Learning outdoors at Lake Pusiano: a full day of discovery with Hyundai
From canoeing and exploring the water cycle to discovering circular economy stories, students spent a full day learning through nature at Lake Pusiano in Italy
This year, Healthy Seas returned to Lake Pusiano, near Milan, for another day dedicated to learning outdoors together with Hyundai. It was our second educational activity at the lake, but this time with a new local school and an expanded programme designed to give students different ways to explore the natural environment around them: through movement, observation, storytelling, play and hands-on activities.
Throughout the day, 92 students from Istituto Comprensivo “Via Sauro” di Verano Brianza, together with a cross-curricular team of 8 teachers, moved between a series of workshops taking place around the lake.
Learning from the lake itself
Part of the day was spent directly on the water. With the support of five canoe instructors from TourInCanoa Club, the students spent an hour canoeing across the lake, learning how to move together on the water while also enjoying plenty of games and splashing along the way.
Back on land, another activity invited them to slow down and look more closely at their surroundings. During a nature walk, they learned about the history of the lake, they observed minerals, traces of water and the way water moves through the landscape, using what they could see around them to understand the water cycle and how it contributes to the lake.
Nature then became a museum of its own
Students collected and selected natural materials and created a small exhibition, choosing objects to display and explaining why they found them interesting. The exercise encouraged them not simply to look at nature, but to observe, interpret and tell stories about what they had found.
From waste to new resources
The programme also connected the local environment with some of the wider issues Healthy Seas works on. Through a series of circular economy stations, students followed the journey of nylon waste from recovery and recycling to its transformation into new materials and products, including applications used by Hyundai (car mats).
A storytelling card game helped them explore these ideas further, while another hands-on station focused on ghost nets and their impact on marine life. Students had to free model animals entangled in fishing nets, turning a complex environmental issue into something they could see, touch and solve together.
In their own words
At the end of the day, we asked the students to tell us one new thing they had learned. Their answers ranged from geology and the water cycle to recycling and ocean health — a small reflection of just how many connections can emerge when learning moves outdoors.
“One thing I learned today is that if the ocean isn’t healthy, we aren’t healthy.”
And, after exploring the circular journey of recovered fishing nets:
“One new thing that I learned today is that from ghost nets we can make car mats.”
Learning that continues beyond one day
The activities did not end when the students left the lake. Throughout the day, they took notes on what they observed, learned and experienced. Back in the classroom, these will become the starting point for further discussion and for stories inspired by the activities at Lake Pusiano.
This continuation is an important part of the programme: outdoor education is not only about spending time outside, but about using direct experience to generate questions, connections and ideas that can travel back into the classroom.
The Lake Pusiano activity forms part of Healthy Seas’ educational work with Hyundai in 2026, with outdoor learning experiences taking place across several European countries and adapted to their local environments and communities.
