Rationale,+Aims+and+Objectives

The main focus of ‘motivation of outdoor experiences’ is to understand the underlying factors that motivate individuals toward an outdoor experience. It also includes; human responses to nature, media portrayals and personal response to risk. One way that is will be explored is through planning for safe participation in an outdoor experience whilst observing minimal impact practices. The outdoor experience comprise of a 3 day trip to Kooyoora State Park. During this trip the students will be addressing they topics that they have been over n the class room (refer to the activity plan). There are some key knowledge and skills that can only be addressed whilst in the outdoors. This trip will allow for experiential learning (Hovelynk, 2001) which will help students meet key knowledge, personal response to risk in outdoor experiences and key skills; plan participate in and reflect upon outdoor experiences. The lessons are designed to build student knowledge that experiential learning will reinforce on the trip. The approach to this unit will be very much student centred, as it will provide the students with the opportunity to fully engage with their own personal responses.
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We chose this venue because: · Local environment providing opportunity for students to continue their own exploration. · The nearby location cuts down the cost and travelling time, therefore maximising learning time. · The chosen area provides the students with a variety of landscapes and activities. · The environment here also allows for differing perspectives and reflection of students knowledge of the Australian bush.

We have chosen to have a mixture of walking and caving activities as this will allow students to explore how they feel about both the different activities and landscapes, helping them to meet the key knowledge and skills for the unit.

The assessment that the students will be completing will be comprised of a class test and reflective writing. The test will help students to participate in future trips safely and with minimal impact to the environment. The reflective questions will allow students to reflect about what they have learnt and experienced in class and on the trip, particularly looking at their motivations for outdoor experiences and their responses to nature.

This unit plan will: § Introduce the term nature and natural environment to the students, and provide meaning. § Provide opportunity for students to experience nature and how they respond to it. § Explore how media portrays nature and outdoor experiences. § Provide students with an understanding of minimal impact and safe participation in outdoor activities. § Provide opportunity for students to develop practical and analytical skills
 * __ à __****__ Aims: __**

At the end of this unit the students will be able to o Use specific examples to describe the different ways in which the terms nature and natural environments are used. o Discuss the way media portrays nature and outdoor experiences, using a variety of media articles and pictures. o Use pictures and anecdotes to discuss the differing motives for outdoor experience. o Show that they understand minimal impact technique by displaying them on the trip. o Plan, actively participate and reflect on their trip to Kooyoora State Park using their journals as a tool to help with this. o Evaluate and write a report on their personal response to risk in relation to outdoor experiences.
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