Greenland 2003

BSES expeditions provide an ideal setting for investigating what it is that helps people ‘learn to see’. YEs have not previously been exposed to a wilderness environment, yet they quickly gain new skills to operate effectively. In addition, a unique culture spontaneously evolves. Thus the expedition setting is similar to traditional maritime communities in that learning is immersive, education is non-formal and the culture that evolves in the short and unique time the community exists is highly specific to the environment.

A series of tasks and discussions were undertaken to ensure that the YEs understood concepts of:

• individual perception in the context of environment, education and culture
• role of science and art in learning, as methods of enquiry and in retaining & sharing information within a community
• methods of learning and different learning environments
• human and physical dynamics and interaction in the environment
• profiling

In conclusion the expedition demonstrated that profiling concepts can be described even to those with limited experience of operating in a natural environment and that its techniques can be used as a learning tool to understanding that environment better. It also showed that there is much to be gained by following the learning process and construction of experience, rather than always attempting to deconstruct instinctive knowledge from experienced individuals. Where mentor to apprentice, or cross-generational exchange (elder to younger) has broken down, as with the decline of traditional maritime cultures, profiling techniques may partially fill this gap. Profiling must be extensive enough to include everybody’s most natural learning mode and take account of the dynamics between human, tools and environment. Several new profiling techniques were assessed and the lessons are now being transferred to facilitate training for maritime SAR.

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