8 May 2019
The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1889) wrote,
“All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking” (Aphorism 34)
Cited in Oppezzo & Shwarts, 2014
Our Students’ well-being is a vital component of a rounded education and, for this reason, in Term One Student Support Officer Danielle Coleman introduced Walk & Talk sessions to encourage healthy interactions between Students and between Students and Staff.
While Walking, our Students are involved in physical activity for a healthy body and Talking while walking encourages our Students to engage in healthy discussions, share information about themselves and learn about their peers while practising active listening.
The idea is that during each Walk & Talk session, Students will Walk & Talk with a person they don’t know very well. If they choose a person or people they know pretty well, the Teachers will step in and find a different person for the Student to engage with. To make it easier for Students to start the conversation, there is a list of up to 10 questions produced each week for discussion. The questions are age appropriate, relevant to the world of young people and provide an opportunity to discuss some of the more complex aspects of life.
According to more recent research “the effect [of walking and talking] is not simply due to the increased perceptual stimulation of moving through an environment, but rather it is due to walking. Whether one is outdoors or on a treadmill, walking improves the generation of novel yet appropriate ideas, and the effect even extends to when people sit down to do their creative work shortly after”( Opezzo & Schwartz, 2014).
The evidence so far is that the sessions are working. And, after 130 years, Nietzsche’s idea is standing the test of time.
