Taught a class to middle schoolers

T

Tasselhoff

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Oct 10, 2007
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I am a P.E. coach and got permission to add a wilderness survival course to the middle school pe curriculum. It is a work in progress. This year they learned the basics. How to stay calm, the rule of three, shelter building and site prep. Ho to build a PSK, use a signal mirror, and start a fire using matches, flint and steel, and fire piston. (and how to make/find tender, fuzz sticke and fatwood.) As well as signal fires.

Next year I am adding a map and compass section, tool selection (picking a good knife over a "cool" knife), packing a backpack, and trip planning.

I love teaching this and the kids seem to eat it up. The school is in an urban area, but happens to have about 30 acres of woods and swamps right behind it's athletic fields. We make good use of that area.

So any other ideas? I cannot teach snares and traps (maybe fish traps). Other than that let me know where I should take this. If i do it slow and steady this class could become a full blown Intro to Wilderness Survival.
 
Basic fishing skills, with basic tackle or an emergency fishing kit, give a man a fish and he can eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll never go hungry or whatever that saying is.
 
Sounds like an awesome idea. Kudos to you for doing it :thumbup:

I would add a talk about the survivorman fan that died recently and how they should never purposely try to go into the woods to "play" survival without having the proper gear along. Also maybe the importance of always letting people know your plans.
 
wild edibles? I'd skip that...the last thing you need is to be shut down for some kids eating bad mushrooms and having them say you told them so...



Knots

-great for indoor work, rainy days etc

cheap just needs rope and bars(handrails, door bars, pe climbing equipment.

$ out on
some short ropes, colour dye the ends or use two different colours
(not red and green...you may have some colour blind kids)

there are some excellent websites as teaching aids

http://animatedknots.com/


Once they know a half dozen knots, you can make it more P than E, with some sort of relay / obstacle course with knots as stations to complete....

or a tv Survivor type obstacle course
>=2 groups,
each group has one rope, wraps it about some equipment (chairs, whatever) knots the heck out of it and then the other team has to untie it...speed race between the two...cooperation...competition...all that stuff.
 
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Wild edibles are out. Kids are stupid. they will try to eat anything and I will be responsible. Knots is a great idea. We did talk about Survivorman and man vs. wild and talked about entertainment verses good advice. (At which point I showed a Ray Mears video!)

Water purification is a great idea too.

12345678910 - great ideas. That would make a great "exam" Thanks and keep the ideas coing guys.
 
How old are the kids?
Within the knots, light construction. Maybe a stretcher. or ladder?
Observation, bird watching, tracking?
Talk about different environments, You Northern hemisphereians are obsessed with fire making Here in the great Southern land we never/rarely have trouble getting a fire going but having enough water that is a whole 'nother ball game.
Putting together a kit knife? leather work?
My wife is a High school teacher and spoke to me about doing something with the troubled kids at her school, But things as they are here in our Police State no knives or fire It would make a very short and dull Survival/Bushcraft course.
I do run a course for a Local Army Cadet unit. Instead of Wild edibles we do trap and fish but the kids carry some emergency rations in their gear.
How about always building your practise fires with a fire piston but have a ziptied lighter in your psk with some trioxoline for when the proverbial hits.
Carl
Carl
 
Definitely start with brain tanning and scat identification to weed out the weak, then go right into emergency enemas and elephant dung water drinking. :D

Seriously, kids love building shelters and learning about what sort of things will kill, make sick, or maim. I remember getting a lesson about Giardia and being at once excited by hearing about how dangerous something as simple as water can be and entertained at the description of the symptoms (kids also love hearing about poop).
 
Plant and animal identification would be a useful addenda. Not necessarily survival-oriented per se but just as something a well-informed citizen and outdoorsperson should know.

I like the water purification idea as well. Lots of interesting projects you could have them set up, like building a solar water trap.
 
akthor said:
Basic fishing skills, with basic tackle or an emergency fishing kit, give a man a fish and he can eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll never go hungry or whatever that saying is.
Click to expand...

I think the proper saying is this:
Give a man a fish and he can eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will spend many days in a boat drinking beer.

Or something like that.
 
12345678910 said:
some short ropes, colour dye the ends or use two different colours
(not red and green...you may have some colour blind kids)
Click to expand...

Light & dark fixes that problem easily. I have black & tan paracord - even a colour blind kid could see the difference between them.
 
You've got shelter in there, but I'd have a bunch of demos of a couple of types of tents, set up a tarp and maybe a hammock. I think the tents are not quite as 'sexy' here on the forums, but most kids recognize this as camping and lets face it, most people's exposure to camping is first with gear and then leads to primitive methods.

Having a couple basic dome tents, e.g. from coleman or something on hand so that they can practice setting them up and taking them down. May sound trivial, but they will get a kick out of it and will probably use that in the future. Use this as an opportunity to talk about what constitutes a good tend and the trade offs between size and weight and packability. That makes a natural lead in to the tarp shelter.

Also sleep systems should be discussed, from emergency blanket, to sleeping bag. How to ensure there is insulation between the bag and the ground. How to build that from natural materials if needed, but also how to select a sleeping mat.
 
Prevention of hypo/hyperthermia
Wilderness first aid
Signalling for help
 
Lest we not forget basket making, cordage making, and perhaps quickee net making (knotting alternate pairs of hanging cords). There's also pottery, atlatls, archery (might not get a green light :confused:), ground to air signals, signaling with mirrors,
 
Sounds like a great idea, best of luck with it! I'd recommend a lot of tracking/ecology as well. Not only is it very useful, but ties right in with biology and might make the instruction seem more important to administrators. Nature is just so much more incredible when you understand, even at a basic level how the land, plants, and animals are interacting. Some instruction on identifying and removing invasive species might be appropriate as well and ties in with volunteer work. You might be able to tie a week of class in with one of the kid's science classes or something as well.

If you're interested in doing something with ecology/tracking, I know a woman who lives near me who developed an outdoors/tracking curriculum for a middle school she used to work at. She's currently coauthoring a book on the subject. If you'd like to get in touch with her, shoot me a PM. She's extremely knowledgeable, and contributed greatly to my appreciation of the outdoors. I believe she'd be very happy to help as this is a subject she's passionate about.
 
How about tarp set-up? Covers many topics - sight selection, knots, tarp types, different setup configs, ground insulation, fire concerns, etc.

It's hands-on and the kids can sit under their creations.
 
I was lucky enough to be able to take a course like this in school. It was half a semester hunters safety course and the other half wilderness survival. Counted for a science credit.

The final exam was to build a fire. No match fire was an A+, 1 match was an A, 2 matches a B etc. No lighters were allowed. It also had to be done with what you normally carry in your PSK.

Was a cool class.
 
Flora: Teach about plants to AVOID, can't get in trouble telling kids to stay out of poison ivy/oak, to walking/crawling through thorns etc. etc. healthy knowledge of possible dangers.

brians, great idea with tarp setup, very useful not just for rain, but wind and sun shelter.

hiwa hit on excessive exposure to the elements.

So much a kid can learn if people are willing to teach. Good on ya!
 
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