The Walking Curriculum: Just "Good Ideas for Walks" or First Steps Toward Imaginative Ecological Pedagogy?

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Nine
  In Roundtable Session: Critically Revisiting Environmental Education's Connections to Place (Table 11)

Abstract

This research explores the experiences of ten educators who have been employing the imaginative and place-based teaching resource, The Walking Curriculum (TWC), for at least a year. Researchers sought to learn how these educators understand TWC in their individual teaching contexts and the particular challenges and opportunities they have experienced enacting this outdoor learning practice. The data revealed some limitations with respect to implementation, as well as some pedagogical blind-spots. This paper describes these limitations and explores what might be required to move TWC from an accessible and pragmatic teaching resource–just a set of “good ideas for walks”–to a path that supports reflexive insight into pedagogical presuppositions in education and provokes imaginative engagement in outdoor learning.

Author

• Gillian Judson, Simon Fraser University
  Presenting Author