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.
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
95 items
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Taking a step back: learning without the facilitator on solo activities
A solo study found participants named personally meaningful outcomes, centred on self-awareness, social relationships and a sense of connection to landscape.
The nature of feedback in adventure-based education
The authors examine socially constructed feedback in adventure education and the use of feedback as a teaching approach.
Programming night time activities in outdoor adventure programs
A brief article looks at why people take part in night-time outdoor activities and what benefits and value they get.
Nel Noddings' care theory and outdoor education
The article applies the theory of caring to outdoor education, with examples across policies, leadership, relationships and challenge by choice.
Learning outside the classroom: Theory and guidelines for practice
A book of ideas and practical advice for learning outside the classroom in school grounds and local neighbourhoods.
An ethnography of the outdoor classroom: How teachers manage risk in the outdoors
The article examines how teachers manage risk in outdoor activities, and how that affects students' outdoor learning, through control, constraints and limits.
Writing to learn: can reflection journals be used to promote self reflection and learning?
The article investigates reflective journals as tools for learning and assessment.
The dramaturgy approach to education in nature: reflections of a decade of International Vacation School Lipnice courses, Czech Republic, 1997-2007
The article describes a course design that blends art, music, drama and adventure to balance physical, social, creative and reflective needs.
Thoughts on assessment
The chapter discusses formative assessment processes that fit experiential learning and includes assessment resources.
Using handhelds to support students' outdoor educational activities
A pilot gave handheld computers to Year 12 geography students on a field trip and produced recommendations for using them in fieldwork.