Outdoor Education Commons^™

“We All Have Our Boulders To Pass, And This Was One Of Mine”: Ethnoculturally Diverse High-School-Aged Youth And Their Reclamation Of Nature, Andrew T. Turchon

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative, ethnographic, youth-centered study explored how ethnoculturally diverse urban high-school-aged youth express their relationships to nature. Participatory and youth-centered methodologies and data sources, including Photovoice, photo-elicitation interviews, and classroom artifacts, centered the voices of a diverse group of urban youth and their experiences in local forest reservations. Diverse urban youth are typically marginalized from environmental education, place-based learning, and representation in outdoor-related research. Therefore, it is critical that educational researchers include the voices of these students in conversations about nature to broaden the sociocultural framework around what “nature” is, how it is experienced, and by whom. This theoretical framework …

Depth Of The Lake And The Height Of The Sky (2017) By Kim Jihyun, Megan Jane Laverty

Picture Books

The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky (2017) is KimJihyun’s first picture book; it is composed entirely of pictures. It “tells” the story of a young boy and his dog who spend a day swimming and sunbathing at a lake that is within walking distance from his grandparents' home, whom he is visiting with his parents. At first glance, the story might seem unremarkable, recounting an experience familiar to many. However, Kim’s illustrations challenge this assumption by drawing us into the boy’s encounter with nature. She creates a visual journey that guides us through a perceptual …

Beyond The Rational: Exploring Transrational And Embodied Knowledge Through Ceremony And Nature, Dimitris A. Alexakos

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis explores transrational and embodied knowledge gained through my experience within ceremony and nature. This thesis uses transrational to mean “information and experience that does not readily fit into standard cause and effect logical structure” (Bernstein, 2005, p. xv). By reflecting on personal experiences and embodied sensations during ceremonies in nature, the thesis outlines a framework for exploring transrational and embodied knowledge within nature. I offer heuristics, a phenomenological tool to “explore, focus, and raise awareness” (Alexakos, 2015) to provide context for my experience in nature, ceremonies and ceremonies in nature.

The research investigates transrational and embodied knowledge through …

Meeting, Moving, Mastering - A Text Analysis Of The Aesthetic Attractions Of 'Wild Swimming', Dagmar Dahl, Åsa I. Bäckström

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

Why are people fascinated by swimming in nature? This article addresses the aesthetic experiences of wild swimming as expressed by five wild swimming authors in their books. Drawing from aesthetic philosophy, we analyze the ways in which the appeal of wild swimming is described on three levels: the allure of water in the environment, the sensory encounter between water and the body, and the experience of moving in water. Furthermore, with reference to Seel’s concept of nature aesthetics (1996), the experience of wild swimming is analyzed in terms of contemplation, correspondence, and imagination. We can conclude that the special intensity …

Fostering Connection Through Ecological Identity: Expanding Colonial Concepts Of Outdoor Adventures, Elizabeth Farrell

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

How can I foster ecological identity? Defining ecological identity as a sense of awareness of how one relates with nature, and identity as an ecological being that is nature, this action research project will explore the ways in which people connect to the natural world through everyday moments. In understanding that the foundations, practices, and industry messaging of the outdoors can be exclusive and perpetuate systems of oppression, I am seeking to expand the notion of what nature connection can be. The hope is to create more accessible, inclusive, and equitable outdoor education practices. Research design included a survey and …

Wellness Through Nature, Yulissa Ochoa

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Ventana Wildlife Society's mission statement is to conserve native wildlife through science, education, and collaboration. VWS addresses the lettuce curtain and lack of access to green spaces with “Salud y Naturaleza ''. The Lettuce Curtain refers to the disconnect between the Salinas Valley and the coast. This Nature Prescription program removes the barriers of transportation, cost, and language, giving access to nature to families in East Salinas by organizing free family trips to the coast and a weekly nature class. With easy access to nature, people will be encouraged to spend time in the outdoors to better their mental …

A Classroom Without Four Walls? Paving The Way For More Outdoor Education, Sandra Anaya-Zamora

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus of this Capstone Project is on the need to increase outdoor education opportunities for students. More specifically, how can teachers increase outdoor learning opportunities during instructional time? This is important because a lack of outdoor educational opportunities hinders students from learning benefits only found through their environment. It is argued that a decrease in environmental integration in schools will cause children to lose touch with nature, affecting their development and the future sustainability of our planet. The three primary stakeholder perspectives chosen were one teacher, one science teacher, and one garden-nutrition educator because considerations of the issue should …

Outdoor Classroom/Natural Playground Space School Improvement Project, Holly Carlson

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

Allowing students to have increased outside playtime in nature positively impacts the students physical, emotional, cognitive, and social development. This school improvement project establishes a plan for creating an additional outside play space and outdoor classroom to increase play time while learning in nature.

Nature As Metaphor In School Art Therapy: Development Of A Group Method, Jordan Struckman

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This group method was developed to observe the impact of bringing nature materials indoors to be utilized in school art therapy sessions. Little research exists on the impacts of natural materials being used therapeutically and expressively in a school setting. This study was conducted throughout the course of one week of therapeutic homeroom with three female high school students aged 15-17. Sand, shells, leaves, flowers, seaweed, sea grapes, driftwood, prickly seeds, and berries were gathered from a beach pathway by the researcher and presented in organized piles on a large classroom table. Students responded to a different prompt for four …

The Processes, Effects And Therapeutics Of Pilgrimage Walking The St. Olav Way, Nanna Natalia Jørgensen, John Eade, Tor-Johan Ekeland, Catherine A.N. Lorentzen

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage walking is increasingly sought as self-therapy for different mental, physical and spiritual ailments, sudden life changes, crossroads or challenges. However, pilgrimage walking as therapy is largely an unexplored ground within health science / care / interventions notwithstanding millennia of human experience. To unfold the nature and add to the knowledge about pilgrimage walking as therapy, this article explores the health-related processes (as experienced mentally, physically, spiritually, socially and in nature), the after-effects (on daily life, behaviour and future actions) and the therapeutic mechanisms (that bring forth these processes and effects) involved in walking the St. Olav Way across Norway. …

Natural Learning Environments And The Social-Emotional Development Of Students With Sensory Processing Challenges, Denise Elizabeth West

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

This study examined the impact of a natural learning environment on the social-emotional development of students with Autism and/or Sensory Processing Disorder. For this research, social-emotional development consisted of social behavior, communication, and participation. The elements of a traditional classroom are characterized by confinement, harsh lighting/acoustics, and other habitual triggers for sensory discomfort. A natural learning environment can provide students with natural stimuli, fresh air, natural acoustics, natural lighting, etc. Additionally, the natural learning environment fosters a connection with nature, which research shows is important for the self-discovery, self-advocacy, and self-efficacy of all humans. Considering the artificial nature of the …

Collaborating With Theatre, Nature, And Stem: A Multigenerational Family Event, Anni K. Reinking, Michael J. Vetere Iii, Jay C. Percell

Faculty Publications - College of Education

Family engagement can take many different formats, including community events. In this study, the researchers designed an event to encourage multigenerational family involvement using STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and DAT (developmentally appropriate theater). The study was also designed in an outside environment to encourage interactions with nature and outdoor physical activity. The researchers found that families enjoyed the event and understood the academic and social benefits of nature and arts based education. Overall, this study continues a conversation focused on the importance of engaging families in nature and art based activities.

Research Updates, Coalition For Education In The Outdoors

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

This section contains the abstracts for the following research articles:

"The Relationship between Parental Attitudes toward Nature and the Amount of Time Children Spend in Outdoor Recreation"

"Introducing Generation Y to the Wilderness"

Stories To Live By, Martin Ogle

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Oh, for a story to explain the times we live in and guide us down saner paths! In the midst of ever-heightened awareness and concern about the unsustainable course of human society, we seem to be heading, with increasingly deadly speed, down an environmentally and societally destructive track. Laudable actions to change direction, or at least slow down, often seem to have the opposite effect. In this paradoxical predicament, we would do well to reexamine the subtly entrenched narratives that drive our individual and collective actions.

Teach Your Children Well, Penny A. James; Karla A. Henderson; Aram Attarian

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

The nature of outdoor play has changed. Today children increasingly spend their free time in adult-led activities and indoor play (Hofferth & Sandberg, 2001). Concerns regarding this societal shift gained mainstream attention with the publication of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder (Louv, 2005). A back-to-nature movement ensued at national, state, and local levels with parks and recreation organizations creating programs designed to get children back into wild environments (e.g., Children in Nature Programs offered by the National Park Service). We proposed that the conversation surrounding the back-to-nature movement missed the mark on two critical …

Enganging Families In Outdoor Education, Jim Mchardy

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Over twenty years ago we started the Neighbourhood Family program where we go into high risk neighborhoods and offer groups of families the opportunity to go away to the Kinark Outdoor Centre based on their capacity to come together and get organized. This has been our indepth exposure and training with regards to parent and family engagement.

Most recently, we have initiated a 'No Child Left Inside' project where we facilitate short duration nature programs at high needs schools and family nature days in the green spaces adjacent to low income housing projects. Why are we doing this you may …

Grand Ideas! 21 Great Ways Grandparents And Grandfriends Can Connect Kids To Nature, Richard Louv

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

What's a grandparent to do?

Marti Erickson makes a practice of keeping two collapsible chairs in her car trunk. If she's having a particularly stressful day, she drives to the closest patch of nature, sits on one of those chairs, and is soothed. She always carries two chairs in the trunk of her car. "My oldest grandchild likes nature breaks, too, and joins me when we're out together."

Last year, for an article in the AARP Bulletin, I quoted Marti about the potential benefits of nature experience, including stress reduction, better health, and family bonding.

A Visit To Sigurd, Grandfather And Thoreau, Robert T. Leverett

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Our destination was the Trailhead at Dunbar Brook. We were half serious about trying out an experiment in Japanese ―woodair- bathing,‖ which we read about for the first time in one of our friend Joan Maloof‘s excellent books. We both agreed that Dunbar was the place to try out shinrinyoku. The basic idea is to absorb the compounds of the forest by breathing them in as free molecules, released by the trees and a myriad of other forest organisms, but mainly by the trees. The molecules enter the lungs and make their way into the blood stream, presumably imparting health …

Interview With Jon Young, Charles Yaple

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

In this section, Charles Yaple interviews Jon Young, one of the authors of the "Coyote Guide to Connecting with Nature" and Co-founder of the Eight Shields Institute, about connecting with nature and animal tracking.

William Gould Vinal, Angelique Bovee

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

"Cap'n Bill is perhaps the last of the "second generation" naturalist-educators in North America. He and his contemporaries-men and women like Ann Comstock, Laurence Palmer, Fay Welch, E.K. Fretwell, L.H. Bailey-followed close upon the days of Louis Agassiz and Asa Gray. They were the great innovators in the development of techniques to revolutionize the education of children and the non-scientist with respect to science and humans affairs." -John A.Gustafson (1975)

Anna Botsford Comstock, Charles Yaple

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

The first century Roman philosopher, Seneca said, "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity" (Think/exist). That adage seems an apt descriptor of Anna Botsiord Comstock's life. However, it is tempting to blend an additional ingredient into Seneca's preparation and hard work formula - patience. For that is exactly what Anna Comstock had to practice before she received the opportunity to introduce nature study to countless numbers of teachers and school children in the early 19OO's.

The Healing Power Of Nature, Denise Mitten

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Outdoor education practitioners share the wonders of the outdoors and help participants receive the health benefits of being in nature. However, in our technology and activity centered culture the intrinsic value of being in nature has been overlooked and undervalued. As people spend less and less time outside and more people become obese and develop diabetes, spending time in nature and having healthy natural areas available to them is more important than ever. Many disciplines have growing bodies of research demonstrating the developmental and health benefits of spending time in nature and having natural areas close to living areas. In …

Think Like A Mountain : The Need For Nature For Increased Mental Health, Erin M. Mclaughlin

Graduate Research Papers

Nature has been an integral part of the human life for thousands of years. Only in the most recent hundred years, societies have begun to view nature as a foreign concept outside of the normal realm of daily life. Along with this disconnect from nature, mental illness has increased in our societal populations. This paper identifies the correlation of the need for nature, the lack of connection to nature, and the significant increase in depression, ADHD, anxiety, and autism diagnoses, among others. It also identifies therapeutic techniques that incorporate and connect with nature, as well as provides a comprehensive reference …

Children And Nature Forum Update, Coalition For Education In The Outdoors

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

The fifty-four member Forum is dedicated to reconnecting kids with nature. By doing so, the Forum seeks to improve children's health and overall well-being, while encouraging them to rediscover America's landscape. The Forum believes that children's disconnect from nature, if left unchecked, shortchanges their health and happiness now-- and creates a future generation of adults that is less healthy, productive and able to value and protect our country's natural resources.

Pleasurable Cures For Nature Deficit Disorder, Martin Ogle

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Let's back up and define "Nature Deficit Disorder" a bit. The one sentence description of this disorder most often posited goes something like this: "Kids don't spend as much time outside as they used to, and this is compromising the health. and well-being of kids, the adults they become, and society." There is a lot of truth in this, and efforts to simply get kids outside more are needed and powerful in their own right. But the problem goes deep~r than that. Increasingly, the word "unstructured" is being added to the basic sentence, above: "Kids don't spend as much unstructured …

Update On Children And Nature, Coalition For Education In The Outdoors

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Arlington, Va.-This month, millions of kids swap school for the pool, ready for summer break. But is nature part of their plans? For too many, the answer is no. With that in mind, an eclectic group of the nation's leaders-including governors, mayors, CEOs, educators, and clergy-is launching an ambitious effort to reconnect kids with nature. This new effort, the National Forum on Children and Nature, will find and fund 20 projects across the country that demonstrate how kids can rediscover nature, through education, health, the media and the built environment.

Buddhism And The Environment, Rijumati

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

When we look at the traditional Buddhist texts there seems to be very little direct reference to what would these days be called environmental or ecological ideas. As we imaginatively enter the world in which the Buddha lived and taught, the reason for this becomes clear. The picture that emerges is one of a culture that lived in far greater harmony with its environment, if sometimes at its mercy, and an "Environmental Movement" simply wasn't needed. The strong connection that people felt with nature is illustrated particularly in the story of the Buddha's life, in which all the most significant …

Review Of Nature And The Human Spirit, Dr. Curtis Schatz

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Nature and the Human Spirit is a compilation of forty '"chapters" - including the introduction and overview - by fifty scholars and professionals from a wide range of fields. The book examines the "spiritual meanings" nature holds, and the deep psychological and emotional needs met through human interaction with nature to establish a framework for a land management ethic.

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 …

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.