The WAB Podcast: Reconnecting with Nature through Outdoor Ed

The WAB Podcast: Reconnecting with Nature through Outdoor Ed
 

Experiential education is embedded throughout learning at WAB.

It is clear that we can’t properly learn to cook without entering a kitchen and cooking something. In the same way we can’t learn to cook without entering a kitchen and cooking something, we cannot learn to work as a team without actually doing this. This is one reason WAB chose to develop the WAB Wild program.

WAB’s Outdoor Education programs are set to resume in March after delays caused by the return to remote learning.

Using WAB’s Miao Liang camp set within the beautiful mountains north of Beijing as our classroom, small groups of students move skillfully through, what is to most students, an unfamiliar environment.

They have the chance to make their own decisions about how to progress, to consider risk, and to act responsibly. In small teams, they explore how to lead without being overbearing, how to listen when they want to be heard, and how to reach consensus as a group. Students can safely push themselves towards the limits of what they think they can do, and often surprise themselves by being more capable than they at first thought.

“These experiences are not unique to Outdoor Education, what is unique is that Outdoor Education sets out specifically to achieve these goals,” said Rob Starmer, WAB’s Head of Outdoor Education and Director of Miao Liang.

Unlike many other schools that contract outside companies to run outdoor education, WAB Wild runs in-house camps for students in Grades 5 to 8. Many students have been on multiple camps and worked with WAB Wild on the interdisciplinary units that we have developed with other school departments. Our staff at WAB Wild build relationships with students as individuals so that we can work with students more effectively.

“The disruptions to our normal lives this last year, with face-to-face interactions replaced by on-screen experiences has only accelerated a trend of what experts are calling a ‘nature deficit,’ Rob said. “Let’s press the ‘reset button.’ Let’s get outside, greet the springtime, and let the sun shine on our faces.”

Hear a complete conversation with Rob about the importance of reconnecting with nature, the value of experiential learning, and outdoor education's role in the future of learning in Episode 24 of The WAB Podcast.

To learn more about WAB's Outdoor Education program and the school's commitment to experiential learning, visit the Outdoor Education page on our website.

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