Designing Outdoor Learning That Lasts
Outdoor learning is often justified because it is engaging, memorable, exciting and meaningful. However, a memorable experience does not automatically become lasting learning. This interactive session explores how outdoor educators can move beyond creating powerful experiences to deliberately designing powerful learning.
Drawing on cognitive science, experiential education, assessment research and practical examples from international schools, fieldwork, expeditions and STEAM programmes, participants will examine how prior knowledge, retrieval, spacing, elaboration and transfer can strengthen learning beyond the outdoor experience itself. Rather than asking simply whether students enjoyed an experience, we will consider a more challenging question: what can they still remember, explain and apply weeks or months later?
Participants will leave with practical strategies for designing outdoor learning programmes that maximise retention, transfer and long-term impact, while developing ways to evaluate whether learning has actually lasted.
Fabio Di Salvo
STEM Educator
Dr Fabio Di Salvo is a STEM educator, educational leader and former engineer with experience across international education in science, mathematics, computing and experiential learning.
He has a particular interest in the intersection between cognitive science and outdoor education, exploring how learning experiences can be designed to be engaging while also producing lasting knowledge, skills and understanding. Fabio has designed and led a range of outdoor and experiential programmes, including physics fieldwork and rainforest investigations in Malaysia and Singapore, outdoor STEM and STEAM experiences, expeditions and interdisciplinary learning programmes.
He is particularly interested in what happens after the experience: how students retain what they have learned, transfer it to new contexts and continue to apply it over time. His work combines evidence from cognitive science and educational research with practical experience of designing meaningful learning experiences in authentic environments.