Place-based curriculum making: devising a synthesis between primary geography and outdoor learning
The article argues for blending place, space and sustainability in primary geography and outdoor learning.
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
20 items
In and out of place: exploring the discursive effects of teachers' talk about outdoor education in secondary schools in New Zealand
Interviews with eight NZ secondary outdoor education teachers show adventure and learning discourses sit side by side in how they talk.
Tenuous affair: Environmental and outdoor education in Aotearoa New Zealand
The authors look at education for sustainability within outdoor education and how meaning is, and can be, given to outdoor experiences.
Students' experiences with/in integrated Environmental Studies Programs in Ontario
Canadian students in interdisciplinary environmental studies programmes changed their environmental attitudes and behaviours.
Empathy and critical thinking: primary students solving local environmental problems through outdoor learning
The study explores outcomes of teaching primary children empathy and critical thinking to solve environmental problems.
Critical thinking assessment across four sustainability-related experiential learning settings
The project examined critical thinking in four experiential sustainability courses and discusses a conceptual model of integrated planning, design, content and scaffolded application.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Toward a model of embodied environmental education: Perspectives from theatre and indigenous knowledge
Six environmental educators' voices shape a model of embodiment that helps students look and listen in ways that increase environmental sensitivity.
Learning our way to sustainability
The article argues sustainability needs collaborative action and social learning that produces new thinking, alternative values and co-created solutions.
Environmental education and the politics of curriculum: A national case study
A historical analysis shows the political nature of the school curriculum and suggests educators look to their own community for strength and leadership in environmental education.
Assessment in senior outdoor education: A catalyst for change?
The authors argue assessment can drive student learning about sustainable relationships with the outdoors, and propose five catalysts for teachers.