How Navigation activities engage your students in learning 

The world is forever changing thanks to technology and especially smartphones. From a time when everyone used to be able to do complicated maths and read a map, our smartphones have made these tasks simpler and require nothing but a few taps to tell us the information we need.

We here at Active Learning Centres still believe there is a necessity for what can be described as a dying skill. We never know what the future holds with technology but we embrace the opportunity to teach navigation skills at our centers throughout a number of activities and how as a skill it can hold real weight in everyday scenarios.

Map Reading Skills

The most obvious benefit of teaching students when they attend Active Learning Centres about navigation is to give them the ability to read a map. It’s a skill that in the past was an obvious requirement for when you would go out and explore. In today’s modern world although electronic maps are useful there is always a chance that a loss of signal can strike. By teaching map reading skills they will be able to easily locate where there are in the landscape and the safest and most straightforward route to their destination.

Problem-solving capabilities

Other areas navigation skills help are with how we solve problems. For example, on our high rope courses, quick decision-making processes will be taking place as they choose which rock to use next to climb higher and tackle various obstacles. Students will be able to rely on their navigation skills to choose the most realistic route with the least resistance all the while communicating with their teammates to ensure they can learn from what they are experiencing. Now we know not every day in their normal routine will involve a high rope course but the process of choice and communicating with those surrounding them will be a skill they can transfer to many future scenarios.

Decision Making

Another fantastic skill we encourage them to learn during their school residential is decision-making. While learning navigation you are usually faced with a choice of left or right etc. They will use what they know about the surrounding information to make informed decisions which if chosen wrong will lead them down the incorrect path. It’s a part of our outdoor learning environment to show the decisions they make have consequences and how being more observant to the surrounding information can help make better informed decisions. This is a fantastic skill which they will be able to use in all their future endeavors in business and social environments as they grow older.

Navigation skills are so much more than reading a map. Although it is a fantastic skill to learn it has many positive knock on effects in different areas of their development which they will be able to continue to use for many years to come not just during their school residential stay with us at Active Learning Centres.