Wild Spaces at KPU promotes learning outdoors

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A new group at Kwantlen Polytechnic University has a mission to share the importance of place-based learning and encourage students to take learning outdoors. 

Wild Spaces is led by Lee Beavington, a learning strategist and interdisciplinary instructor at KPU. The project was funded through the Teaching and Learning Innovation Fund. 

“I had the idea to make an application and I sent out an invite to a bunch of folks and there’s now 12 of us. It’s a very interdisciplinary team of faculty and students working together, and I’m the one that sort of spearheads or coordinates things for this project,” Beavington says. 

Another inspiration for the project came from a survey done by the Natural Spaces Advising Committee after some trees on the Surrey campus were cut down in 2019. Instructors, faculty, and other instructional staff were asked who uses outdoor spaces on campus to learn, Beavington says. 

“I think it was over 30 different departments at KPU that use outdoor spaces…. I’m really passionate about taking learners outside because I see so many benefits across the board for taking out learning outdoors in an intentional way.” 

Among the group, he says there are people from geography, fine arts, journalism, learning centres, accessibility, psychology, and biology. One student in the project is Lisa Hedmark, a fourth-year journalism student. 

Hedmark has been participating in the project as part of her arts practicum. It involves learning lessons about local nature while having some class time outside around the Surrey campus, she says. Through the project, one thing she learned is the KPU Surrey campus is home to about 1,000 trees. 

“You wouldn’t think about it if you have been at the Surrey campus because it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of trees, but there’s a lot of wildlife very close to us. Especially Cougar Creek Park, which I just learned that there’s a salmon spawning area there [and is] only a 12-minute walk from KPU Surrey, so it’s really interesting,” Hedmark says. 

“I’ve learned students actually learn better outside. [Beavington] decided to teach one class outside on a semester in a biology course he was doing, and that day they had to do a test. So, they did the test outside and they did significantly better than all the tests they did inside.”

Hedmark says she has been applying what she’s learned in Wild Spaces to all her courses and finding ways to bring them outside. She says having Wild Spaces is important in staying connected due to many outdoor spaces being taken away through urbanization and gentrification. 

Hedmark recommends students and instructors participate in the project to connect with the outside space and other students at KPU. 

“Learning on and with the land is a key consideration for Indigenizing the curriculum. Wild Spaces explores the idea of Nature as teacher and cultivating ecoliteracy, connection to place, and Indigenous land-based pedagogy,” Beavington said in a follow-up email to The Runner. 

Beavington is currently working on developing a website for Wild Spaces, which is expected to be ready in 2023. 

“We have so much material in terms of video, maps, research, and writing that student researchers have done. It’s just a matter of getting it onto a website,” he says. 

There is an upcoming nature walk on Nov. 23 where students will get to see salmon spawn and learn about the local greenery and wildlife. Those interested can contact Beavington for details at lee.beavington@kpu.ca.