#outdoor-education

#outdoor-education

Oakland Goes Outdoors, a local nonprofit organization that has partnered with Oakland Unified School District since 2018 to bring students out of the classroom and into the outdoors, on camping trips and hikes, for sailing expeditions and rock climbing. The trips are designed to connect students with nature, help them build stronger relationships with their peers and teachers, and introduce new places and skills that can sometimes seem inaccessible for youth from low-income neighborhoods.

Many schools respond to misbehavior by assigning detention, where students are required to sit still and keep to themselves. But one school counselor in Maine, Leslie Trundy, is offering a different option: detention hikes. Trundy's novel approach captured national media attention when she began offering students the option to join her for hikes on nearby trails. A year-and-a-half into this novel offering, the results are compelling: Fewer students have been receiving detention since the new option was introduced, and teachers have observed more positive engagement in the days following hikes. While there has not yet been a formal research study to quantify the impact, detention hikes appear to be a meaningful, relational alternative that supports students while connecting them to the benefits of time in nature and physical movement.

From the Desire for a Borderless Classroom to an Architecture Intertwined with Nature - Cheewit Cheewa Home of Nature or The Sikhio Natural Agriculture Learning Center was conceived by Dr. Mavin Dankul, who envisioned expanding the Project Approach model of learning through outdoor classrooms at Prasarnwittaya School. Its primary mission is to cultivate life skills and foster environmental awareness among children and youth. At its core, the program embraces an

The high temperatures and outdated buildings at summer camp led to an increase in dehydration and exhaustion among campers, impacting the usual outdoor camaraderie.