Paddling the Big Sky: Reflections on place-based education and experience

Abstract

Paddling the Big Sky began as many expeditions do: out of past trips and in the stories, banter and daydreams of a group of friends. The journey, by canoe, departed from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, stretched over 2,800 km (1,740 miles), crossed prairie, the width of the boreal forest, and then the “barren lands.” It included a 29-day university outdoor education program, lasted 100 days, and ended at Kugluktuk on the shores of the Coronation Gulf in Canada’s Eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut. Seven people participated, one member left the expedition in Yellowknife and there the seventh, a student from the first month, joined the team. The expedition members, being athletes, guides, and educators, were pursuing various levels of post-secondary education related to outdoor recreation, tourism, education, and/or socio-cultural perspectives on physical education. Degrees ranged from a first undergraduate degree to doctoral studies. Experience levels also varied from having grown up canoeing and having led international environmental education and adventure programs to those on their first-ever canoe trip. An overarching interest among participants was the past, present, and future role of outdoor recreation and education as a mode of personal, social, and environmental learning.

Parent Publication

• Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Eighth World Wilderness Congress symposium

Citation

Mullins, Phil; Maher, Patrick T. 2007. Paddling the Big Sky: Reflections on place-based education and experience. In: Watson, Alan; Sproull, Janet; Dean, Liese, comps. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Eighth World Wilderness Congress symposium; September 30-October 6, 2005; Anchorage, AK. Proceedings RMRS-P-49. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 402-410