Leave No Trace and Sustainability Education: Taking a Dialectical Approach
Leave No Trace and its critiques can be used as a context for dialectical learning, helping students see that informed action matters and no action is innocent.
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
211 items
Using mixed reality (XR) immersive learning to enhance environmental education
A study of a bring-your-own-device mixed reality (XR) intervention at a New Zealand marine education centre indicates XR can enhance understanding of complex marine conservation science.
Indigenous Storytelling, Cherokee Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and Place-Based Education
Combining Cherokee traditional ecological knowledge stories with place-based education helped middle school students reflect on cultural literacy, wellbeing and respect for nature.
When are you taking us outside? An exploratory study of the integration of the outdoor learning in preschool and primary education in Quebec
Quebec preschool and primary teachers used outdoor learning across many subjects and settings, relying on flexible planning and routines, and named factors that helped or hindered them.
Reviving botany in the curriculum: the botanical journey of two Western Australian early childhood teachers
Findings from a case study of two early childhood teachers suggest that inquiry-based and place-based teaching in the bush, with First Nations perspectives on plants, can build teachers' botanical knowledge and literacies.
Conservation education in Aotearoa-New Zealand: a values perspective
The authors argue that conservation education, including learning about lethal control of introduced animals, supports the values set out in Aotearoa New Zealand's national curriculum.
Taking Off the Backpacks: The Transference of Outdoor Experiential Education to the Classroom
Teachers who experienced real community during an outdoor education residency tried to create similar community for their own students and schools, though they met obstacles.
Heat and sun related medical concerns in Australian led outdoor activities: a three-year prospective study
An analysis of Australian incident reports found heat and sun illness in led outdoor activities linked to participant, equipment and environmental factors that system-focused approaches could reduce.
Universal Design for Learning - A framework for inclusion in Outdoor Learning
Universal Design for Learning gives primary teachers a planning framework for making outdoor learning inclusive of every learner in a diverse class.
How does a primary school organize outdoor swimming and water safety lessons?
A Norwegian primary school's outdoor swimming and water safety week was marked by strong principal support, staff teamwork, experiential learning, challenge by choice and risk awareness.
Critical Consciousness in High School Outdoor Experiential Environmental Education
High school near-peer mentors in outdoor school programmes developed critical consciousness about equity through deliberate training rooted in social justice education.
Links between natural environments, learning and health: evidence briefing (EIN063)
An updated Natural England evidence briefing reports a substantial body of evidence supporting a positive association between engagement with the natural environment and a diverse range of learning processes and outcomes, including educational, social, developmental and health outcomes.
Using nature sanctuaries to consider sustainable futures
Interviews with children and young people who visited Zealandia led to three place-based approaches for using nature sanctuaries to enrich sustainability education.
Diversity in Outdoor Education: Discrepancies in SEL Across a School Overnight Program
Instructors rated students' social-emotional skills as improving over an immersive outdoor programme, but they saw larger gains for white students than for students of colour.
Experiential Wilderness-Based Professional Development: Beliefs and Confidence of Participant Educators
Wilderness-based professional development boosted teachers' confidence and plans to use experiential methods, but the effect faded over time and confidence did not predict classroom use well.
The impact of an outdoor learning experience on the development of English creative writing skills: an action research case study of year 7 and 8 secondary school students in Australia
An outdoor learning experience in a Year 7/8 English writing course in Victoria, Australia was linked to significant gains in students' creative writing.
Toward a Framework for ʻĀina-Based Pedagogies: A Hawaiʻi Approach to Indigenous Land-Based Education
This article sets out a Hawaiʻi framework for ʻāina-based pedagogies, grounding Indigenous land-based education in ancestral Hawaiian principles.
‘Everything we do will have an element of fear in it’: challenging assumptions of fear for all in outdoor adventurous education
Deliberately building fear into adventurous activities can isolate and marginalise students who struggle with it, which challenges the assumption that fear benefits everyone.
Support Factors and Barriers for Outdoor Learning in Elementary Schools: A Systemic Perspective
Canadian elementary teachers named four connected areas that help or hinder outdoor learning: teacher characteristics, systemic factors, culture and the environment. The authors call for systemic support.
‘Wow! is that a birch leaf? In the picture it looked totally different’: a pragmatist perspective on deep learning in Norwegian ‘uteskole’
Drawing on Dewey and pupils' experiences of learning outside the classroom, this Norwegian study argues that learning activities support deep learning when they involve both transaction and continuity.
Ngā Waihotanga Iho: Self-determination through Indigenous environmental education in New Zealand
A Kaipara hapū used an estuary monitoring toolkit with NIWA and local high schools to lead Indigenous environmental education, supporting self-determination and environmental guardianship.
Turkish pre-service early childhood education teachers’ perceptions and practices of nature-based teaching on professional experience
Ten weeks of nature-based teaching on placement boosted Turkish preservice early childhood teachers' confidence. The study also names barriers such as family and management attitudes.
The Contribution Transport Time Makes to Outdoor Programs: A Third Place?
Outdoor educators describe time spent travelling to and from trips as a time when students have conversations ranging from silly and fun to deep and introspective.
“I just want to stay out there all day”: A Case Study of Two Special Educators and Five Autistic Children Learning Outside at School
Moving a social skills group outdoors several times a week supported autistic students towards their individual education goals and also benefited their special educators.