Experiential learning

Outdoor tools increasing the impact

Outward Bound®

Outward Bound ® International is an international educational organization with over 60-year tradition. It is the biggest outdoor organization in the World, with over 32 centers on 5 continents. The first center was established by Kurt Hahn, a German educator, in 1941 in Great Britain.

Outward Bound ® Slovakia is a non-for-profit organization aimed at personality development in

young people marginalized groups organizations and companies

Key areas of development Self-knowledge Tenacity Self-Reliance Teamwork Leadership Social and Environmental Responsibility Craftsmanship Physical fitness

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Tools experiential education outdoor interactivity review

Experiential education = learning by doing

We remember

10% of what we hear 50% of what we hear and see 80% of what we hear, see,

and do

Learning cycle(David Kolb, 1976)

1. Experience(activity, game)

2. Reflexion(review, feedback)

3. Evaluation

1.Change in behaviour(„What shall I

keep/change?“)

Target areas group processes – team roles and

cooperation, decision making, leadership

interpersonal behaviour – effective communication, feedback, argumentation, active listening

problem solving – time management, pro-activity, strategy planning

individual – creativity, tenacity, self-reliance, stretching of comfort zone

Work with vulnerable groups 1

Potential target groups: Ethnic minorities Socially deprived youth from lower

economic strata Youth from orphanages and crises

centers Physically handicapped

Work with vulnerable groups 2

Program focus: Experience – doing real things in

the real (but safe) enviroment Integration with majority (mixed

groups) Responsibility and self-reliance

Selected projects 1 Summer on the edge: Target group – young people (age 17 -18) from

orphanages on the edge of „real life“ Improving social and individual skills that are

necessary after leaving orphanage – active aproach to the life, problem solving, conflict resolution etc.

Activities and games simulating situations like dealing with money, taking care of someone else, applying for job etc.

Activities: Tamagotchi, Money, Theatre, City Challenge

Selected projects 2 Behind the borders of average life: Long term project Target group - mix group of young people with

and without handicap Needs/problems of the group – insufficient

contact with majority population, children are closed in the dormitory and detached from the real life

Focus on: active aproach to the life, integration with majority, stretching the comfort zone

Activities: preparing theatre performance for public, film document about project made by participants, trips to the country

Selected projects 3 Back to work Target group – unemployed women with

bad socio-economic background Needs/Problems of the group: being out

of work for the long time, dependancy on the social network

Program: training and improvement of social skills – negotiation, problem solving, presentation – precondition for success in applying for a job

Selected projects 4 London Challenge Courses organized by Outward Bound United

Kingdom Target group: young people from lower

economic strata living in the London suburbs (mainly immigrants)

Needs/problems of the group – living in the harmful, depriving enviroment (crime, drugs, social exclusion), no vision of alternative way of life

Programme: providing new intense imputs how to spend a free time – outdoor activities (expeditions, sailing, rock climbing, camping etc.)