Outdoor Education Commons^™

Movie Review Of 127 Hours, Susan Wilson

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

127 Hours (2010) is the story of Aron Ralston directed by Danny Boyle. An outdoor adventurer, Ralston catapulted to the national stage when he was found in Canyonlands National Park after having amputated his own arm over the course of an 127 hour ordeal. Ralston was hiking alone in 2003 when he fell, pinning his arm under a large boulder. After four days and many failed attempts at escape, Ralston made the difficult decision to amputate his own arm to save his life. Ralston’s story became controversial amongst outdoor enthusiasts; a lone hiker, who did not alert others to the …

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.

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 "US Play Coalition" and "Wilderness Medicine".

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: "Outdoor adventure pursuits: Foundations, models, and theories" and "Investigating adventure experiences: An experiential sampling approach".

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: "Saving the World's Most Endangered Birds" and "Iceland Calls Off Whale Hunt".

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.

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.

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.

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".

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: "Winds of Change", an article about wind energy, and "Missing Monarchs", an article about the declining monarch population.

Teaching Green The Middle Years, Rob Andrejewski

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

It is in this spirit-one of peer connection, collaboration, and communication- that Teaching Green - The MuJJl.e Years comes to us. Tim Grant and Gail Littlejohn, editors of Green Teacher magazine, have culled the best articles pertaining to hands-on environmental education for grades six to eight from their environmental literacy and global awareness magazine. The result is 50 innovative yet practical ideas for environmental education for the middle school years.

The Obligation To Endure Again, Sandra Steingraber

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

The author of this letter was a young biologist named Rachel Carson. Carson could not have known, when she penned it, how profound an impact her short letter would have. The Associated Press picked it up for syndication. The Reader's Digest reprinted it. And so her missive found its way onto front porches and breakfast tables, into living rooms and libraries and doctors' office waiting rooms across the nation. At the height of the Cold War, in the midst of an anti-Communist inquisition that had convulsed the federal government, Carson's assertion that "the real wealth of the Nat ion lies …

Practitioner's Corner Strengthening Natural Senses, Michael Cohen

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

"Us is the united wholeness, wisdom and spirit of the natural world and our true inner nature. Acknowledgement of Us results in living more harmoniously with the living land, waters and life-spirit within and about us ... we enjoy peace with the whole of nature found in ourselves, others and the landscape."

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 "Creating Ripples: Education, Environment and Culture" and "Teaching OUTSIDE the Box - Creative Uses of Nature in Education".

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: "TheEEWorks.org" and the "International Dark Sky Association".

Practitioner's Corner- Please Touch, Anita Sanchez

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

I wish I had a nickel for every environmental education activity that involves index cards. Students drown in a sea of paper. My kindergartener brings home worksheets, pictures, notes, every day. By the end of the year, the pile is as high as he is. Are you doing activities with pictures of animals cut out from magazines and laminated onto index cards? You know who you are. Forget the index cards! Use real stuff.

The Role Of The Environment In Adventure And Outdoor Education, Todd Miner

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Outdoor education is all about the outdoors, the natural environment, right? That certainly used to be the case, as students were immersed in the out of doors and spent time learning about natural history, ecology, or environmental issues.

Today, however, that common sense assumption has been changing to the point that some now consider "outdoor education" an outdated or imprecise label. Increasingly, we see programs identify themselves either as adventure education or environmental education. Even those programs that still use the term outdoor education or recreation in their titles are focusing more on leadership, teambuilding, and personal growth, as opposed …

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: "Amazing Animal Activity Program" (an animal tracking kit) and "From the Folks at Outward Bound" (The Outward Bound Earthbook is a field guide to environmental concerns).

Review Of Consider The Earth: Environmental Activities For Grades 4-8, Second Edition, Kerry A. Masarik-Pryor

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Consider the Earth is an environmental guide that provides educators with background information on ecological issues, natural history and a variety of hands-on activities. Each lesson includes activity objectives, preparation requirements, materials, and vocabulary words. Friendly to use, this book is divided into ten themes focusing on soil, plants, water, wildlife, weather, environmental problems, oceans, ecosystems, and bibliographic information.

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.

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 the "New England Journal of Environmental Education - Call for Submissions" and "Leave No Trace Master Educator and Trainer Courses".

P.E.E.R. (Professional Environmental Educator's Resource) Guide: A Naturalist's Booklist For Children, Kerry A. Masarik-Pryor

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

The P.E.E.R. Guide is a new section of Taproot designed to be a communication from a professional in the field of outdoor and environmental education to the community at large. The resources reviewed in each P.E.E.R. Guide have proven valuable and are recommended by the author.

Review Of The Book On Raccoon Circles, Carol Navarro

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

The Book on Raccoon Circles is a collection of active learning and adventure-based activities and initiatives that employ few or no props. Raccoon Circles, which were created and popularized by Dr. Tom Smith, are pieces of one-inch tubular webbing knotted into a loop of about four feet in diameter. The Book on Raccoon Circles demonstrates how with. the aid of this simple, ·portable device, anyon~ can facilitate meaningful activities for groups of any size.