A Close Look at Land Based Learning

By Chris Spruyt

Over the last couple of years, I like many others have looked for different ways to do things. I have explored “Walking Curriculums”, “Place Based Education”, “Outdoor Classrooms” and “Land Based Learning” as alternatives to the regular classroom. I had been teaching grade 6 when the pandemic hit. I had always tried to get my students outside, but at this time getting my students outdoors seemed just that little bit more important. Then a year of on-line teaching made me think about how do I get students outdoors and how do I create community when everything I’m doing is through a computer screen? At the end of that year, I was seeking a change and I was willing to take on new challenges so I transferred to a school working with students who had suffered major trauma in their lives.
During the interview for this new school I discovered there was an emphasis on Land-based Learning. “Perfect,” I thought, “I’ve done that”. I get my students outside all the time! I write haiku’s with them, I get them to measure the circumference of a tree. But had I?
In truth Land Based Learning is very different than teaching outdoors. Perhaps the biggest difference is how we approach the curriculum.