Encountering landscapes : an exploration of environment specific learning on an extended journey

The purpose of this study was to gain a greater understanding of the role the physical environment plays in shaping experience and learning in an outdoor education context. In February of 2001, students undertaking the Bachelor of Arts (Outdoor Education) at La Trobe University, Bendigo, spent 18 days bushwalking through the Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales. The journey traversed three relatively different environments: the alpine regions of Mt Jagungal through to Mt Kosciuszko on the Main Range; the sub-alpine areas of The Chimneys and The Pilot; and the hot, dry, rain shadow area of the Snowy River. Drawing on the journals of 19 respondents, this qualitative project details the participants' multiple and diverse experiences and learning. Responses describe the environment providing a context for experience and learning, the factors that impacted on the experience of place, and critical thought and reflection as a consequence of experience. The findings reveal that the places encountered by respondents were not merely a backdrop but rather played a significant role in shaping the experience and learning opportunities. The findings also highlight the many contingent factors that may impact upon the experience of place. Aspects of the literature reviewed supported the findings but also drew attention to the lack of research that has been conducted in outdoor education addressing the place dependent nature of experience and learning. The findings of this project suggest that outdoor education is contingent upon place, each place having unique attributes, characteristics and history that shape the context of experience and learning.