Outdoor Learning: alternative education pathways in Terra d’Otranto

Abstract

This essay presents a historical-pedagogical research which aims at going beyond the limits of local educational institutions, as well as those of educational methods not connected with political situation. The outdoor learning experience is an educational praxis which overcomes the conventional axioms of school learning, and it aims at putting pupils in touch with the surrounding environment; this model proposes an “interchange” between the teacher and the
pupil on themes about ecology, environmental concern and integration, bringing the child to develop a conscious relation with nature and its protection, with very different ways of acquiring knowledge about the surroundings. This study has been therefore conducted on the basis of the related theories taking into account various local experiences in “Terra d’Otranto” which started to work on this educational path, analysing strength and innovation in learning.