Improving Discussions

At Eagle Bluff I continued to learn and grow as an educator. As a fellowship naturalist, I took a couple of graduate classes through Hamline University which helped focus my learning.  Among other things, I greatly improved my group facilitation skills and debriefing skills for adventure education classes. For this assignment I planned questions I could ask students that would help facilitate deeper levels of conversation related to Eagle Bluff's Cross-Country Skiing class. The concepts I focused on where taken directly from the class teaching objectives.     

 

Concepts	Knowledge/ Comprehension	Application	Analysis	Synthesis	Evaluation
Cross-country skiing was practiced thousands of years ago as a form of transportation and continues to be popular today.	Describe the history of cross-country skiing and how we use it today.	Summarize how skiing has been important to different groups of people.	Compare how skiing was done 1000 years ago to how it is done today.	Hypothesize why skiing was important for people thousands of years ago.	Evaluate skiing as a form of transportation.
Cross-country skiing requires specific knowledge and skills, but can be enjoyed by people of nearly all ages and ability levels.	Explain how people of different abilities can enjoy skiing.	Summarize the skills you used skiing today.	Compare how skiing might be different for someone who is very old and someone who is very young.	What if we started skiing with no instruction?	Evaluate how you feel now on your skies compared with how you felt at the beginning of class.
Practicing outdoor recreation promotes good heath and respect for the natural world.	Give examples of how you were respectful towards yourself and the environment today.	How can you model respect outsides of eagle bluff?	Relate spending time having fun outside to taking care of the natural world – can one lead to the other?	Predict what would happen if you went skiing with your family when you get home.	Interpret why Eagle Bluff encourages students to learn skills like cross country skiing.