RAPPORT Conference Report Being in Nature Experiential Learning and Teaching Børge Dahle and Aage Jensen (eds.) Nord-Trøndelag University College Steinkjer 2009 Being in Nature Experiental Learning and Teaching Børge Dahle and Aage Jensen (eds.) Papers from the Gisna valley conference 11.-13. August 2007 Nord-Trøndelag University College Faculty of Teacher Education ISBN 978-82-7456-588-3 Steinkjer 2009 Foreword Being in Nature! We are glad to present papers from the Gisna valley conference – ―Being in Nature‖. The conference took place in August 2007. We have tried to categorize the papers in six different themes. The first category is ―Friluftsliv‖ and it opens with a paper written by Nils Faarlund, Norway. He is outlining the deep roots of the traditional Norwegian friluftsliv. The second theme is called ―Time and Space‖. In one of the papers Jay Griffiths describes ―Wild time‖ and how aboriginal peoples look upon time. We have called the third theme ―Identity‖ , but only one paper is represented in this category. Ingrid Urberg and Morten Asfeldt are writing about winter experiences in the North of Canada. The most comprehensive theme is our fourth: ―Nature conservation, education and politics‖. We look upon this to be very natural for a conference like this. The fifth cathegory is about ―Aesthetics‖ and the last cathegory discuss quality of life. It is often difficult to cathegorize the different papers. Most of them are linked together and could definitely be categorized in another way. NiH / HiNT September 2009 Børge Dahle and Aage Jensen 2 Content Part 1: ........................................................................................................................................ 5 Friluftsliv ................................................................................................................................... 5 Friluftsliv! By Nils Faarlund .................................................................................................. 6 How is the Concept of Friluftsliv Explained by Administrators, Teachers and Pupils in Two Chosen Primary Schools ......................................................................................................... 14 By Ingrid Frenning ................................................................................................................. 14 Czech Education in Nature: Turistika and Connections to Friluftsliv By Andrew Martin, Jan Neuman & Ivana Turčová .............................................................................................. 21 An Effort to Capture an Elusive Friluftsliv By Bob Henderson ......................................... 27 Part 2: ...................................................................................................................................... 34 Time and space ........................................................................................................................ 34 Wild Time By Jay Griffiths .................................................................................................... 35 Time and boredom – a necessary unity?By Aage Jensen ..................................................... 39 Part 3: ...................................................................................................................................... 46 Identity ..................................................................................................................................... 46 A Key to Processing and Conceptualizing Experiential Winter Wilderness Travel in the Canadian North By Ingrid Urberg and Morten Asfeldt ..................................................... 47 Part 4: ...................................................................................................................................... 51 Nature conservation, education and politics .......................................................................... 51 „On The Far side Of The Moon - The Sound Of Silence‟. By George McQuitty .............. 52 “Anerkjennende” pedagogy By Børge Dahle ..................................................................... 58 Integrating Outdoor Education and Geography: ................................................................... 64 Using Experiential Wilderness Travel in the Canadian North. By Glen Hvenegaard and Morten Asfeldt ........................................................................................................................ 64 Outward Bound Canada College:Fostering Ecological Consciousness through an Integrated Semester Program. By Emily Root ...................................................................... 69 Nature, nurture and narrative: An examination of experiential, wilderness-based rehabilitation for young offenders. By Bruce Northey ......................................................... 76 The Way to Natural Design: Learning to See and Confront the Bigger Design Question. By Seaton Baxter .................................................................................................................... 84 From Tomte Wisdom to Friluftsliv: Scandinavian Perspectives of Nature By Douglas Hulmes ..................................................................................................................................... 91 Leadership Development: An Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts and Sciences Approach By Morten Asfeldt, Glen Hvenegaard and Ingrid Urberg ..................................................... 101 ”What‟s this juniper good for anyway…” By Jørgen E. Nerland ...................................... 107 A flickering candle in the gloom,...or...?-pondering a 35 year friluftsliv journey By Nils Olof Vikander ....................................................................................................................... 112 Social Pragmatism and Transformative Ecological Learning ............................................ 120 (unfinished paper) By Trond Jakobsen ............................................................................... 120 Kinds of Learning By Stephanie Bunn ................................................................................ 128 Scottish outdoor education centres overview By Dave Spence ........................................... 132 Part 5: .................................................................................................................................... 142 Aesthetics ............................................................................................................................... 142 Acting Like a Mountain By Ulrich Dettweiler .................................................................... 143 3 From aesthetical experience to educational concepts – using the special possibilities of nature in education outdoors By Gunnar Liedtke & Bea Reuter ..................................... 145 Part 6: .................................................................................................................................... 150 Quality of life ......................................................................................................................... 150 Deep design and the engineers conscience: A global primer for design education By Seaton Baxter ........................................................................................................................ 151 Friluftsliv as a reasonable, natural method to increase the health-related quality of life in cancer patients, a pilot study. By Verena König, Freerk Baumann, Klaus Schüle. ......... 159 Influences of friluftsliv on the parameters of heart rate variability in consideration of circadian rhythm By Anne Leisgen and Jan Gerlach ........................................................ 165 Go out for a walk and get paid for it! ................................................................................... 171 Friluftsliv as a health programme for corporate health promotion By Marion Sütterlin and Jan Gerlach ........................................................................................................................... 171 E-motional recreation in nature – benefits of friluftsliv to body and mind. By Jan Gerlach ................................................................................................................................................ 180 4 Part 1: Friluftsliv 5 Friluftsliv! By Nils Faarlund I. A Norwegian Tradition named Friluftsliv Friluftsliv? Unfortunately the Norwegian word for a nation wide beloved Nature encounter (Bollnow1968) cannot easily be translated into a foreign language. That is of course so due to its uniqueness. Since more than 30 years we have been trying hard in dialogue with naturalists and scholars throughout the Western hemisphere without arriving at a satisfactory solution. Reed and Rothenberg (1993) writing in English about ―The Norwegian Roots of deep Ecology‖, decided that the word friluftsliv is not more strange than ski and other words of Norse origin. To be able to explain why ―out door life‖, ―out door activities‖ or ―environmental activities‖ does not convey the proper meaning, we invite you to take part in search of the cultural roots of fri-luft-s-liv. By consulting a dictionary of the Norwegian language you are soon ascertained by the ending liv, meaning life that we do well to follow a cultural approach. You need hardly ponder for a long time to find the fitting translation of fri. Norwegians write i for the English ee. Only luft is more of a mystery (if you are not familiar with German).