Outdoor education
Common definitions of outdoor education are difficult to achieve because interpretations vary according to culture, philosophy, and local conditions.
"Education outside the classroom" describes school curriculum learning, other than with a class of students sitting in a room with a teacher and books.
It encompasses biology field trips and searching for insects in the school garden, as well as indoor activities like observing stock control in a local shop, or visiting a museum.
Despite the evidence supporting an extension of educational camping and outdoor learning for children, there are a number of obstacles in the way.
The journalist Tim Gill has written about parental and institutional risk aversion affecting many activities with children in his book "No Fear".
[8] She cites a comment by Will Nixon, who reminds readers that 'Using the real world is the way learning has happened for 99.9% of human existence.
The Scouting movement, established in the UK in 1907 by Robert Baden-Powell, employs non-formal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities.
Key outdoor education pioneers include Kurt Hahn, a German educator who founded schools such as the Schule Schloss Salem in Germany; the United World Colleges movement, the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme (which emphasizes community service, craftsmanship skills, physical skill, and outdoor expeditions), and the Outward Bound movement.
The second half of the twentieth century saw rapid growth of outdoor education in all sectors (state, voluntary, and commercial) with an ever-widening range of client groups and applications.
Modern forms of outdoor education are most prevalent in the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and to some extent Asia and Africa.
[20] Some vocational institutes offer secondary lever degree in Nature and Environmental Studies focusing mainly to tourism and experience industries.
From 2008, Alain Kerjean develops Outdoor Education for universities in Romania and advises in France training organizations wishing to design programs based on this pedagogy.
Launched with assistance of king Juan Carlos in 1979, it was heavily focused on exploring cross-Atlantic Hispanidad cultural links and for decades was managed by the adventurer and media celebrity, Miguel de la Quadra-Salcedo.
There are numerous similar though less ambitious schemes currently operational, e.g. Rumbo al Sur, annual tours in Africa managed by a TV reality-show star Telmo Aldaz de la Quadra-Salcedo.
[24] There is much anecdotal evidence about benefits of outdoor education experiences; teachers, for example, often speak of the improvement they have in relationships with students following a camping trip.
A major meta-analysis of 97 empirical studies indicated a positive overall effect of adventure education programs on outcomes such as self-concept, leadership, and communication skills.
[27] In "Adventure in a Bun", Chris Loynes[28] has suggested that outdoor education is increasingly an entertainment park consumption experience.
Maynard, Waters & Clement (2013)[30] found that, resonating with their previous findings, the teachers in their study reported "that when engaged in child-initiated activity in the outdoor environment, over half of the children who in the classroom were perceived to be 'underachieving' appeared to behave differently" (p. 221).
Their work aims to support the notion that the more natural outdoor spaces in which child-initiated activities take place both directly and indirectly diminish the perception of underachievement.
This may also be due to a non-academic family background, or a personal psychological trait such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
When German children from forest kindergartens went to primary school, teachers observed a significant improvement in reading, writing, mathematics, social interactions and many other areas.
The problem solving capabilities included the ability of students to interpret, to analyze, to evaluate, to infer, to explain and to self-regulate.
