Outdoor learning and learning cycles: moving forward

In my work of teaching outdoor studies students I’ll often explore the history of outdoor education, adventure education and now outdoor learning. It’s a privileged position as it can help me to see the development in patterns of professional practice over the years; sometimes things repeat themselves and we can seem to stay wedded to old practices. In other areas of our field there can sometimes be a shift in thinking, theoretical application or understanding of a concept and we take a leap forward as a profession. One such example is the popular use of experiential learning cycles and the process of reviewing to foster learning in outdoor education participants. Kolb’s learning cycle (see Fig 1.) is a good example (1984) and is referred to in abundance in literature from our field from the 1980s onwards. It is especially common in development training literature from the past; in the Brathay Hall staff development notes of that time in the early 1980s trainers were encouraged to understand and follow the Kolb learning process (Everard, 1993; 13) on all courses.