Practical+Learning+at+UC+SSC+Lake+Ginninderra


 * Practical Learning **

In Lake Ginninderra College we got to observe a number of practical courses and two of our members even got to experience practical learning themselves by joining the outdoor education excursion to Bungonia National park for a two-day caving trip. We would like to thank especially Mr Peter Blunt for giving us this great opportunity and also the whole team for helping us get through the trip with us having no previous experience. We would also like to thank Mr Thearle for having us in his metal work lessons.

Lake Ginninderra College offers a wide range of practical courses such as Outdoor education, Metal work, Wood work, Automotive technology and Furniture construction. These are very popular amongst students who learn best through practical, hands on experience. The fact that this is not a negligible number of students is supported by the results of our questionnaire, which say that 61% of the 202 students who completed the questionnaire said that they liked practical learning, and also 35% of the 195 students (who answered this question) selected practical learning as one of their Top 3 choices.

“I like to learn, like practical, cause your not just stuck in a chair writing down, you get to move around. And you get to learn new skills and it’s just, it’s a better way of learning instead of just being told to write stuff off the board.” –Student, UC SSC Lake Ginninderra

Most of these courses are at a very highly developed stage and taught by people with years of experience, which is very beneficial for individual students as well as the school’s reputation. Especially the Outdoor Education course is very attractive for students who according to Mr Blunt “want to live their life to the fullest and want to take on new challenges” and in some cases it even makes students chose Lake Ginninderra over other schools (as we observed during Lake Ginninderra’s Open Night).


 * Outdoor Education **

This extensive outdoor program was established about 15 years ago and became very professional and developed. Its main purpose is to combine practical and theoretical in a way that appeals to students and allows them to learn some valuable skills (team work, leadership, decision making, personal organisation etc.), improve peer relationships, develop a relationship with natural environment and simply have some fun and do something exciting at school.

“Like it’s good for everyone to learn about the environment and that sort of thing and how amazing like what we have out there rather than just you know getting caught up in technology.” – Outdoor Education Student, UC SSC Lake Ginninderra

From a teacher’s point of view the program is very demanding and involves a lot of effort and time investment but is also very rewarding and fulfilling. However, staffing is one of the challenges this program has to face which is given by the fact that it is not constantly funded and relies only on students’ contribution and donations from the past. This is although being dealt with in a way that seems very effective – by taking advantage of the link with University of Canberra. Student teachers, who are studying outdoor education or PE at University of Canberra, volunteer to help out Outdoor education teachers from Lake Ginninderra which gives them valuable teaching experience and brings very much needed staff to Lake Ginninderra.


 * What is personalised? **

Students get a lot of choice in terms of particular activities they do and also the level of those activities. Another personalised aspect would be the fact that, for the students who chose this program, combination of practical and theoretical is the best way of learning and it allows them to reach their full potential in this subject. “Some people like learn a lot better doing stuff rather than just sitting you know in a classroom writing.” –Student, UC SSC Lake Ginninderra “I guess because we are learning about rocks in class and we’re just like looking at PowerPoints and writing stuff down and reading stuff... but then here we’re actually seeing it and how it’s changing and different ways with weather.”–Student, UC SSC Lake Ginninderra