Purpose
Although outdoor education (OE) has obtained formal curricular legitimacy and has been promoted in Taiwan for over a decade, its overall contours and research trends remain difficult to grasp as policy and practice have preceded theoretical development. Moreover, its philosophical-theoretical foundations are tenuous, and relevant studies, both domestic and international, are relatively scarce. Concurrently, most research in this field has focused on pedagogical methods and has even confined its definition to mere strategies, lacking a robust theoretical basis for its existence as a distinct curriculum. Against this backdrop, the present study aims to construct both an ontology and an epistemology for OE, and to philosophically articulate a new definition of the field.
Main Theories or Conceptual Frameworks
To achieve the research purposes, this study draws upon the pragmatism of J. Dewey and the phenomenology of M. Merleau-Ponty. In addition to distinguishing “lived experience” from “experience” by drawing upon J. Dewey’s “primary experience” and “secondary experience” as well as Merleau-Ponty’s “pre-reflective experience” and “reflective experience”, this study further places a particular focus on the former’s concepts of “learning by doing” and “transaction”, as well as the latter’s perspectives on the “body”, “embodiment”, and the “flesh”, in order to reconceptualize terms within OE such as “sensory experience”, “holism”, “the outdoors”, and “the real world.”
Research Design/Methods/Participants
This study adopts a systematic review to analyze 57 Taiwanese journal articles on the topic of “outdoor education” to explore the following question: What curriculum concepts are embedded in the existing literature? Based on a critical reflection on these analytical findings, the study further introduces the philosophical perspectives to examine how an ontological and epistemological frameworks of OE might be constructed, and to philosophically formulate a new definition of OE. Finally, the study presents its findings, conclusions, and recommendations.
Research Findings or Conclusions
First, the systematic review reveals that Taiwan’s OE curriculum is facing a crisis of dissolving subjectivity. It functions as an all-encompassing umbrella, conflated with fields such as environmental, experiential, and adventure education. Moreover, research trends indicate that this umbrella is still expanding without clear boundaries, incorporating a wide array of settings and activities, which further obscures its identity as a standalone curriculum. Furthermore, OE is frequently instrumentally applied, leading to the erosion of its substantive curricular essence. The divergence between nomenclature and practice further reveals a latent concern: a fundamental lack of a guiding curricular rationale.
Second, one reason for this unbounded expansion is the lack of ontological and epistemological foundations for OE. This study finds that a synthesis of pragmatism and phenomenology can provide a robust theoretical basis for the field. In the former case, “the outdoors” is a reality that can only be constituted through transaction; in the latter, the so-called “real world” represents a sufficient ontology in which embodied being and the world are intertwined as “the flesh”, and “holistic sensory experience” serves as the praxis and manifestation of this embodied being.”
Third, based on the curriculum theory developed from this philosophical perspective, this study reconceptualizes key terminology in OE and defines OE as “a curricular approach that, within the tension between situatedness and freedom, practices being through embodied experience.”
Theoretical or Practical In-sights/Contributions/Recommendations
This study conducts, for the first time, a systematic review of Taiwanese journal literature on OE and, on this basis, constructs an ontology and an epistemology, ultimately proposing a new definition of OE. These contributions may provide directions for reflection and careful consideration for policymakers, curriculum developers and designers, and teachers on whether the curriculum can, through holistic embodied experiences, restore and deepen the connection between students and the real world, ultimately facilitating a more profound disclosure of their own being. It is recommended that practitioners and future researchers, building on this foundation, re-examine the curricular conceptions and pedagogical practices of OE, and pursue further inquiry into methodological issues related to policy, teacher education, and instructional design.
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