TEACHING PHILOSOPHIES
We are all like sponges soaking up the liquids of life experience. Some
liquids evaporate and we forget. Others stay with us and were
member. When we are asked to share experiences with others, we can
squeeze out some of what we have retained for others to absorb, if they are
ready and willing. (Knapp, 1996, xi)
The goal to reforming education is to take learning beyond the classroom and
into our surrounding society. Outdoor education, a general term
describing the use of resources (including both natural and artificial
environments) outside the classroom, has long been considered a method to
improve student learning. (ix)
In the early 1900s, outdoor education played a large role in the learning
process. Somewhere between then and now, this concept of outdoor learning was
lost. However, the new trend can become a reality again by educators
reaching towards this common goal. This goal being Reform.
This book is broken down into three chapters to help the reader understand
the concept fully. Chapter one introduces the idea of outdoor learning
and describes several innovations and relates them to some of the principles
for outdoor education. Chapter two offers suggestions for planning
activities guided by outdoor education. Chapter three includes 12 outdoor
adventures, which allows for the movement of the traditional classroom to the
outdoors and surrounding areas of the community. This chapter also
includes a brief introduction of certain curriculums, which can be easily used
with these activities.
Lastly, there is an appendix that includes a history of outdoor education and contains several different programs that are currently being used in the schools.