Unit 1 Exploring outdoor experiences
AOS1: Motivations for outdoor experiences
1.1.1 Uses and meanings of common terms
Key knowledge
the use and meanings of
terms including nature,
outdoor environments,
wilderness, managed parks,
and urban environments
and built environments
Key skills
define and describe a range
of relevant terms
analyse ways in which
outdoor environments can
be known, experienced and
responded to, by reflecting
on both personal experiences
and the experiences of other
people
Uses and meanings
Common concepts relating to OES that help to describe and understand
what is to come

Uses of the term- Nature

Nature is one of those words that seems pretty simple
until you have to come up with a definition for it.

Task:
Can you define nature in each of these contexts?
Human nature
Nature vs. nurture
The laws of nature
The nature of . (something)
Mother nature
Mother Nature
The concept of mother nature raises an interesting
question:
why mother instead of father

TASK:
Research the following goddesses- outline their origin
and what they had in common-
Gaia
Terra
Aranyani
Pachamama
Eingana
Meanings of Nature:
We use the term nature in a variety of ways. This makes defining it tricky
Nature is probably best thought of as the living things, the ecosystems and processes that
form them, and the places we find these things.

Natural, unnatural and artificial:

TASK:
Define and give an example for each of:
- Natural
- Artificial.
- Unnatural
Consider the following:

GMOs = Genetically Modified Organism

Recent years have seen the development of many food sources that have been
genetically modified.
One example of this: Golden rice
This was engineered to include beta-carotene, a form of vitamin A in order to
help developing countries where their diet was lacked it.
670,000 children die each year due to this deficiency.
Other GMOs include genes for herbicide resistance, virus protection, growth
hormones and fruit decay.

GMOs take naturally occurring genes and splice them into a new organism.

When you put genes from one organism into another, is that natural?

Does it matter?
Urban and built environments
If artificial can be used as the opposite of natural, urban environments and built
environments can be considered the opposite of natural environments.

Built environments
places that have been crafted or modified by people and include buildings, parks and transport
systems like roads and railways.

Urban environments -
are built environments that have a high density of human population towns and cities.

Tricky examples:
An indoor climbing gym?
Is a built environment that attempts to recreate conditions found in a natural environment

A garden?
May be a built environment, but may be heavily planted with native plants and be large
enough to be considered a natural environment
Are human impacts really unnatural?
There is much debate about whether all human impacts can be considered to be unnatural or
natural.

Remember: unnatural usually refers to objects or processes that humans have influenced in
some way.

Conundrum:
Learning Activity: Use of nature and natural environments in media (pg.8-9)
Find and describe at least FIVE examples of the way nature and natural environments
are used in the media (eg: newspaper, magazines, television). Include with each
description a note about the media source.
Choose TWO of your examples and analyse each, addressing the following questions:
1. What is the purpose of this media use of nature/natural environments
2. Do you think this purpose is or may be achieved? Why/why not?
3. What might be a result of this particular portrayal of nature/natural environment?
4. Do you think this portrayal is good, bad or neither? Why/why not?

Learning Activity: Examples of nature (pg.9) This work is to be

completed and
Choose one of the following:
submitted during
Zoo kickstart 2017
Aquarium
Residential garden
Argue whether this place should be considered an outdoor environment or not. Include at
least ONE argument supporting this place as an outdoor environment. Include at least
ONE argument that opposes the idea of this place as an outdoor environment. Give your
own judgement based on the arguments.
 Wilderness
An environment that is big, remote and
untouched, or relatively untouched, by humans
Defining Wilderness See pg.10

BIG: TASK: Write a short explanation

for each of the above descriptors-
ie: what makes big- big, how do
we define remote and how do we
REMOTE: describe whether something is
untouched or not?

UNTOUCHED:
Critiques of Wilderness
Consider each of the following:
Indigenous Australians
Feral Species
Poor representation of
habitats/
lack of connectivity between
habitats

TASK: Write a brief explanation for

each of the above problems with
wilderness
Protected areas:
Other than wilderness areas, there are a number of other types of protected area
across Australia.

In Australia, we use the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list* of
protected area categories as part of the process for protecting, preserving and
managing outdoor environments.

*See the list on pg.14-15

Protected areas in Victoria:

1/3 of Victoria is public land land that is managed, maintained and held for the people by
the state government.
Half of this (17% of the states total area) is protected by parks and reserves.
These are categorised using the IUCN list and they have a hierarchy to the level of protection
this gives them. This goes from highest to lowest as follows.

1. World Heritage protected areas 2. National Parks 3. Wilderness Parks

4. Marine Parks 5. State Parks 6. Local/Metropolitan Parks