Outdoor Activities & Overall Health

Van Hemert, M. (2015). Long Lake.

Genius Hour

As I'm beginning to learn more and more about Genius Hour, I find my mind to be spinning. I'm facing questions such as; What makes a good Genius Hour question? Is there a topic that I am interested in extensively learning about? Can I choose something that is relevant to my life? Will I be able to pick a topic that others would find to be interesting? Well, I think I have found that kind of topic. After running it by a handful of my teacher candidate colleagues, I'm ready to get this 'show on the road!'.

The question I have designed for my Genius Hour project is: 
How does regular participation in outdoor activities improve our overall health and well-being? 

AORE National Office. (2015, August 26).

Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education [Video].

Retrieved from http://bit.ly/1UKmcrq

Throughout this project, I hope to learn about the extent of impact that outdoor activities and recreation can have on enhancing daily living. I also hope to learn about the impact that simply being in nature can have in every aspect of life. This can include physical, emotional, and mental well-being. As I learn more about this topic, I hope that this will continue to encourage my participation in outdoor activities. Currently, some of my favourite outdoor activities include; running, swimming, kayaking, paddle boarding and hiking. Who knows, maybe I will learn about more outdoor activities throughout out my research in this project. 

I'm not 100% sure about what my next step will be, however there are a few things that I will need to begin focusing on. I think I'd like to start figuring out what the most common and popular outdoor activities are, as well as what people like about them. Something else I'd like to investigate would be what the scientific benefits of the various activities are. I would also like to find testimonials of people who participate in outdoor activities, to see what they like and how they feel.

Van Hemert, M. (2015). Paddle boarding.