Are you going on one of our John Muir award courses? If so, download this useful pre-course pack that will help you and your pupils get ready for your course with a range of activities and information on the John Muir Award.

1. THE OUTWARD BOUND TRUST
& THE JOHN MUIR AWARD
A PRE-COURSE RESOURCE PACK FOR TEACHERS
AND STUDENTS TAKING PART IN THE JOHN MUIR AWARD

2. The Outward Bound Trust and the John Muir Award – a pre-course resource pack for teachers
2
PRE-COURSE RESOURCE PACK
CONTENT
2 Introducing the John Muir Award
3 Who was John Muir?
4 Ways to introduce the award to students
4 Activity ideas
5 Useful publications
6-7 Contacts
INTRODUCING THE JOHN MUIR AWARD
The John Muir Award is an environmental award scheme focused on wild places. It encourages
awareness and responsibility for the natural environment, in a spirit of fun, adventure and exploration.
Connect, enjoy and care for wild places
The Award is the educational initiative of the John Muir Trust. Four Challenges are at the heart of each
John Muir Award: discover - explore - conserve - share.
The John Muir Award is:
 Open and welcoming to all, regardless of age, sex, race, class or ability
 Non-competitive
 Focused on wild places
 Challenging and progressive
 Fun and adventurous
 Designed to promote personal development
 An opportunity to explore values and spirituality
 Designed to be delivered in partnerships
 Established to encourage personal responsibility for wild places
This pack provides you with information and activity ideas that will help to introduce the Award and its
themes. We have found that the students who engage most effectively with the Award are those who fully
understand its purpose, aims and background. Having some knowledge of John Muir and the nature of
the Award will optimise your students' time with us and help to transfer their learning back to school.
Equally, an understanding of the John Muir Award Proposal Form may help you to identify curriculum-
related links - let us know and we can send you a copy. The Outward Bound Trust will complete all the
paperwork prior to, and after, your course to facilitate your award. If you have any questions on how you
can better prepare your students, please get in touch!

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WHO WAS JOHN MUIR?
He was born in Scotland in 1838 and his family emigrated to America when he was 11. He lived on his
family’s farm and was often in trouble with his father for not pulling his weight because he spent much of
his time exploring and discovering nature instead of doing his chores! He was an inventor- among his
incredible inventions was an ‘early-rising’ machine, which dumped him out of bed first thing in the
morning. Dawn was one of his favourite times of the day. When he was
26 he spent a year in Canada living in the woods and took a job working
in a sawmill. In early March 1867, an accident changed the course of
his life: a tool he was using slipped and struck him in the eye. He was
confined to a darkened room for six weeks, wondering if he’d ever
regain his sight. When he did, "he saw the world—and his purpose—in a
new light". After this he decided to ‘be true to himself’ and dedicate his
life to exploring and fighting for the conservation of wild places. He is
the founding father of the National Park scheme and a founding
member of The Sierra Club, America’s leading conservation movement.
He was a prolific writer, with over 300 articles and 12 books written
during his lifetime. He not only led the efforts to protect forest areas and
have some designated as national parks, but his writings gave readers a
concept of the relationship between human culture and wild nature as
one of humility and respect for all life.
The John Muir Trust was established in 1983 and owns and manages large areas of wilderness in
Scotland with a view to protecting and enhancing it for future generations.
The message at the heart of the John Muir Award is that we should follow in the great
man’s footsteps and have the time to experience, enjoy, and care for wild places.
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.”
“One day's exposure to mountains is better than cartloads of books.”
“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give
strength to body and soul.”
“God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests
and floods. But he cannot save them from fools.”
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.”
See http://discoverjohnmuir.com/ for information, activities and examples.

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WAYS TO INTRODUCE THE AWARD TO STUDENTS
The John Muir Award Information Film: a great way to set the scene, help with planning, inform
and stimulate discussion. And only 10 minutes long! http://vimeo.com/73615762
Back to the Future: a 5 minute film showing what the younger generation think about John Muir:
http://vimeo.com/95260067
Discover John Muir: has information sources, activities that help connect with Muir’s messages,
stories and adventures, and examples on how people engage with Muir’s ethos.
http://discoverjohnmuir.com/
Finally here is a link to the John Muir Award website: http://www.jmt.org/jmaward-home.asp
ACTIVITY IDEAS
The Eco Game: explores connections between living things and can link very well to John Muir’s
quote: “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.”
Watch one of our instructors run the game with our staff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LSr_vE7-
jA.
Briefly, everyone in the group (works best with 10-40 people) chooses two other people in the group. On
your command they must position themselves equidistant (not necessarily directly in the middle of!)
between these two people. As one person moves so does everyone else - and they keep moving as the
world around them moves. Ask everyone to stand still. Pick one person and as you pull them away from
the main group ask everyone to move as they need to in order to maintain their correct distances.
Everyone will be connected. You can also finish, as Nick does in the video, by asking one person to sit,
representing death in the eco system. If one of your two connections sits down, you must also sit down.
Very soon your whole group are sitting.
This activity is excellent not only for getting students to talk about environments and eco systems, but
also the nature of teamwork and reliance on team mates as well as community responsibility - perfect
prep for their Outward Bound® experience!
A mini John Muir Award: use an area in your school grounds, or a natural object, to introduce the
four challenges (Discover, Explore, Conserve and Share). Use the language of the challenges! For
example, use a piece of grass from the school field and think about:
 Discover: think about where it’s come from, what it is, what it’s for.
 Explore: use your senses to investigate. Look at it through a magnifying glass, smell it, feel the
textures, make a sound on it, squeeze it... have some fun!
 Conserve: do something to make the place better. A litter pick or tidy up maybe - ask the students
what they want to do to put something back- ownership is a big part of the award.
 Share: let others know about your experiences, tell them, make posters or leaflets, take photos.

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Develop it into a forward looking activity: think about what you expect from the four challenges
once you arrive at The Outward Bound Trust. Find out about the place you’re going to (Discover). Think
about the ways that you could explore the environment (either through our adventures or your senses).
What will you do, to conserve our environment, and how will you share your experiences.
Use poems or readings: inspire students about the natural world through the words of others. Ask
them to write their own. This reading is on the back of a fantastic, informative booklet published by the
John Muir Award (available to download: http://www.jmt.org/jmaward-make-a-difference.asp)
‘If the Earth were only a few feet in diameter,
floating a few feet above a field somewhere,
people would come from everywhere to marvel at it.
People would walk round it, marvelling at its big pools of water,
its little pools and the water flowing between the pools.
People would marvel at the bumps on it, and the holes in it,
and the very thin layer of gas surrounding it and the water suspended in the gas.
The people would marvel at all the creatures walking around the surface of the ball
and at the creatures in the water.
The people would declare it as sacred because it was the only one,
and they would protect it so that it would not be hurt.
The ball would be the greatest wonder known,
and the people would come to pray to it, to be healed,
to gain knowledge, to know beauty and to wonder how it could be.
People would love it, and defend it with their lives,
because they would somehow know that their lives,
their own roundness, could be nothing without it.
If the Earth were only a few feet in diameter…’
Joe Miller
Other great nature poems can be found at http://judithpordon.tripod.com/poetry/id91.html
Mission:Explore John Muir: this is a unique set of 20 activities that will inspire people to follow in
the footsteps and reflect the adventures and ethos the Victorian Scot: https://www.jmt.org/jmaward-
mission-explore-john-muir.asp
USEFUL PUBLICATIONS (WHICH YOU CAN DOWNLOAD OR SEND OFF FOR)
The John Muir Award and the Curriculum for Excellence:
http://www.jmt.org/assets/john%20muir%20award/downloads/jmt_cfe_sep2013_singles.pdf
The John Muir Award and the National Curriculum:
http://www.jmt.org/assets/john%20muir%20award/downloads/the%20john%20muir%20award%20an
d%20the%20national%20curriculum%20-%20england.pdf
The John Muir Award Information Handbook. Copies available from your regional contact (see
below) or download from http://www.jmt.org/assets/john%20muir%20award/downloads/info-
book06.pdf
Make a difference (published by the John Muir Award) download it from
http://www.jmt.org/jmaward-make-a-difference.asp or contact your regional office for copies.

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Environmental Learning at the Outward Bound Trust: A Focus on the John Muir Award
and Outcomes achieved: A paper on how the John Muir Award contributes to the Outward Bound
Trust's delivery of environmental learning:
http://www.jmt.org/assets/john%20muir%20award/downloads/the%20outward%20bound%20trust-
environmental%20learning-external%20paper-apr%202014.pdf
Useful Resources and Links: http://www.jmt.org/jmaward-resources-links.asp
USEFUL CONTACTS
Get in touch with the John Muir Award, the
educational initiative of the John Muir
Trust:
41 Commercial Street, Edinburgh EH6 6JD
T: 0300 321 4962
E: info@johnmuiraward.org
W: www.johnmuiraward.org — www.jmt.org
John Muir Award Manager
Rob Bushby
E: rob@johnmuiraward.org
Scotland Manager
Toby Clark
Caspian House, Mariner Court
Clydebank Business Park, G81 2NR
T: 0141 951 0884
E: toby@johnmuiraward.org
Scotland Inclusion Manager
Kim McIntosh
41 Commercial Street
Edinburgh, EH6 6JD
T: 0131 554 0114
E: kim@johnmuiraward.org
Scotland Education Manager
Rebecca Logsdon
Tower House
Station Road
Pitlochry, PH16 5AN
T: 01796 484972
E: rebecca@johnmuiraward.org
Cairngorms
Al Smith
Cairngorms National Park Authority
14 The Square, Grantown on Spey
Morayshire, PH26 3HG
T: 01479 870518
E: cairngorms@johnmuiraward.org
Wales
Phil Stubbington
The Malthouse, Regent Street
Llangollen,
Denbighshire, LL20 8HS
T: 0845 456 9398
E: wales@johnmuiraward.org
England Manager
Andy Naylor
England Team
Trevelyan House, Dimple Road
Matlock, DE4 3YH
T: 01629 584457
E: andy@johnmuiraward.org
England Education
Caroline Fanshawe
England Team
Trevelyan House, Dimple Road
Matlock, DE4 3YH
T: 01629 584457
E: caroline@johnmuiraward.org
Cumbria
Graham Watson
LDNP, Old Station Yard,
Threlkeld,
Keswick, CA12 4TT
T: 01539 792653
E: cumbria@johnmuiraward.org