The effects of in-depth outdoor experience on attitudes towards nature
The study found solitude, primitiveness and humility are important in programmes that improve attitudes towards nature.
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
Place-based education
The chapter describes two successful place-based education projects and the principles they share, with early insights into the effect on academic engagement and citizenship.
Place-responsive pedagogy: learning from teachers' experiences of excursions in nature
Teachers became more sensitive to place through collaboration, planning visits and practice, and the authors propose a theory of place-responsive pedagogy.
The place of experience and the experience of place: Intersections between sustainability education and outdoor learning
The author critiques place-based pedagogies and argues for caution about their links with sustainability-focused outdoor education.
Examining the motivation and involvement of Chinese rock climbers
A study finds Chinese rock climbing is male-dominated, motivated by escape from routine and learning about nature, and organised largely through websites.
"I'd say it's kind of unique in a way": The development of an intercultural student relationship
The article explores how intercultural student friendships begin, last and develop, and what helps or hinders them.
The potential of humor as a trigger for emotional engagement in outdoor education
The article argues humour can trigger students' emotional engagement and influence student-student, student-teacher and context interactions.
The desire to learn as a kind of love: Gardening, cooking, and passion in outdoor education
A Danish organic school gardens project built students' desire to learn and their knowledge of nature, farming and food.
Undergraduate perceptions regarding the debrief process in adventure-based learning: Exploring the credibility of the Sunday afternoon drive debrief model
The paper explains the Sunday Afternoon Drive debrief model, with examples and critiques of meaningful, complete debrief sessions.
The implementation of mobile learning in outdoor learning: Application of QR codes
The authors built a multimedia tool using QR codes on environmental and cultural 'green maps' to link technology with outdoor experiences.
Learning biology and mathematics outdoors: effects and attitudes in a Swedish high school context
Swedish pupils who learned biology and maths outdoors retained knowledge better in the long term and valued the social interaction.
Woven into the fabric of experience: residential adventure education and complexity
The paper asks how pupils change after a residential adventure education experience and how that change relates to what they experienced.
Promoting resiliency in adolescent girls through adventure education
A mountain biking programme was linked to small but consistently higher resilience in 87 adolescent girls, which persisted over time.
Breaking the mold: Impacts of adventure education on girls
A mountain biking programme for adolescent girls is explored for its effect on body image, gender stereotyping and resilience.
Freedom, flow and fairness: exploring how children develop socially at school through outdoor play
Audio recordings of children show outdoor spaces with less adult control gave freedom for sustained play and interaction between children.
Does a nurturing approach that uses an outdoor play environment build resilience in children from a challenging background?
Case studies of three at-risk children show how a nurturing forest programme stimulated resilience.
Boys go bush: Pedagogical insights to the experiences of New Zealand adolescents on solo
The research questions the educational value of overnight solos for adolescent boys and points to anxieties that need careful support.
'It's good for their self-esteem': the substance beneath the label
The paper argues outdoor educators should be more critical and specific about what they aim to achieve around self-esteem and how they measure it.
The multi-dimensionality of group cohesion: A social network analysis of NOLS courses
A network analysis found students' comfort talking with each other is critical for group cohesion, and that teaching meta-skills such as leadership matters.
John Dewey and education outdoors: Making sense of the 'Educational Situation' through more than a century of progressive reform
The book explores the history and philosophy of outdoor education as a subject and as a method.
Climbing as if you care: Rock climbing at Kura Tawhiti / Castle Hill as a place based approach to sustainability
The study at Kura Tawhiti / Castle Hill explores how climbers engage with climbing areas and how place-based education can develop an ethic of care for them.
Developing approaches to outdoor education that promote sustainability education
The article introduces a model describing a change process towards a sustainability-focused outdoor education pedagogy.
Developing a place-based approach to outdoor education in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Outdoor ed in our place: 'Keepin' it real'
The report explains how schools developed local journey-based programmes responding to their geographical, historical and cultural contexts.
Student perspectives of a place responsive outdoor education programme
Students in a place-responsive programme reported positive relationships and a stronger appreciation of and attachment to place.