How Children and Their Parents Learn through Travel

The Irish poet and philosopher John O‘Donohue writes in his book Anam Cara: ‚Autumn is one of my favourite times of the year; seeds sown in the spring, nurtured by the summer, now yield their fruit in autumn. It is harvest, the homecoming of the seeds‘ long and lonely journey through darkness and silence under the earth‘s surface… The fertility of the earth yielded its fruitfulness. Correspondingly, when it is autumn in your life, the things that happened in the past, or the experiences that were sown in the clay of your heart, almost unknown to you, now yield their fruit. Autumntime in a person‘s life can be a time of great gathering. It is a time for harvesting the fruits of your experiences‘ (p. 207). Anyone who has accumulated wide ranging experiences in teaching faces a creative choice in putting that legacy to paper. The author in this case chose to use a series of photos with text to illustrate formative and inspirational moments from his several decades as a dedicated teacher, and father. His account begins with university studies in special and gifted education, followed by years of teaching school while living a rich family life with his wife and two boys, and it ends with his pedagogical and research activities in the field of higher education coupled, in part, with retrospective reflections during these later years. The author closes the volume with a description of an intergenerational learning project that served to put him in touch once more with his own roots. ‚Kampen, Sylt, where the idea for this book originated, and Hartland Quay, Devon, where I finished this work, during my walks on the South West Coast Path, in the years 2014 and 2015,´ J. B.

For Christmas, the father in this case study gave each of his two sons a voucher for a one-week trip that the boys would plan for individually and then take separately with the father during the upcoming summer vacation. The father records the initial thought processes and the plans in journal form. Together they reread journals from earlier trips and reflect on what happened in their course. What follows are accounts of the father hiking with the older son in southwest Ireland and then subsequent excursions in Berlin with his younger son. The two journeys planned by the children are then examined and discussed using qualitative textual analysis. Lastly, the findings are linked to current theoretical knowledge.

Anyone who has accumulated wide ranging experiences in teaching faces a creative choice in putting that legacy to paper. The author in this case chose to use a series of photos with text to illustrate formative and inspirational moments from his several decades as a dedicated teacher, and father. His account begins with university studies in special and gifted education, followed by years of teaching school while living a fulfilling family life with his wife and two boys. These experiences culminate with his pedagogical research activities in the field of higher education coupled, in part, with retrospective reflections during these later years. The chapter closes with selected material from an intergenerational learning project that served to put the author in touch once more with his own roots.

The focus of this chapter is education within families. The father in this case study gave each of his two sons a voucher for a one-week trip that the boys would each plan, then take separately with the father during the upcoming summer vacation. The father collected his initial thought processes and the plans in journal form. Together they reread journals from earlier trips and reflected on what happened in their course. Here the two journeys planned by the children are examined and discussed using qualitative textual analysis with the findings are linked to current theoretical knowledge.

What can we learn from a teacher's journal about working with challenging youth? Why does the Training Room Program in German schools impede the development of an empowering learning culture? What experiences transpire during a train trip to the sea with an unruly crew of school boys? Or: what happens when children plan a trip on their own? Anyone who has accumulated experiences in teaching faces creative choices when putting that legacy to paper. The author chose to use this selection of studies to illustrate formative and inspirational moments from his years as a dedicated teacher and father.

What Experiential Education is and why it is so important for a balanced emotional and social development of children and youth is explained very clearly on the website of the Association for Experiential Education (AEE). AEE is the leading international association for Experiential Education, Outdoor– and Adventure Education, Adventure Therapy, Wilderness Therapy etc. Experiential Education is defined by AEE like this: „Challenge and Experience followed by Reflection leading to Learning and Growth.“ This definition is spelled out by the following descriptions and explanations: „Experiential education is a philosophy that informs many methodologies in which educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills, clarify values, and develop people's capacity to contribute to their communities.“ The core principles of Experiential Education are the following: „Experiential learning occurs when carefully chosen experiences are supported by reflection, critical analysis and synthesis. Experiences are structured to require the learner to take initiative, make decisions and be accountable for results. Throughout the experiential learning process, the learner is actively engaged in posing questions, investigating, experimenting, being curious, solving problems, assuming responsibility, being creative, and constructing meaning. Learners are engaged intellectually, emotionally, socially, soulfully and/or physically. This involvement produces a perception that the learning task is authentic. The results of the learning are personal and form the basis for future experience and learning. Relationships are developed and nurtured: learner to self, learner to others and learner to the world at large. The educator and learner may experience success, failure, adventure, risk-taking and uncertainty, because the outcomes of experience cannot totally be predicted. Opportunities are nurtured for learners and educators to explore and examine their own values. The educator's primary roles include setting suitable experiences, posing problems, setting boundaries, supporting learners, insuring physical and emotional safety, and facilitating the learning process. The educator recognizes and encourages spontaneous opportunities for learning. Educators strive to be aware of their biases, judgments and pre-conceptions, and how these influence the learner. The design of the learning experience includes the possibility to learn from natural consequences, mistakes and successes“ (Website, AEE).

Dieser Band basiert auf Tagebuchaufzeichnungen, Reisenotizen und Tonbandmitschnitten, die den Autoren zur wissenschaftlichen Aufbereitung zur Verfügung gestellt wurden. Ein Jahr lang haben Thomas, der Vater, teils auch Anja, die Mutter, sowie Tim und Daniel, die beiden Kinder, ihr gemeinsames und ihr individuelles Leben dokumentiert: unter dem Aspekt der Planung und Durchfuhrung von Reisen in Deutschland und Europa, spater auch in den Vereinigten Staaten. Die dokumentierten aktuellen und in der Rückschau rekonstruierten Reiseprojekte wurden teils in der kompletten Familie, teils in kleineren Eltern-Kind-Formationen realisiert. Die Kinder wurden zunehmend an der Planung dieser Reisen beteiligt und ermutigt, eigene Vorstellungen mit ins zu Spiel bringen. Deutlich wird die Verschiedenheit der kindlichen Interessen, Motivationen, Denkhorizonte und Handlungsoptionen. Der analytische Blick richtet sich vor allem auf die in diesen Materialien aufscheinenden Bindungs- und Bildungserfahrungen, auf die Lern- und Auseinandersetzungsprozesse der Heranwachsenden, wie sie sich aus der Sphäre des Familiären heraus entwickeln und auf die diesbezüglichen Interaktionen zwischen Eltern und Kindern. Die eingearbeiteten Wissensbausteine und Denkimpulse zielen auf das Ergründen der tieferen Bedeutungsschichten der dokumentierten Episoden und Erfahrungen, auf das Herstellen von theoretischen Querverbindungen, auf das Entwickeln von Forschungsfragen sowie auf das Ableiten von praktischen pädagogischen Handlungsmodellen.