Orienteering as a Vessel for Learning Theories in Outdoor and Environmental Education

Sarah Engström

OEE613

8 December 2014

 

               Teaching Map and Compass Skills (Orienteering) is a quintessential activity for both Outdoor and Environmental Education, in many different representations and settings.  The skills of using a map and compass can be taught in any number of representations, but for the purpose of this paper we will evaluate 3 distinct models, the “Leader of the Day” model as practiced by NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School), Competitive Orienteering as taught at a day use science or Environmental Education center, and lastly the sport of Geocaching.  We will then discuss how these three types of orienteering instruction fit or exemplify certain learning theories.  Each distinct form also represents an additional learning theory. Arguments could be made for lots of learning theories at work in these activities, but for the purpose of this paper only four are evaluated; Constructivism, Optimal Arousal, Effectance Motivation and Diffusion of Innovation.

 

              All map and Compass skills teaching experiences fall under the umbrella of Constructivism, since Orienteering is a concept that has inherent scaffolding.  There are certainly different levels of skills and needs of students based upon different manners of instruction and group skill level. To use a compass and map to find out not only where you are and how to get where you are going, students need to be actively engaged in higher order thinking skills and collaborative work.  They must construct knowledge based on their own experiences for solving problems, transfer any prior knowledge they bring to the table into meaningful contexts. 

 

            Constructivism is a learning theory that is often confused with being type of pedagogy, which is untrue.  Constructivism is instead associated with active learning. This theory is often summed up with the catch all "Learning By Doing," but this is not the entire picture. Constructivism has within it, the root "Construct" or build. Students do not come to learning without context. They have stories and experiences that influence how they see the world, and to which they are adding new pieces all the time. Without acknowledging that background influence, teachers are missing a key part of how brains work. We are constantly creating new experiences and links, and actively changing our world. Constructivism argues that to do this effectively, learners need to be also constantly assessing their own location on the ladder of learning.  Using a map and compass is very much a scaffolded skill. IF an instructor does not start where a student is, not where the instructor wants them to be, many personal experiences have shown that the skill simply doesn’t stick.  Orienteering is not necessarily an intuitive practice for a novice.

Each model for learning the skills associated with orienteering have specific goals.  NOLS was chosen for several reasons. Firstly, the author has personal experience with their teaching methods and philosophy.  Secondly, NOLS is often touted as the industry standard for expeditionary learning model.  Many other organizations claim to use the NOLS model in their own expeditions and courses.  NOLS has been around for almost 50 years, taking students into wilderness settings and challenging them to achieve their full potentia. While starting the first Outward Bound program in the USA, Paul Petzoldt recognized the need to teach people how to safely enjoy and conserve the outdoors. His vision was to train leaders capable of conducting wilderness programs in a safe and rewarding manner and the result was the National Outdoor Leadership School NOLS.  He saw a need to teach what could NOT be learned about wilderness skills and leadership without living it.   “What NOLS teaches cannot be learned in a traditional classroom or on a city street. It takes practice to learn outdoor skills and time to develop leadership. The backcountry provides the ideal setting for this unique, experiential education—NOLS classrooms are some of the world’s wildest and most awe-inspiring locations. We believe living in untouched places like our classrooms will teach students responsibility for all that surrounds us.” (NOLS About us, 2014)

 

              In order to achieve their goal of inspiring Backcountry Leadership and Sustainable Travel skills, NOLS uses a technique known as “Leader of the Day.” First, the Instructors make directional decisions for their group, while explaining their thought process to students. Students do not usually contribute to planning in this stage but do practice map reading skills [with instructor guidance] at every opportunity.  Once the Instructors feel that their group is ready, they give students input of directions and route, and allow them to travel independently, with staggered departure times.   The instructors are the last group to leave, to act as a sweep for any groups that have issues.  Each group has a student "leader of the day" who is in charge of managing map reading, along prescribed route. At the end of the day, all groups meet at a designated location. Lastly, Students are given the tools to create their own travel plan. They are totally independent, and must plot a course, write a trip plan, and manage group needs, with the expectation of meeting up with instructors at agreed upon rendez-vous.

 

            Looking at the NOLS model through a Constructivist lens, we notice several things.  Most NOLS courses do not require any previous backcountry experience. In some courses however, such as the Semester Outdoor Educator, many participants come into the program with a wealth of outdoor knowledge from professional and personal contexts.  This means that NOLS instructors have to assess each group of students for each course. Even if there are many in the group who are comfortable navigating with map and compass, instructors are in charge of the safety and development of the entire expedition, and must make individual calls on the needs and expertise of the participants. Thus, the map and compass skills portion of any NOLS course starts with the most basic and builds with practice and familiarity. 

 

         Another learning theory that describes the “Leader of the Day” model well is that of Optimal Arousal.  Flow and Optimal arousal are often depicted with a figure similar to this:   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          One of the assertions of the arousal theory of motivation is that our levels of arousal have an influence on our performance. This is commonly referred to as the Yerkes-Dodson Law. The law states that increased levels of arousal will improve performance, but only up until the optimum arousal level is reached. At that point, performance begins to suffer as arousal levels increase. Most students have experienced this phenomenon when taking final exams. Increased arousal can lead to better test performance by helping you stay alert, focused, and attentive. Excessive arousal can lead to test anxiety and leave you nervous and unable to concentrate on the test. (Optimal Arousal Theory, 2014)

Backcountry travel can be stressful, and forcing students to use maps without proper instruction will force them into panic mode.  However, NOLS is very committed to challenging participants. One of their seven leadership guidelines is “Tolerance in Adversity and Uncertainty.”  They purposefully push students out of the realm in which they are comfortable, so that they are learning AND growing.   In other words, turning orienteering is a form of problem solving, which is proven to stimulate learning.  “People enjoy mental work if it is successful. People like to solve problems, but not to work on unsolvable problems (Willingham, 2009, p. 4). “   Reaching this kind of optimal arousal, from solving pertinent problems can also be tied to flow within a lesson or course. To reach flow while teaching orienteering, students must no longer be thinking about anything outside of that need to follow their map and compass to the destination, the instructor needs to be able to find the balance between the lesson being too easy or too hard (Biersteker, Engstrom, Smith, & Rayback, 2014).  NOLS instructors have a double duty within this regard.  On the one hand, there is an expectation that NOLS participants will be challenged more than they can even imagine. “We expect a great deal of our students. NOLS courses are demanding, because we believe people thrive when challenged.” (NOLS About us, 2014) NOLS instructors have to balance this organizational goal of challenge with the individual student needs. Because as we see in Ken Bain’s book “What the Best College Teachers Do” expecting ‘more’ of students can have many different manifestations. “By any reasonable measure, the best teachers expect “more” from their students, but we also found many less successful teachers who try to challenge their students by piling on work.  For these people, asking students to do more often does produce lower ratings and perhaps less learning. (Bain, p. 71)

 

             Another method of instructing students in the skills of using a map and compass in outdoor settings is Competitive Orienteering.  This is an international sport that combines racing with navigation. It is a timed race in which individual participants use a specially created, highly detailed map to select routes and navigate through diverse and often unfamiliar terrain and visit control points in sequence. Courses also can be enjoyed as a walk in the woods, with difficulty levels from beginner to expert offered at most events. (What is Orienteering, 2014) Participants usually have to use a punch card or stamp to mark that they have been to each station along the route.  This sport had its beginnings in Scandinavia.  The actual term "orienteering" was first used in 1886 at the Swedish Military Academy Karlberg and referred to the crossing of unknown land with the aid of a map and a compass. The competitive sport began when the first competition was held for Swedish military officers in May 1893 at the yearly games of the Stockholm garrison. The first civilian competition was held near Oslo, Norway, in October 1897. (What is Orienteering, 2014)  As the compass industry grew in reliability, the sport became more and more popular among civilians. At an environmental learning center or other day use nature areas, usually this looks like students being given an introductory lesson or introduction to the idea of landmarks and navigation, then pairing up and practicing how to follow and read bearings.  Lastly, students are taken to a course and compete to complete the course correctly before their classmates. The goals of this style of teaching map and compass skills are to promote enjoyment outdoors, recreation as a sport,  and encouraging cooperation to achieve a common aim.

 

              Looking at this model of teaching orienteering through our favorite Constructivism lens, there are certain parallels to be drawn between NOLS and the Competitive Orienteering at an Environmental Learning Center.  Similar to NOLS course, most ELCs do not require any previous knowledge to participate in their activities. In fact, some of them prefer to share the ideas with novices. ELCs are often the first exposure to environmental ideas and educational strategies used in Environmental Education. The premise of constructivism is to build upon knowledge. To truly build upon knowledge as educators we have to start where our students are, taking into account their previous knowledge and background so we can build up from there. (Biersteker, Engstrom, Smith, & Rayback, 2014) IF we accept that ELC’s exist to form the first foundation of outdoor or environmental knowledge, then it makes sense that the classes taught there would be extremely focused upon scaffolding knowledge. This Competitive Orienteering class is no exception.

 

              Another learning theory that ties in well with Competitive Orienteering is Effectance Motivation.  “Effectance and Competence motivation is how effectiveness of attempts to complete tasks influences feelings of competence as well as how social and interpersonal factors influence- and were influenced by these feelings. (Priest, 2005)  Motivation is one of the most crucial factors in determining what and how students learn, as Richard Mayer points out in his book “How Learning Works.”  “Students’ motivation generates, directs and sustains what they do to learn (Ambrose, Bridges, Lovett, Dipietro, & Norman, 2010, p. 69).”  Just by calling this class “COMPETITIVE” orienteering we are inherently comparing the students to others, which can sometimes be a positive motivation, but is sometimes completely ineffective, depending on the group of participants. In “How learning Works” Ambrose gives two examples of how competition works, and how it does not based upon the other factors at play.  First there is the subjective value of a goal, and secondly the expectations of successfully attaining that goal. (Ambrose, Bridges, Lovett, Dipietro, & Norman, 2010) Successfully completing an orientation can significantly increase motivation and self-realization of competency, regardless of how students perform compared to other groups, but only if the instructor is intentional about the way they structure their lesson. If for example, the competitive orienteering instructor allows the social pressure associated with competing using a very technical skill be focal, that can absolutely affect how students feel that they are performing. “To say someone is motivated tells us very little unless we say what the student is motivated to do (Ambrose, Bridges, Lovett, Dipietro, & Norman, 2010, p. 70).” Therefore especially in this model of learning orienteering skills, it is vital to consider where the students are, and building their knowledge with small, simple tasks to gain confidence and move to more complex tools, like the competition. 

 

           Competition breeds a particular flavor of effectance motivation, that of the extrinsic reward of winning. Usually in the ELC setting there is not a specific prize for completion of the course, but in true competitive orienteering there are winners and losers, and their extrinsic rewards are clear.   There is some literature that suggests that such an extrinsic reward is not the best way to ensure long lasting learning.  “We may get people to do things with extrinsic rewards, but we can’t get them to learn (Zull, 2002, p. 53).”  Learning and motivation are inextricably linked. Many researchers argue back and forth what sort of learning and testing strategies should be used to increase the motivation.

 

              Geocaching is in many ways a different beast than the other two models of orienteering instruction previously discussed.  Like competitive orienteering, the sport had can claim some roots in a military tradition. But the fascination with buried treasure goes back much farther. “Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location. (History of Geocaching, 2014)  The idea of buried treasure, and using technology and clues to find it has fascinating humans for many years.  Before the use of satellite technology, the most recent predecessor to the sport is “letterboxing.” Which is an English tradition in which “ Someone hides a waterproof box somewhere (in a beautiful, interesting, or remote location) containing at least a logbook and a carved rubber stamp, and perhaps other goodies. The hider then usually writes directions to the box (called "clues" or "the map"), which can be straightforward, cryptic, or any degree in between. Often the clues involve map coordinates or compass bearings from landmarks, but they don't have to. Selecting a location and writing the clues is one aspect of the art.” (Hall, 1999) Participants in letterboxing would order the calendar of clues, and set out with their stamps and compasses. 

 

            Once the USSR launched Sputnik in 1960, there was a rush to create more accurate ways of mapping and navigation.  Transit , the first US satellite system launched in 1960 “Just five satellites orbiting the earth allowed ships to fix their position on the seas once every hour.” (History of GPS, 2014)  For the next 30 years, the military controlled all technology related to satellite systems, until 1983 when the Reagan Administration in the US had the incentive (due to the shooting of a Korean Fighter Jet by the USSR) to open up GPS for civilian applications so that aircraft, shipping, and transport the world over could fix their positions and avoid straying into restricted foreign territory. (History of GPS, 2014)  All global positioning systems worked in congruence with about 17 military satellites, and any units that were used outside of the military had a built in inaccuracy meter,  known as selective availability.  In May 2000, President Clinton repealed the selective availability, which allowed civilians to make use of the technology. “To celebrate this new found freedom in global navigation, a civilian named Dave Ulmer started The Great American GPS Stash Hunt.” (Dems, 2011)  Within a week of the repeal, caches were being hidden all over the world, and www.geocaching.com became the repository for the coordinates all over the world.

 

            Since its inception, Geocaching has been an extremely individual sport, so the goals are varied and highly dependent upon the organizations or individuals participating.   Since the website www.geocaching.com is considered the hub for the sport, it seemed a logical place to look for a description and mission.  All that exists there  is a brief explanation of the “rules” for the sport:

                                            1)If you take something from the geocache (or "cache"), leave something of equal or greater value.

                                            2) Write about your find in the cache logbook.

                                            3) Log your experience at www.geocaching.com. (History of Geocaching, 2014)

 

Of all the methods of orienteering instruction, Geocaching is the hardest to fit into the lens of constructivism. Just looking at this description of the rules of geocaching, there is nothing that says that a geocacher has to scaffold their learning. They are encouraged to take their own device, and create a log of their experience.  Most users are self-taught, and may never interact with any instructor about their sport.  They may not interact with even another human about their sport- it is not required. A geocache user could spend their entire time participating all by themselves, and only interacting with other users via the internet.

 

               A theory that does fit well with Global Positioning System devices and the sport of Geocaching is that of Diffusion of Innovation.  “Diffusion of innovations theory is the idea that if a person creates a new way of doing something (an innovation), and that way is better somehow, that other people will pick up the idea and start doing things in the new way (diffusion). (Biersteker, Engstrom, Smith, & Rayback, 2014)).”  GPS started out as a secret military device, and one of the most cliché ways to encourage laymen to be interested in a topic is to make it have secret military history. Even before the selective availability was revoked, there were innovator users out there trying to use the technology, according to Everett Rodgers definition.

Everett Rogers, in his classic tome, "Diffusion of Innovations" examined the "adoption levels over time" curves of hundreds of different innovations. He noticed they were mostly the standard Bell curve. He then, for the sake of discussion, identified different sections of this curve.

The left most 2.5% of the curve he labeled as "Innovators". 

The next 13.5% were tagged as "Early Adopters".

The left of centre 34% were the "Early Majority"  

 

The right of centre 34% are the "Late Majority" followed by the last 16%, whom

he saddled with the term, "Laggards" (Jager, 2005)

The first GPS users were fairly isolated, and not very many people were

aware of the technology. After the repeal of selective availability, GPS and

Geocaching exploded in popularity. Today, most cars, smart phones and

many other devices have GPS functions and even Geocaching apps in some cases.

 

 

 There are even grades of GPS accuracy, recreational, research, and mapping.  The technology is ubiquitous, and used in many different sectors of society.  Since it is so easy to obtain the technology, geocaching is becoming more and more visible as a sport, and even as a marketing tool or publicity trick. This summer, the author worked with the Castle Mountain Coalition to create a geocaching course as a part of their summer hiking series, with the idea that getting users to explore a proposed coal mine site would create emotional attachment, and help the activists block the mine, aligning with their mission statement; “We believe coal development is incompatible with the sanctity of our homes, the purity of our air and water, and the health and safety of our families. It is wrong to sacrifice the things we value most for the short term profit of corporations. We have a moral obligation to stand opposed to coal extraction in the communities of the Matanuska Valley.” (Castle Mountain Coalition Mission, 2014)  As discussed in an earlier section, motivation to participate in a sport can be widely varied, and only to be understood when it is understood that which the student (or participant) wishes to do. (Ambrose, Bridges, Lovett, Dipietro, & Norman, 2010)

               There are so many other learning theories that can be applied to the practice of teaching the use of a map and compass or GPS to navigate the world.  Outdoor and Environmental Educators that make the most of the research and tools available about learning theories can truly unlock this quintessential OEE task, making it as memorable and valuable as possible to their students.  Educators of all types but especially of hard skills like orienteering need to be aware of  the starting point  and specific learning needs of their students, how the students are performing, what motivates the students to succeed, and finally what technological advances can be taught in conjunction with the skill, to further understanding. In this way orienteering education, when done correctly should try to incorporate Constructivism, Effectance Motivation, Optimal Arousal, and Diffusion of Innovation theories.

 

 

Works Cited

Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., Lovett, M. C., Dipietro, M., & Norman, M. K. (2010). How Learning Works: 7 Research Based Principles for Smart Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Bain, K. (n.d.). What the Best College Teachers Do.

Biersteker, D., Engstrom, S., Smith, M., & Rayback, L. (2014). WIKI contributions about Learning Theories. Retrieved from OEE613 Classwork: https://apu.blackboard.com/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_35837_1%26url%3D

Castle Mountain Coalition Mission. (2014). Retrieved from Castle Mountain Coalition: http://www.castlemountain.org/

Dems, K. (2011). How Did Geocaching Start? Retrieved from Bright Hub : http://www.brighthub.com/electronics/gps/articles/75678.aspx

Hall, R. (1999). What is Letterboxing? Retrieved from Letterboxing in America: http://www.letterboxing.org/faq/faq.html#001

History of Geocaching. (2014). Retrieved from Geocaching.com: http://www.geocaching.com/about/history.aspx

History of GPS. (2014). Retrieved from MIO: http://www.mio.com/technology-history-of-gps.htm

Jager, P. d. (2005). The Danger of the "Early Adopter" Myth. Retrieved from Technobiliy.com: http://www.technobility.com/docs/article032.htm

NOLS About us. (2014). Retrieved from NOLS: http://www.nols.edu/about/

Optimal Arousal Theory. (2014). Retrieved from About Psychology: http://psychology.about.com/od/motivation/a/arousal-theory-of-motivation.htm

Priest, S. &. (2005). Effective Leadership in Adventure Programming. Human Kinetics.

What is Orienteering. (2014). Retrieved from Orienteering USA: http://www.us.orienteering.org/new-o/what-orienteering

Willingham, D. T. (2009). Why don't students like school? San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Zull, J. E. (2002). The Art of the Changing Brain. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.