{"id":19064,"date":"2020-12-09T11:41:19","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T11:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/?p=19064"},"modified":"2023-06-08T18:24:15","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T18:24:15","slug":"discovery-core-walking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/12\/09\/discovery-core-walking","title":{"rendered":"Walking and thinking go hand in hand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Jason Lambacher<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jason Lambacher says occasionally he had to answer challenging questions about his course, the Art and Politics of Walking. I\u2019m paying tuition for walking? How could walking be a college course? Isn\u2019t that too pedestrian?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lambacher, a lecturer in the University of Washington Bothell\u2019s School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences<\/a>, welcomed the opportunity to explain how walking, which seems an unremarkable part of being alive, can give us perspectives on society, nature and ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not just talking about walking,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about walking as a vehicle to explore other topics \u2014 about paying attention, about mindfulness, also about politics and protests and environmental design.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walking in a pandemic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the year of the coronavirus, Lambacher didn\u2019t have to spend much time persuading students who have been cooped up at home to go outside and walk. \u201cStudents get it \u2014 why it might be good for health, mental health, emotional health,\u201d he said. \u201cThat has made sense to them in a way that maybe it didn\u2019t in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Art and Politics of Walking is part of the Discovery Core<\/a> program for first-year students at the UW Bothell. Exploring intriguing topics from different academic disciplines and different points of view, students acclimate to college, learn about university-level research and figure out how to access key campus resources. They also learn about themselves and, by the end of the year, often revise their academic pathway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lambacher teaches a Discovery Core sequence that includes an Individuality and Individualism course in the winter and a Democracy Politics and Freedom course in the spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He takes a morning run-walk himself for exercise and to prepare for the day. \u201cIt helps me think. It helps me not think.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visceral familiarity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Students are encouraged to explore the campus.Mark Stone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Walking is ideal for the Discovery Core\u2019s get-to-know the campus component. Assignments that direct students to explore the campus build a visceral familiarity beyond what they may have had from a visit with their parents or an orientation tour, Lambacher said. Students can visit the wetlands, check out study places in the library, locate the Writing & Communication Center and the Quantitative Skills Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students in the course are required to walk \u2014 without their phone \u2014 at least once a week for 20 or 30 minutes. A few are required walks, such as with a friend, with a family member, alone and in urban and nature settings. For the rest of their walks, students have more than 50 options: take part in a march, walk around a mall, take a hike, get lost in a safe way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One popular choice is to \u201ctake a walk down memory lane\u201d in a neighborhood where you lived as a child. Students walk by the high school they left just a few months before and feel it was a long time ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re already looking at the transition they\u2019ve gone through,\u201d Lambacher said. \u201cThey\u2019re on the other side of that. They\u2019re in college now with a different perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walking as a vehicle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Students get to know campus building interiors.Mark Stone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The course puts a lot of weight in the students\u2019 intellectual backpack with five thought-provoking books: \u201cWanderlust: A History of Walking\u201d by Rebecca Solnit; \u201cHow to Walk\u201d by Thich Nhat Hahn; \u201cOn Looking: A Walker\u2019s Guide to the Art of Observation\u201d by Alexandra Horowitz; \u201cA Philosophy of Walking\u201d by Frederic Gros; and \u201cA Long Walk to Water\u201d by Linda Sue Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students also are assigned other readings and videos. They keep journals of their thoughts and reflections. They exchange comments on a discussion board and meet once a week by teleconference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discussing the history of public spaces and how not everyone has been able to walk without being surveilled or discriminated against, students talk about race, gender, class and religion. Some students wear a hijab, and the class discusses what it\u2019s like to get extra scrutiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving access to public space and being able to walk freely and safely is a real achievement,\u201d Lambacher said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeling grounded<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Maliya Jackson at Husky Villagecourtesy photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Maliya Jackson, Ryan Van Vuitton and Leilah Abdalla are three enthusiastic walkers in Lambacher\u2019s class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jackson, who wants to become a high school history teacher, lives on campus and doesn\u2019t have a car. The course had her walking the campus pathways and getting to know the inside of the buildings. Initially, she \u201cjust thought walking was walking\u201d but has been surprised by the depth of the course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walking with a friend, solo, or at sunrise or sunset gave her a different mindset, she said. She feels more grounded. \u201cI take time to think about my week and my week ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also has made friends through class discussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can say how you feel, and no one will judge you at all. Everyone responds positively,\u201d she said. \u201cMy closest friends are in this course. We bonded over something that was so simple. We have something in common.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking a gander<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Ryan Van Vuittoncourtesy photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Van Vuitton sees geese on his walks.Ryan Van Vuitton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Van Vuitton lives in Vancouver, Washington, and has walked downtown and along the city\u2019s waterfront.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dWandering thoughts travelled with me on some walks but on others, I grasped the botanical or, in contrast, the industrial values of my environment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing assigned readings, textbooks and videos connected the concept of walking in various different ways,\u201d Van Vuitton said. \u201cBefore this class, I never paid attention to the effects of walking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still deciding what he wants to do in life, Van Vuitton said the class eased him into the university lifestyle and has inspired him to think of psychology as a possible major.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discovering depth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Leilah Abdalla on the Snohomish River Trailcourtesy photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Abdalla, who lives in Lynnwood, Washington, and is thinking about majoring in business, was attracted to the class because it would encourage her to get outside at least once a week. She\u2019s learned that walking is much more than getting from Point A to Point B.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLearning the difference between walking and strolling and wandering and pilgrimage and hiking and trekking \u2014 you don\u2019t normally think about that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abdalla has also learned that she doesn\u2019t have to drive everywhere, although she is still aware that \u201cit\u2019s hard to be a woman and walk wherever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walking has led her to new self-discovery. \u201cYou\u2019re asking emotionally how you feel, what\u2019s going on in your mind, who\u2019s around you,\u201d Abdalla said. \u201cYou\u2019re being more in depth with yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Discovery Core course the Art and Politics of Walking discusses walking as a vehicle to explore other topics — paying attention, mindfulness, politics, protests and environmental design.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_is_archived":false,"_archived_contact_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[202,218,252,204],"tags":[318],"school":[419],"class_list":["post-19064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-news","category-community-engagement","category-population-health","category-students","tag-discovery-core","school-school-of-ias"],"acf":{"related_links":{"toggle_visibility":false,"link_1":null,"link_2":null,"link_3":null,"link_4":null,"link_5":null},"highlight_box":{"toggle_visibility":false,"title":"","content":"","button":null,"button_style":"angled-purple-button","button_screen_reader_text":""},"contact_type_1":{"toggle_visibility":true,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"contact_type_2":{"toggle_visibility":false,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"social_media":{"toggle_visibility":false,"facebook_url":"","instagram_url":"","linkedin_url":"","twitter_url":"","youtube_url":""},"blog_archive_sidebar_visibility":false},"yoast_head":"\nWalking and thinking go hand in hand - 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