Outdoor Education Commons^™

Environmental Sensitivity And Youthful Participation In Outdoor Recreation, Tinelle Bustam

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Over the last twenty-five years, a number of researchers have attempted to understand what makes people care about the environment or what underlies "environmental sensitivity." Early research on significant life experiences of environmental activists suggested that such appreciation began at a young age and in outdoor settings (Tanner, 1980; Peterson, 1982). Dunlap and Heffernan (1975) found a relationship between participation in nature-based recreation and environmental sensitivity. Other studies have found no relationship (Geisler, Martinson, & Wilkening, 1977) or only weak to moderate relationships between outdoor activity and environmental concern (Van Liere & Noe, 1981; Jackson, 1987; Theodori, Luloff, & Willits, …

An Interview With Ben Lawhon, Leave No Trace, Inc., Education Manager, Rob Andrejewski

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

For this issue, Taproot interviewed Ben Lawhon of Leave No Trace, Inc. (LNT). As Education Manager of Leave No Trace, Ben organizes the educational efforts and curriculum development of the Boulder, Colorado-based nonprofit. He facilitates nearly all of the organization's nationwide education programs and works closely with LNT's federal agency partners National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, National Fish & Wildlife Service-to coordinate various Leave No Trace trainings and outreach programs.

Review Of Let The Mountains Talk, Let The Rivers Run, Jennie Daley

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Brower, a former president of the Sierra Club, founder of Friends of the Earth and the Earth Island Institute, is revered as a demigod of the environmental movement. In Let the Mountains Talk, Let the Rivers Run Brower discusses various problems of the environment and the environmental movement, and offers plausible solutions to those problems.

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.

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 "Society for Ecological Restoration" and "Project Adventure".

From The Editor, [email protected]

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

This issue of Taproot explores the relationship of outdoor pursuits, development of ecological conscience, and long-term human behaviors that serve to protect the whole biotic community.

Review Of Wilderness And The American Mind, Charles Yaple

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Yes, we know most Taproot readers have probably read Roderick Nash's Wildernesss and the American Mind (WAM). In fact, many practicing environmental and outdoor education professionals "cut their teeth" on WAM and Aldo Leopolds', A Sand County Almanac. However, it is a good wager that many of we "older" practitioners have not read the fourth edition of Wilderness and the American Mind. It is important that we 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 OWAA (the Outdoor Writer's Association of America) and PAEE (the Pennsylvania Alliance for Environmental Education).

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.

An Interview With Tom Wessels, Patrick K. Pryor

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Associate Editor of Taproot, Patrick Pryor, interviewed Tom Wessels, author of two books, Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England and The Granite Landscape: A Natural History of America's Mountain Domes, from Acadia to Yosemite. Tom is also Director of the Masters Degree Program in Environmental Biology, at Antioch New England Graduate School. At Antioch he helped develop the Environmental Biology program that trains field ecologists to conduct research for non-profit, environmental organizations. He is also an Ecological Consultant for The Rain Forest Alliance's Smart Wood Program where he has developed "green certification" assessment· guidelines for timber …

Teaching The 3 R'S Through The 3 C'S: Connecting, Curriculum & Community, Clifford E. Knapp

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

The exploration of the educational potential of communities through direct experiences is not a new idea. In 1912 naturalist, John Burroughs, wrote:" . .. The way of knowledge of Nature is the way of love and enjoyment, and is more surely found in the open air than in the schoolroom or the laboratory" (Burroughs, In Finch & Elder, 1990, p. 275). In 1915 educator and philosopher, John Dewey, re-published some earlier speeches in his book, The School and Society. He wrote: "We cannot overlook the importance for educational purposes of the close and intimate acquaintance got with nature at first …

Environmental Education Update, Coalition For Education In The Outdoors

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

This section contains updates from the Coalition for Education in the Outdoors as well as news about related organizations across the country. This issue included news from the "International Wolf Center Teaching the World about Wolves" and the "Bi-Annual Report - National Environmental Education & Training Foundation (NEETF)".

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: Forestry Suppliers' Geology F.I.E.L.D. Kit TM and the Landscape of America, a book by May Theilgaard Watts.

From The Editor, Charles Yaple

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Six years ago an issue of Taproot (Volume 10, No.I) had "Sense of Place" as its theme. We now revisit that theme because of its tremendous importance in this fast-paced world where "the geography of nowhere" best describes the lives of most people. Lost in a sea of meaningless work, paying the bills of endless consumerism, juggling the schedules of children .. . life becomes similar to chasing a windblown bag across the lawn that eludes us just as we bend to grasp it. The relevance of life escapes us and is substituted by our seemingly incessant movements.

Rebuilding A Sense Of Place, Lnara Scott

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

What does it mean to have a "sense of place"? The great advocates of wilderness each had their special places: Aldo Leopold had his "sand county shack," Thoreau had Walden Woods, John Muir had the Sierra's and Yosemite. For these important figures, a sense of place developed through a deep connection with a particular location over time. The land they lived on became a dear friend, a part of their community. Leopold's land ethic is based on this very concept: "All ethics ... rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community" (Leopold, 1966, p.239) …

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 "International Camping Congress, Australia" and "Parks and Protected Area Management, Sardinia, Italy".

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.

Review Of Landscape, Nature, And The Body Politic, Coalition For Education In The Outdoors

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

A new release by the University of Wisconsin Press arrived as this issue of Taproot went to press. Time prevented a review by Taproot editors, however it is presented here because of its wonderful fit with our "Sense of Place" theme.

Hunt Club, Nate Matthews

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

There is blood on my hands. My thumb has a smear of rusty-orange/red along its inside surface and beneath my fingernails little crumbles of congealed crimson have lodged. My pants, too, are stained, gore inter-mixed with cuff-mud and burdock stickers adorn their hem. Most days this would be cause for alarm, but I'm not worried. Opening day of deer season is not the time for guilt.

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: "Moon Mining: Investing in the Final Frontier" and "Woodpeckers Evacuated".

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 Orion Institute (hosted three institutes in 2002) and lnterlocken Experiential Education in New Hampshire.

Review Of Wholeness: On Education, Buckminster Fuller, And Tao, Charles Yaple

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Author, and visionary, Alex Gerber Jr. has masterfully crafted a treatise that clearly illustrates, for most readers, theories of renowned architect, inventor, author, poet Buckminster Fuller with principles of spirituality found in Tao. In doing so he arrives at a means (education) of achieving harmony (wholeness) with ourselves and the planet. Gerber believes:

Awakening to wholeness may be the single most important event in anyone's life. This fundamental evolution refers to experiencing and valuing the interconnectedness of creation, the oneness of being. The whole, which ecompasses all subjects, experiences, and perceptions, is the arena in which everything occurs, the essential …

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 Soil and Water Conservation Society and the Wilderness Risk Managers Committee.

From The Editor, Charles Yaple

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Welcome to this special issue of Taproot devoted to art and outdoor education. We begin with the second part of Marie Bernardy's article on "A Case for the Place of Music in the Outdoor Education Program." Part I appeared in the Fall/Winter 2000 issue of Taproot (Volume 12, Number 3).

Teaching Nature Journaling And Observation, Clare Walker Leslie

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Nature journaling is hands-on learning at its best. The students are not punching keyboards, responding to questions in a book, or answering questions made up by someone else. They are outdoors, looking at grasses, weeds, ants, earthworms, blue jays, sugar maples, poison ivy, and seeing for themselves connections they never noticed before. The proof of their observation is their own journal page.

Review Of Balance Point: Searching For A Missing Spiritual Link, Charles Yaple

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

It seems most appropriate that review of a novel is included in this special issue of Taproot devoted to "art" and environmental and outdoor education. As environmental novels go, they probably don't come much better than Balance Point! The book's back cover succinctly conveys this reviewer's assessment:

Rich with a non-religious mysticism and drawing from the astute observations of the world's leading ecological visionaries, Balance Point imparts a disturbing, yet hopeful awareness of the world around us and the universe within us, revealing what may be the route to our planet's, and our own, long-term survival.

Environmental Education Update, Coalition For Education In The Outdoors

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

A recent information brief, Environmental Education: Moving into the Educational Mainstream, from the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) bears good news for environmental and outdoor educators. According to Marcia P. Sward, of the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation, "current evidence" suggests that, "compared to traditional educational approaches, environmental based education improves academic performance across the curriculum." Citing a study of 40 schools using "Environment as an Integrating Context for Leaming," the ASCD report indicates that educators found significant improvement in student Standardized test scores (77% ), Student engagement and enthusiasm (98% ), Ability and willingness to stay …

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: "A Weaver's Garden" (which describes Growing Plants for Natural Dyes and Fibers, a complete guide to practical and holistic plant use, by Buchanan) and "Cloning: How and Why?" (a video on cloning).

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.

A Case For The Place Of Music In The Outdoor Education Program - Part Ii, Marie Bernardy

Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Part I of this article discussed the importance of music in education, the history of music in outdoor education, and briefly described the role of nature in music. This second part suggests a rationale for inclusion and considerations for implementation of music in the outdoor education program. Quotes from interviews with music educators and outdoor educators, cites from relevant literature and personal experience provide the basis for the suggestions. Educators' quotes remain anonymous, as the interviews were part of another study.