For many of us who are involved in the program, Scouting provides a unique educational
program and experience for our youth (and adults), but it’s actually part of
larger educational “world”. Some of us
may have heard the terms “outdoor education”, “adventure education”,
“experiential education” and variants of these.
Scouting is part of this.
Let’s look at Outdoor education first. It usually applies to education done in the
out of doors. Nature hikes, field trips
to museums and nature centers, outdoor activities and the like are part of
this. Adventure education is a subset
of this, focusing on more strenuous activities such as high adventure camping
and activities such as white water rafting, rock climbing and the like, which
can challenge the participants physically, mentally, and spiritually. Experiential learning/education is all
about learning by doing, which encompasses all of these. Instead of talking about baking a cake, let’s
actually bake that cake. Or build that
bridge or the like. But it’s meant to be
more than just doing science experiments in class, but a larger view of
learning that gets away from memorization and rote learning. Experience is the best teacher, hence the
importance of experiential learning.