Experiencing the different everyday on an international school-led trip: A New Zealand example
The chapter reflects on how young people on international school trips develop autonomy and learn, using views from students, parents and school leaders.
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
356 items
The application of recognition-primed decision theory to decisions made in an outdoor education context
The paper maps the decisions experienced outdoor leaders make, sorted into logistical, safety, pedagogical, environmental and group dynamics categories.
Comparison of methods to teach magnetic declination
The article describes and compares four methods of teaching magnetic declination.
Service-learning: Implications for empathy and community engagement in elementary school children
Findings suggest service-based learning supports young students' academic and social learning and civic efficacy.
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.
Does challenge by choice increase participation?
The article discusses student responses to a challenge by choice programme, including its benefits and caveats.
Experiential learning and its impact on students' attitudes toward youth with disabilities
Students' attitudes toward people with disabilities were examined after lecture material plus direct work with people with disabilities at an inclusive camp.
Outdoor adventure education for children in Scotland: quantifying the benefits
A project tried to quantify the personal and social benefits of outdoor adventure education and got mixed results.
Fostering experiential self-regulation through outdoor adventure education
Two linked studies examine whether outdoor adventure education can affect students' ability to regulate interest and goal direction.
Social dynamics in outdoor adventure groups: Factors determining peer status
The article explores how gender and socioeconomic factors affect students' peer status in task and social situations in outdoor adventure groups.
Improving school attendance: can participation in outdoor learning influence attendance for young people with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties?
A one-year outdoor programme in an English special school improved attendance, though attendance is complex and gains may stay within the programme.
Outdoor recreation for 'Every Body'? An examination of constraints to outdoor recreation for individuals who are significantly overweight
A brief article identifies structural, intrapersonal and interpersonal constraints on outdoor recreation for people who are significantly overweight.
Enhancing resilience in youth through a 10-day developmental voyage
Youth on a ten-day New Zealand sail training voyage gained resilience that lasted after the voyage.
Creating a temporary community? An ethnographic study of a residential fieldtrip
An ethnographic study follows how community feeling changed for three teachers and students on a week-long residential fieldtrip.
An investigation of participants' intended and actual transfer of learning following an Outward Bound wilderness experience
A retrospective study compares what students intended to take home from an Outward Bound course with what they actually carried two years later.
Learning Away final evaluation report
An independent evaluation finds residential learning has a positive effect on engagement, achievement and relationships.
"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.