Outdoor Education Commons^™

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.

From The Editor, Charles Yaple

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

The beginning of another millennium suggests a time for fresh starts - a "time to throw out the old and ring in the new." Indeed, if the pace of technological break-through continues to escalate as during the 1990's, change will be almost omnipresent influencing culture from New York City to the outer reaches of Mongolia. Traditional ways of life will face increasing pressures and traditions themselves may have lifespans measured in decades as compared to thousands or hundreds of years.

Professional Opportunities, Coalition For Education In The Outdoors

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

This section includes numerous opportunities for professional development related to outdoor education and environmental or conservation education. Some of the options included are the Naturalist Training Correspondence School, The Outdoor Leadership Certification, and the Wilderness First Responder Course.

The Earth Wisdom Of Male Initiation, Christopher M. Paddon

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

All traditional societies have such a process-called initiation. For millennia, tribal and religious rites have supported and directed youth on their path to a healthy adulthood. Cultures worldwide have almost universally held rituals of transformation for their young. These traditional customs endured for centuries as part of a carefully structured and effective rite of passage into adulthood. Culture after culture believed if the young man was not introduced into "the Mysteries," he would not know what to do with his pain and would almost always abuse his power. Young men were thus initiated into the social and ecological heritage of …

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 titles include: "Jane Goodall on World Tour", "U.S. Territory of Saipan is an Environmental and Human Rights Nightmare", and "The War on Drugs Has Become a War on the Environment".

Reviews, Coalition For Education In The Outdoors

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

This section reviewed several books and films.

Books:

The Wild Within: Adventures in Nature and Animal Teachings-- reviewed by Jon Harshbarger

Wild Hunger - The Primal Roots of Modern Addiction-- reviewed by Charles Yaple

Within Reach: M11 Everest Story-- reviewed by Hunter Nezelek

Films:

Lost Borders - Coming of Age in the Wilderness-- reviewed by Chales Yaple.

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.

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 titles include, Taskforce on Amphibian Declines Formed, Monarchs Killed by Genetically Engineered Crops, and Beetle Invasion.

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 time of publication. Some items highlighted include: Noodle Games--a collection of games to play with pool noodles; Climb a Tree-- audio-visual material on accessing forest canopy; and The Wild Within-- a book about wildlife experiences by Paul Rezendes.

In Search Of Common Ground: Developing Partnerships For Wolf Recovery In The Adirondack Park, William B. Morton

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Editors note: What follows is a condensation of a presentation to the Adirondack Conservation Council on December 13, 1998. While focus is on wolf recovery in the Adirondacks, the pros and cons of the issue are germane to other locales in the United States.

It is a rather daunting task to try to build a wolf recovery partnership, given the climate of public opinion among Adirondackers about wolf recovery. But try we must.

Back To The Basics, Kate Cassidy

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Adventure programming is a method of experiential learning which has grown increasingly popular over the past years. In examining the root of adventure programming I recognized that its underlying structure could be seen everywhere today from the way progressive busi-ness meetings are structured, to concepts in organizational development and creative approaches to classroom teaching. This common foundation led me to develop The Learning Sequence for educators. Its strength is in its simplicity. After looking at this seven step process it will seem perfectly obvious - and it is - we intuitively recognize the need for these steps. However, it is …

Environmental Learning Centers: A Template, Eric Vozick

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

This template is a working model for Environmental Learning Centers (ELC). It details a philosophy and a plan for staff and administration operations, center building design, grounds maintenance, educational programming, and financial support for the ELC. ELC's can be located in any community and offer the potential for greater citizen understanding of their natural surroundings while providing a central meeting ground to discuss and improve the community's commitment toward environmental protection.

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 Working for Healthy Ecosystems (The International Congress on Ecosystem Health), Wilderness Risk Management (The Wilderness Risk Management Committee sponsored its 6th Annual Conference), and the Harvest Hope Festival.

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 Bradford Woods Outdoor Education Center, Business for Social Responsibility, and Communities Working for Wetlands.

From The Editor, Charles Yaple

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

"Intelligent tinkering" was a chief concern of famed ecologist Aldo Leopold. In A Sand County Almanac he provided ample example of the lack of such behavior. The lead story in this issue of Taproot suggests an opportunity to undo some past misdirected attempts at wildlife management to which Leopold himself fell victim - elimination of predators such as the wolf.

How Nature Shapes Childhood, Will Nixon

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Pyle 's intuitions have been borne out by psychological study. In Place Attachment, a collection of academic essays, Kentucky State University professor of psychology Louise Chawla writes that formal studies of environmental activists have found that "most respondents attributed their commitment to a combination of two sources: many hours spent outdoors in a keenly remembered wild or semi-wild place in childhood or adolescence, and an adult who taught respect for nature." In public interviews, environmental leaders may ascribe their motivations to such weighty matters as saving the planet for future generations, but at bottom they may owe their drive to …

The Single Most Important Thing To Know About The Earth, Mike Weilbacher

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

On the list of 50 simple things kids should know, what's item number one? Is there a single most important thing a kid or anyone should know about the earth?

If we posed this question to a random sample of environmental educators, typical responses might be:

"Humans can profoundly alter ecological systems."

"All of us need to take swift and immediate action to restore the environment to health."

"The Earth is in trouble, and all people must rally to save her."

Or perhaps one would choose the immortal closing lines of Dr. Seuss' The Lorax: "Unless each of us cares …

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.

From The Editor, Charles Yaple

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Your editors are very pleased to publish this special issue of Taproot. Its focus on children and the outdoors is in response to numerous requests for reprints of related titles in the past issues of Taproot. Now subscribers have the best Taproot articles on children and the outdoors in one collection.

Moral Education And Outdoor Education, Coalition For Education In The Outdoors

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Character development and moral education have always been integral parts of outdoor education. Currently, there's been a resurgence of interest in teaching children ethical values that build good character. Taproot Associate Editor Carol Skawinski interviewed one of the leading proponents of character education in the world: Dr. Thomas Lickona, Director of the Center for the 4th and 5th Rs (Respect and Responsibility), at the State University of New York, Cortland. Dr. Lickona is the author of Educating/or Character: How Our Schools Can Teach Respect and Responsibility and Raising Good Children. He discusses the urgent need for character education and the …

Building Connections, Bruce E. Matthews

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Alan Gussow suggests that a place is a piece of the environment claimed by our feelings. In outdoor and environmental education we often talk about the importance of building a sense of place, because we believe that building a sense of connection with places ultimately leads to the valuing of and consequent caring for these places. I'd suggest also that we need to extend the concept of building this sense of connectedness to include people, and communities of people, and particularly communities of people in their places.

Preserving A Child's Sense Of Wonder In Nature, Deb Matthews

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Discovery and exploration come naturally to little ones, spurred on by their innate curiosity. Caregivers and teachers of young children should provide daily forays into the natural world - where the classroom is masterfully prearranged and equipped with an aura of enchanting, stimulating "toys."

The outdoors is a magical place for children where a sense of wonder takes wings. As early childhood teachers, caregivers or parents then, the challenge becomes even more vital in this setting to respond meaningfully rather than interfere mindlessly with their discovery process.

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 outdoor education field at time of publication. Some items highlighted include: "Earth Child 2000, Earth Science for Young Children" (textbook), and "The National Tree Trust" (The Growing Together Program).

Education In Blossom, Marcia Eames-Sheavly

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Gardening is an exciting, approachable way to teach kids about plants. A good gardening program doesn't need to be one more thing thrown on your plate; by integrating it into the curriculum, gardening can be easy and interdisciplinary. Interdisciplinary projects enhance young peoples' ability to make connections among isolated facts, and to find meaning among those arbitrary facts. A U.S. News and World Report article (January 1993) pointed out that some interdisciplinary pilot projects in New York and Los Angeles schools even improved school attendance, and decreased drop-out rates.

Letting Nature Shape Childhood, Will Nixon

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

In recent years, some naturalists, teachers, psychologists, and others have grown concerned that children no longer play very much at all in nature, whether inside or outside of school. "American children's freedom for freewheeling play once took place in rural fields, and city streets, using equipment of their own making. Today, play is increasingly confined to back yards, basements, playrooms and bedrooms, and derives much of its content from video games, television dramas and Saturday morning cartoons," explains Brian Sutton Smith of the University of Pennsylvania in Richard Louv's book, Childhood's Future.

A Kinship With Trees, Mary Ann Elliot

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

The childlike feeling of kinship with trees occurs again and again in the literature of spirituality. Sherry Ruth Anderson and Patricia Hopkins noted this connection often during the five years of interviews and research they did for their book The Feminine Face of God (Anderson and Hopkins, 1991, pp. 35-37). "Trees, there was something about trees. Over and over we heard stories about trees as companions, comforters, confidantes, and best friends in our discussions with the women about their childhoods. One of our favorites was told by a friend in her fifties ...

Thoreau's Legacy, Charles Yaple

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Thoreau believed that human well-being on the personal and cultural level would prosper if individuals planted one foot in natural surroundings and the other in civilization. He saw wildness "as the source of vigor, inspiration, and strength," and "to the extent a culture, or an individual, lost contact with wildness it became weak and dull" (Nash, 1967, p. 88). He cited the breakdown of civilizations (the Roman Empire) as historical evidence of what could happen when humans forgot their origins and source of spiritual, mental, and physical sustenance. What might outdoor educators learn from Thoreau that can help them deal …

A Magical Garden For Children, Jane L. Taylor

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Gardening activities can provide wonderful opportunities for families ... and what better way for a child to learn more about where their food comes from than to grow some of their very own vegetables. And it's REAL! That's what one first grade child wrote to us after a visit to the 4-H Children's Garden. "I learned plants were real. The flowers were real. The Garden was real." Today's children are wired to Nintendo, TV, computers ... a garden provides a real life experience. We owe it to our children to give them a real experience and bring some joy into …

The Scripture Of Maps, The Names Of Trees, Stephen Trimble

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

By forging connections with plants, animals, and land, by finding ways to experience some relationship to the Earth, individuals can gain a sense of worth. Herein lies security. Edith Cobb, in analyzing the roots of creativity in great thinkers, found that many had experienced a pivotal childhood "discontinuity, an awareness of [one's] own unique separateness and identity, and also a continuity, a renewal of relationship with nature." Cobb marveled at what can grow from this paradox: " ... a delighted awareness that knowing and being are in some way coincident and continuous ... and that this kind of knowing is …

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 titles include:

Avalanches and Mountain Wildlife

Himalayan Forest Restoration

Wolf Reintroduction Battle Continues