“It's not as if we've been teaching them…” reflective thinking in the outdoor classroom

Abstract

Research undertaken during a six week mountaineering expedition to Iceland in July 2003 set out to investigate approaches to facilitating the reflective process in 20 participants aged between 14 and 18. A number of models were examined to help determine the educational philosophy underpinning the expedition. The research methods involved documentary searches, observations and semistructured interviews. Findings suggest that the approach of expedition leaders accorded with the ‘mountains speak for themselves’ model as the leadersmade little or no attempt to encourage, facilitate or enable reflection on the part of participants. With few exceptions the participants did, however, engage in reflective thought both about the activities they had been involved in and the holistic benefits of the expedition. The findings suggest that whilst the facilitator/interventionist model and the Kolb cycle do little to explain the pedagogy within this expedition, there was evidence of much reflective learning from the participants.

Keywords:

• Reflection
• Philosophy
• Learning Process
• Participant Outcomes
• Processing