Outdoor Education Commons^™

National Dialogue On Children And Nature, Charles Yaple

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Seldom does one book launch a new movement; however that may be exactly what Richard Louv accomplished in 2005, by writing Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder. Using recent research findings, Louv has moved national leaders to address the link between disturbing increases in childhood maladies (obesity, diabetes and attention deficit disorders) and too much indoor living. Louv's treatise demonstrates that children simply spend too much time indoors playing passive games, eating poorly, and not exercising. "For eons, human beings spent most of their formative years in nature, but within the space of a …

Conference Calendar, Coalition For Education In The Outdoors

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

This section provides a list of conferences in the field of outdoor education including the "Izaak Walton League of America" and "National Center on Accessibility".

Geocaching With Kids, Annette Lamb And Larry Johnson

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Geocaching is a great activity for all ages. Whether parents want to explore nature with their children or teachers want to activate the learning environment with hands-on experiences, there's a geocache adventure that's right for you.

Practitioner's Corner: Cinncinnatus Environmental Studies, Kurt Schmidt

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

I was recently asked to express my opinion on the concept of Nature Deficit Disorder for a graduate class, from a classroom teacher's perspective. I was thrilled at the prospect since, in my roles as father, husband, and teacher, people rarely want my opinion on anything. As I thought about it, however, I realized just how important the integration of nature into education is for my students and me. I teach at a small, rural high school in central New York called Cincinnatus Central School. We have UPK-12 in one building with a population of about 700 students. The school …

Review Of Small Wonders, Elizabeth Rinaldo

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Study after study recommends integrating children into nature at a very young age. Little ones view with innocent and open eyes - they are curious and inquisitive and don't yet know that it isn't proper to get their hands dirty. Facilitating outdoor opportunities for children at a very young age can lead to a lifelong connection with nature.

Professional Opportunities, Coalition For Education In The Outdoors

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

This section included numerous opportunities for professional development related to outdoor education and environmental or conservation education. Some of the options included "Society for Ecological Restoration" and the "Get Out! Conference".

Contents, Coalition For Education In The Outdoors

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

The Coalition for Education in the Outdoors is a non-profit network of outdoor and environmental education centers, nature centers, conservation and recreation organizations, outdoor education and experiential education associations, institutions of higher learning, public and private schools, fish and wildlife agencies, and businesses that share a mission the support and furtherance of outdoor education and its goals.

Review Of Black And Brown Faces In America's Wild Places, Charles Yaple

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Reading Black and Brown Faces... is a delightful, troublesome, and inspirational experience. Delightful, because it is a beautifully written and photographed (also expertly done by Edmondson) testimony from the lives of twenty Black people who overcame barriers that have historically inhibited their people from venturing into wild places. Because each chapter is their personal story, Edmondson wisely let each person share: why wild places are important to them in terms of childhood experiences, what they do in the outdoors, who were their heroes and mentors, their thoughts on minorities in wild places, beliefs about youth and wilderness, their best outdoor …

Young Children's Relationship With Nature, Randy White

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Almost 150 years ago, nineteenth century psychologist Herbert Spencer published his book, Principals of Psychology, in which he espoused the "surplus energy theory," explaining that the main reason for children's play is to get rid of surplus energy. Although researchers and developmental theorists have rejected his theory, it has had an unfortunate and lasting influence on the design of children's outdoor play environments (Malone, 2003). As a result of Spencer's theory, playgrounds are seen as areas for physical play during recess, where children 'burn off steam,' and not for the other domains of development or for learning. In child care …

Resources, Coalition For Education In The Outdoors

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

This section contains a listing of teaching resources of all types for those who work in the outdoor education field at the time of publication. Some items highlighted include: "Edutopia - The George Lucas &lucational Foundation" and the "Nature Deficit Disorder Survey".

From The Editor, Charles Yaple

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

"The times, they are a changin' ... " so goes the song by Bob Dylan. That line sadly describes what appears to be happening with far too many children in regard to time spent outdoors. In my childhood days a great deal of time was spent in the forests, streams, abandoned fields, swimming hole, and baseball diamond (which also hosted football, soccer, and all sorts of makeshift games). At night we played kick the can or hide and seek in between houses until way after dark and finally dragged home dog tired but physically fit. Today, one word seems to …

Review Of Making Outdoor Programs Accessible, Lynn Anderson And Kendra Liddicoat

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Making Outdoor Programs Accessible is short and simple, but provides a good deal of useful information to the outdoor educator in making inclusion a part of the facility and curriculum. The book, or manual, is only 62 pages, but within those pages are some wonderful ideas that could be easily implemented in many settings, from nature centers to schoolyard environmental education sessions.

Contents, Coalition For Education In The Outdoors

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

The Coalition for Education in the Outdoors is a non-profit network of outdoor and environmental education centers, nature centers, conservation and recreation organizations, outdoor education and experiential education associations, institutions of higher learning, public and private schools, fish and wildlife agencies, and businesses that share a mission the support and furtherance of outdoor education and its goals.

The City Wild, Adele Conover

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

It is an urban movement whose time has come. Although much of conservation remains focused on preserving unspoiled areas, an emerging view suggests preserving biodiversity in human habitats. With urban areas having become home to more people than rural areas, many scientists now argue that preserving human habitats is as essential to sustaining biodiversity as preserving the last great forests, grasslands and savannas.

Using Environmental Education Centers To Support Incorporation Of Environmental Education In Elementary Pre-Service Teacher Preparation, Beth Shiner Klein And Andrea Lachance

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Increasing pollution and global warming concerns, a deteriorating ozone layer, high levels of chemical toxins in soil and water, dwindling natural resources – concerns about our environment continue to grow as we struggle to meet the challenges of humans’ impact on our planet. If we are to have a citizenry who are environmentally literate to meet these challenges to the planet, then we must do more to integrate environmental education into the K-12 curriculum and to develop a force of teachers who can support children’s learning about environmental issues and stewardship of the earth.

Review Of The Soul Unearthed, Charles Yaple

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

There are so many well-written essays in The Soul Unearthed it is difficult to select just a few to include in a one-page review. And, of course, other readers will take different pieces to heart. What follows here are descriptions of some articles that “spoke” to this reviewer.

From The Editor, Charles Yaple

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

These thoughts, and examination of Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, have caused your Taproot editors to wonder how children in urban areas ever experience wild places. Are children in urban areas a forgotten population that rarely benefit from experiencing wild places? In pursuit of insights related to our question, this issue of Taproot leads off with an article by University of Cincinnati educators Linda Plevyak and Amy Mayfield. Like us, Plevyak and Mayfield are concerned that urban children do not get enough time to play and learn outdoors. Their solution – …

Review Of Hands-On Nature: Information And Activities For Exploring The Environment With Children, Laura Carey

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

In reviewing the second edition of this excellent resource, I was first struck by the finely detailed, crisp drawings that amply illustrate each activity. I found myself leafing through the whole book just to see the illustrator’s treatment of twigs, caterpillars, seed dispersal and rotting logs, among many other topics. I couldn’t resist comparing it with the first edition, which came out in 1986. I was pleased to see that the original format and sections (adaptations, habitats, cycles, and designs of nature) were maintained with the addition of a new section of more than 50 pages on earth and sky, …

Walking Into Wonder, Cynthia Macleod

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Observant walking is not the kind of walking that most of us usually do, and it may be an entirely new experience for some of our students. Yet learning to walk with awareness can open us to a greater sense of connection with our surroundings and enable us to find joy in the specifics of our life settings. For our students, this personal connection to their immediate place can jump-start a lifetime of care for the environment. Taking class time to help students observe with wonder the world around them can give them a way of seeing the ordinary as …

The Kids’ Guide To Nature Adventures: 80 Great Activities For Exploring The Outdoors, Josh Bochniak

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

If a colorful, activity guide geared toward children is your target, then The Kids’ Guide to Nature Adventures might be what you are looking for. The book’s seven chapters and appendices are full of color photographs and illustrations of 80 ideas that apply to the outdoors. Full of original (and some borrowed) ideas, it is sure to be helpful as kids venture into the outdoors or prepare to do so.

Review Of The End Of Suburbia, Josh Bochniak

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

What was once, and perhaps is currently, considered the rising star of the American life may be its ultimate undoing. The automobile suburb rose at the end of World War II and continues to ride a wave that seems nowhere near cresting. A pointed documentary film, The End of Suburbia looks at the automobile suburb as the heart of the American dependence on foreign oil and as a prediction of its downfall at the hands of rising oil prices and decreasing supply.

Conference Calendar, Coalition For Education In The Outdoors

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

This section provides a list of conferences in the field of outdoor education including: NOLS (the National Outdoor Leadership School) and Leopold Education Project.

Professional Opportunities, Coalition For Education In The Outdoors

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

This section included numerous opportunities for professional development related to outdoor education and environmental or conservation education. Some of the options included "Widening Horizons: Diversity in Theoretical and Critical Views of Outdoor Education" and the "Working Forum on Nature Education for Young Children".

News Briefs, Coalition For Education In The Outdoors

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

This section contains multiple brief news items related to conservation, environment or outdoor education.Some items include: "The Return of Hetch Hetchy" and "Two Lost Worlds Give Us Hope".

Practitioner's Corner: Reflections From Vida Verde, Laura Dickerson And Shawn Sears

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

We provide outdoor education for 600 low-income students per year. We have a waiting list of teachers hoping to bring their classes every year, and there are thousands and thousands more that we cannot reach. Many days that feels like an overwhelming and impossible uphill battle. My hope is that we can figure out a way to help make outdoor education accessible to all children. At Vida Verde we watch these tough urban kids let down their guards for a couple of days. They let go of their baggage and they become children again. They paint their faces with mud, …

Resources, Coalition For Education In The Outdoors

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

This section contains a listing of teaching resources of all types for those who work in the outdoor education field at the time of publication. Some items highlighted include: "TPWD’s Urban Outdoor Programs" and "Paris-Nature: An innovative urban ecology program".

Water Within Their World, Linda H. Plevyak And Amy Mayfield

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

With the fast pace of life today, many children do not have time to play outside and explore their neighborhoods. When outside, urban children often gravitate to the playground or basketball court not paying attention to the natural environment around them.

This fast pace of life doesn’t stop at the classroom door. Classroom teachers feel more pressure everyday to teach an increasing number of standards adopted by local districts. An unfortunate result of this is that science is too often the last content area to be fit into a busy week’s schedule. This means that more than ever we need …

Contemplating Outdoor Adventure Education Research In Singapore, Michael Gassner

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

For a long time the field of outdoor adventure education has been investigating the effects of its programs in various domains. A large number of studies have been done in countries that are considered the Western world (i.e. Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe). Most of the studies, with the exception of a few, however, have investigated the effects of programs during or shortly after a course has finished. There have also been a few recent studies looking into what makes programs work to achieve certain outcomes. There have been very few studies in …

News Briefs, Coalition For Education In The Outdoors

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

This section contains multiple brief news items related to conservation, environment or outdoor education. Some items include "Vacation on the Farm" and "Trash Tour".

Professional Opportunities, Coalition For Education In The Outdoors

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

This section included numerous opportunities for professional development related to outdoor education and environmental or conservation education. Some of the options included "Widening Horizons: Diversity in Theoretical and Critical Views of Outdoor Education" and "4th International Adventure Therapy Conference".