Outdoor Ed Muir Details
This semester in MUIR we did three main things that were snorkelling, archery and orienteering. We did snorkelling for the whole of term one and worked on everything for it including fitness and breath hold in the pool up until we went for out practice snorkel trips to Coogee. This was all working up to our full day trip to Rottnest. We then did our archery and orienteering together with Friday periods being archery and the 3 others being orienteering.
In snorkelling we worked on everything in the pool, played games and did relays every now and then. We also worked on our swimming and snorkelling skills so that we were all confident for the Coogee and Rottnest open water trips. We did the 400 metre swimming test for us to be trusted in the water. We practiced the SAFE SNORKEL acronym and were tested on them at Rottnest before we were able to get into the water. Rottnest was amazing in the water and we saw all kinds of things from corals to seals and everything in between. Diving down and going through little holes in the rock and the corals was amazing and it was a great thing to be able to do.
In orienteering we started out learning everything we needed to know about direction and compasses so that we could take bearings and find markings that are set out. We practiced at Manning park and did two different courses. We are now waiting to go to Jorgensen’s to do orienteering and some people are going to the state championships. We did courses in the college and we worked on our bearing finding with different activities in the classrooms and using cones on the oval and in the ISC.
During the archery lessons we have been taught by Mary how to get better grouping and accuracy in our shooting up until we got to do a clout shoot. We used targets and practiced at 11 metres until we moved up to 12 and then 13 metres when we started scoring. I could definitely see an improvement in my shooting with Mary’s guidance learning about anchor points and how and where to aim our arrows.
Leave No Trace (LNT)
Leave no trace is something that in the Outdoor Ed classes is very important and is a priority for all people including students and teachers. It is important to represent our school and keep the environment clean and nice for all living things and to also keep the earth the best we can as individuals.
There are seven principles in LNT that are needed to be considered and they are:
- Plan ahead and prepare which ensures safety and ability to follow directions easily because of all the things done in preparation for any trip or excursion.
2. Travel and camp on durable surfaces. This makes it hard to step on or harm any communities of organisms, plants or living things in general by making sure that you are travelling on ground that is safe for everyone and everything.
3. Making sure to dispose of waste and rubbish correctly. Obviously we know the effects that rubbish and plastic pollution is having on the earth so not taking your waste from where you have been is a thing that should never be done.
4. Leave what you find which is a principle that is in place so that we do not harm any organisms or the environment around us. We need to make sure we do not step on or take anything important to ecosystems around us.
5. Minimising campfire impacts is another principle which is in place to reduce the risk of bushfires or fires that could harm anything in the environment and they are important to us and things around it.
6. Respecting the wildlife is essential when out in the bush and that is why it is a principle. Respecting wildlife is important for the obvious reasons such as protecting them and there homes. They are essential parts of our lives and other organisms lives.
7. The final principle is being considerate of other visitors which maintains the enjoyment of everyone at the place that you are. Making sure of this makes it a much better experience for everyone.