Book Description

Outdoor education, a general term describing the use of resources outside the classroom, has long been considered a method to improve student learning. This book aims to create a bridge between current school reform efforts and the field of outdoor education. Chapter 1 introduces the idea of outdoor education and relates several recent educational innovations to principles of outdoor education and experiential learning. These innovations include service learning, children's museums, constructivism, problem-based learning, technology-based authentic learning, concern for multiple intelligences, and interdisciplinary learning. Chapter 2 makes suggestions for planning outdoor learning, explains the role of the teacher in student-centered learning, and outlines a learning adventure model. Chapter 3 presents 12 outdoor adventures that move instruction into the community. Developed for grades 4-9, these adventures can be adapted to most ages or to nonschool situations or can be a model for teachers to develop their own thematic units. Each adventure contains an organizing problem, background, outcomes, activities, reflection questions, and performance assessments. Themes include observing people at the shopping center, community planning, local pollution problems, starting a democratic society, homesteading, seeing a city block, fast-food fact finding, scouting the school grounds, reading the cemetery "story," down the drain, nature in the city, and creating a nature trail. Appendices contain a brief history of outdoor education and experiential learning, an environmental inventory, bibliographies of related materials, guidelines for creating student-centered learning communities, related organizations, and 15 ways to study a place without a guide. Contains 44 references. (SV)