Learning Away final evaluation report
An independent evaluation finds residential learning has a positive effect on engagement, achievement and relationships.
Research, reports and guidance on education outside the classroom and outdoor education, with a plain-English summary of each and a link to the original. New items are added every week.
The library began with Education Outside the Classroom: Applied Research Readings 2010–2017(McNatty & Boyes, University of Otago, 2017). Later items were found, summarised and checked with AI assistance using the same method: every reference is checked against the publisher's record, every summary against the published abstract, and only items rated high confidence by two independent relevance checks are published. Summaries are a guide: read the original before citing it.
Research library
125 items
"No harm done": Teachers' humorous talk about children's safety
Teachers' humour helped them manage concerns between safety and risk, pleasure and danger in the outdoor classroom.
A review of New Zealand's EOTC policy and curriculum
The review traces how safety is understood in NZ EOTC policy and curriculum and suggests a more holistic view could guide practice.
Convergence between science and environmental education
A brief article examines how science and environmental education could converge to address socio-ecological challenges.
Fostering environmental action through outdoor education
The study looks at students' environmental actions and how they approach, internalise and express their own learning.
Entering the fray: The role of outdoor education in providing nature-based experiences that matter
The article explores how first-hand nature experiences can connect learners to sustainability concepts and what that means for outdoor education.
Outdoor investigations to connect water to you
A maths and science programme used the outdoors to teach about local water quality issues, with links to free resources.
Intersections between place, sustainability and transformative outdoor experiences
Drawing on teachers' perspectives, the authors suggest a sustainability framework could help place-responsive educators improve human-nature relations.
Measuring student teachers' understandings and self-awareness of sustainability
The article argues teachers need a better understanding of sustainability so they can plan and teach effective sustainability education.
Adventure education and the acculturation of first-generation Chinese Canadians in Vancouver, Canada
First-generation Chinese parents in Vancouver steer their children's adventure education participation to correct their development and manage exposure to wider culture.
Being close to each other
The article examines progressions in experiential learning and how more proficient kayakers guide learners.
Autonomous student experiences in outdoor and adventure education
The article discusses giving students independence in outdoor programmes while keeping appropriate supervision and staying within safety bounds.
Guidelines for assessment of experiential learning
A guide offering several strategies for assessing experiential learning.
Empowerment and experiential education: A state of knowledge paper
The paper examines empowerment as a process and an outcome in experiential education and makes recommendations for practitioners and researchers.
Engaging youth in lifelong outdoor adventure activities through a nontraditional public school physical education program
The authors describe fitting enjoyable outdoor lifetime activities into a physical education and health programme, with rationale and lessons learned.
Outdoor education and science achievement
The authors describe using the schoolyard for science outdoor education, with repeated visits for observation and data collection, plus activities and web resources.
Teaching evaluations and reflective practice: Strategies for improving teaching skills in adventure education
The article offers strategies, including reflective practice methods, for improving instructors' teaching skills.
Which social emotional competencies are enhanced at a social emotional learning camp?
A Singapore secondary camp improved competencies such as self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, relationship management and responsible decision-making.
Investigating the impact of field trips on teachers' mathematical problem posing
The article shows how field trips and professional development activities shaped teachers' ability to create meaningful maths problems.
Five days at outdoor education camp without screens improves preteen skills with nonverbal emotion cues
After five days at an outdoor camp without screens, preteens improved at reading nonverbal emotional cues.
A 10-day developmental voyage: converging evidence from three studies showing that self-esteem may be elevated and maintained without negative outcomes
Evidence from the NZ sail-training vessel Spirit of New Zealand shows participants' self-esteem rose and stayed higher over time.
High school teachers' experience of the educational potential of outdoor teaching and learning
A longitudinal study found teachers who taught regularly in the school grounds reported more student motivation, communication and participation.
'Did you enjoy your holiday?' Can residential outdoor learning benefit mainstream schooling?
The paper examines how residential outdoor learning relates to mainstream schooling in Scotland and how qualitative and quantitative studies fit together.
Enough of Ronald and Mickey: Focusing on learning in outdoor education
The paper asks whether consumptive outdoor experiences marketed to schools fit the New Zealand curriculum values of innovation, inquiry and curiosity.