From Monday 23rd till Friday 27th of April the Tangen-Project was taking place. We planned and realised several Outdoor Activities for students in their thirteenth and last year of school. The classes came in the afternoon, stayed the night and left around midday the next day. So in total we supervised four classes.
The area the Tangen-Project was taking place in is called Paulen, which is close to Vennesla. Paulen is a property owned by the local scouts in the middle of the forest. So there was a hut we could use with toilets, a big open field and some shelters the students used to sleep in, as well as some fire pits. There also was a small river we used to get our water from and a great forest area with lots of trees and rock formations.
We planned the activities in groups of two or three. So in total we organized eight activities: shelter building, fire making, river crossing, night line, slack line, jungle swing,
planning the activities and checking out the area
orienteering and barefoot path. Will and I were responsible for the fire making. Every activity took 30 minutes and then the students had to rotate to the next activity. The students could get up to 10 points for each activity and the group with the most points in the end won. On the Friday before the Project started we went to the Paulen area with the whole course to check out the area and see where we can set up which activity. Will and I chose one of the already installed fire pits for our fire making activity. There was a bench next to it where we could put on our equipment and the forest was right behind the pit, so it was easy for the students to collect their fire wood.
We decided to leave Kristiansand Monday morning at 10am, to make sure we have enough time to set up our camp and the activities before the students come in. For camping we chose the area on the other side of the river. There were many trees to put up our hammocks and it was also a bit away from the camp area of the students. I decided to sleep in the hammock for the whole week. As the weather forecast wasn’t 
too nice for the week (a little rainy and rather cold) I also took a tarp, which I put over my hammock. This was a wise decision, as it was raining a couple of times throughout the week. Theresa and I also brought our tent as a backup, in case the rain and wind would be too much for sleeping in the hammock. Luckily we didn’t need it, but it was good as a storage room. Sleeping in the hammock turned out to be really comfortable. I slept better than in a tent. As I put my air-mattress inside the hammock, I was nice and warm throughout all nights. What I also learned is that it is wise to strap the hammock as good as possible. Some didn’t strap it that well, so the hammock had the shape of a banana. They said that they felt their backs the next morning, which I luckily didn’t.
After organizing our camp area, we set up the activities and explained all of them to each other, to make sure that everyone knows what to do where. After everything was set up we had some spare time until the first group arrived. I used this time to test my hammock and took a little nap.
The first group arrived around 5pm and we started with the activities at 6. At our fire building activity the task was to make a fire and burn a string which we planned on setting up about waist height. Therefor the students got one piece of cotton wool, some antibacterial and the flint. Everything else they wanted to use for making their fire they had to collect. So after a short introduction from us and a brainstorming on what one needs to make a fire the students had time to collect their material. As soon as they 
started to light their fire with the flint we measured the time. The faster they managed to burn the string the more points they got. We also planned on giving points for good teamwork. The second task we planned was then making a hot chocolate on the fire. Due to the weather conditions we had to adjust the task. As there was a bit of rain before we started the activities everything was a bit moist. So we put the string lower, about knee-high. And we also found out that the time is too short for both tasks, as it took them quite a while to start the fire and built it up in these conditions. So after the first class we changed the task a bit: We skipped the hot chocolate. Instead we put the string on different levels. As soon as they managed to burn the string on knee-height we made it higher and higher.
It was really interesting to watch the groups working together. I could spot a lot of differences between the groups. We had groups that were working together really well, they communicated a lot, were making plans and dividing work up (according to Pat Williams’s words for “TEAM” as “together everyone achieves more”). On the other side there were teams that didn’t work together that well. As described in Forsyth (2010, p.294) I could spot some social loafers in these groups -students that didn’t do a lot, but were just standing around and waited for the others to collect branches and other dry stuff. And the communication also was very little in those groups. So it was really interesting to see how the effort the students put in and the results correlated. The groups that were very enthusiastic, motivated and showed good teamwork fulfilled the task generally a lot better. They managed to burn the string faster and make bigger fires, so that they could also burn the strings on higher levels. I especially remember one boys group. They were putting in so much effort. They talked a lot to each other and every single person helped to get the fire bigger. After they burned the string on
level 3 they really wanted to get the fire bigger, so they were all running into the woods over and over again to get more branches and dry grass and they were super enthusiastic. This was really nice to see. So Will and I decided to give them bonus points for their great teamwork, group cohesion and positive attitude. Some other groups we had to support and guide a bit more. For example if they came with wet stuff, only few fuel or only thick branches we asked them wondering or leading questions like “Do you think this handful of sticks is enough to make a fire big enough to burn the string?” or “what happens if you hold a match next to a big log of wood?” to help them finding out that smaller stuff is necessary to light and feed the fire in the beginning and then slowly feed the fire with bigger stuff. We also told them to only get dead stuff and not take anything from plants that are still alive. This has two reasons. One: it kills or hurts the plants and second: it won’t burn as good as it’s still wet if it’s alive. All in all I would say the groups did a good job. Except from one group they all managed to burn at least the lowest string. And in this group it wasn’t about teamwork, but about the weather conditions. Quite the opposite, this group was working together really good. They were all rather quite, but very concentrated and they were planning a lot. Just the conditions have been really bad. There was rain right before, so everything was wet and the air was really humid. Although they tried with really small kindling the fire wouldn’t built up. But they never gave up and even managed to make a tiny fire in the end.
From midday till afternoon, after one class left and the next came in, and in the evenings we had some free time for ourselves. So we were cooking together in our camp area or the tipi, played card games, spikeball and went for a walk. On Thursday we also went for swim in the river, as the weather was really nice that day compared to the other days. But the water was still super cold. So it was more a dip than a swim, but nice and refreshing. We also built a little “village” around our camp area. We made a fire pit and a fence out of branches around it and also a dome shaped roof.
our little “village”, we built up during the week
Together with Maike I was chopping some trunks for firewood. But only from dead trees, that were lying around. Sadly the boys cut down some alive trees, but Linda told them off. There were enough dead trees lying around all over the place, so there definitely was no need in killing trees. In the evenings we were sitting around the fire, having some sausages and marshmallows and talked and laughed a lot. I think we have a really good group cohesion. We’ve built up a stable network of support, friendship and communication.
In the mornings I did some Yoga, which gave me good energy for the rest of the day. One day I found a nice spot on a rock above the river. I really enjoyed experiencing nature with all my senses and hearing all those beautiful natural sounds. I think nature and Friluftsliv have a great influence on our well-being, health and satisfaction.
Although the weather could have been better I had a great week. I enjoyed working with the school classes and see different ways of working together. This week also showed 
me the potential of situational learning in the outdoors and building up social skills by taking part in teambuilding activities as described in Plummer (2009, p.63ff.). In the beginning I was a bit sceptic about the whole thing, as it’s been 17-18 year old students in the middle of their Russ-celebrations. So I thought they might not be that motivated and into outdoor activities. But the exact opposite happened. Except from a few students I only observed very motivated and enthusiastic students. We also got some good feedback from the teachers. This week also strengthened my wish to become a teacher and work outdoors with them as much as possible.
References:
Forsyth, D. R. (2010). Group Dynamics. Fifth Edition. Belmont, USA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Plummer, R. (2009). Outdoor Recreation. An introduction. New York: Routledge