Range of differing Personal R esponses to Outdoor Environments

1. Range of differing Personal Responses to Outdoor Environments

2. Personal Experience Responses to outdoor environments can be positive or negative reactions to conditions, experiences or challenges people face. • Responses we will be looking at in detail will be fear, appreciation, awe and contemplation.

3. Fear An unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. In regards to this definition, it refers to people as well as other things. Teachers need to remember that the focus here is emotions and response towards the environment NOT people. • E.g. I am scared of heights so standing on the top of a mountain is something I fear.

4. Appreciation The recognition of value, significance and enjoyment of the good qualities of someone or something. • Examples??

5. Awe An overwhelming feeling of wonder or admiration • E.g. "I stared over the edge with a feeling of awe because the environment looked so beautiful"

6. Contemplation A long and thoughtful observation, the action of looking thoughtfully at something or a deep reflective thought. Once again when teaching this we need to focus on contemplation towards the environment. • E.g. When canoeing down the river I often contemplate why some rivers look so calm and peaceful and others don’t. I think about this because every river I canoe on is different.

7. Everyone is Different As well as knowing the difference between the types of responses to outdoor environments, knowledge on when and where these responses/emotions are most common needs to be understood. Not everyone has the same responses and emotions to the same outdoor environment or challenge they may face.

8. Responses effect behaviour… These varying responses towards the environment may influence a person’s behaviour. For example, a view from the top of a cliff; some people might appreciate it whereas others may fear it. The ones who appreciate it might contemplate abseiling down the cliff whereas the ones who fear the cliff may never visit this place again.

9. Ways of expressing responses… Responses to nature have changed over the years as well as the way people express their responses. For example, Indigenous Australians may have expressed their responses to outdoor environments through painting, dancing, art or stories. Nowadays, writing, articles, books, films, advertising, hand drawn art, photographs and images may be used to express a certain response or emotion to an outdoor environment.

10. Activity Time! Comparing Responses • http://www.billatkinson.com/CatalogIndex.html A website displaying Bill Atkinson’s photography of nature. Compare individual responses to these photos with the person sitting next to you. • http://slodive.com/inspiration/pencil-sketches/#nature A website displaying drawings of nature. Compare your own responses from the above photos to these drawings. Analyse whether there was a change in your responses from a photo to a drawing.