there are many ways to get started without spending money. Do your homework outside in the fresh air. Ask your living-learning community to sponsor a workshop at the Challenge Course behind Eppley Recreation Center. With the weather getting colder, this may all seem irrelevant or untimely, but now is the time to adjust learning routines to shake up the monotony of a long upcoming winter.
Lauren Nurse is a sophomore government and politics major. She can be reached at lnursedbk@gmail.com.
