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The "Changemaker" Cycle for Meaningful Service Learning

Youth Everywhere Are Protesting for Urgent Action On Climate Change!

Feb 16, 2019
3 min

Youth Everywhere Are Protesting for Urgent Action On Climate Change!

On 23rd January 2019, 16 year old Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg, addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In contrast to the many delegates who arrived by up to 1,500 individual private jet flights, Thunberg took a 32-hour train ride to get there. She told a Davos panel “Some people, some companies, some decision makers in particular have known exactly what priceless values they have been sacrificing to continue making unimaginable amounts of money

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Let's Scrap Environmental Education & Get Ourselves Off Planet Earth!

Jan 28, 2019
3 min

Let's Scrap Environmental Education & Get Ourselves Off Planet Earth!

In a recent conversation with a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) teaching colleague, who is also an avid reader of Outdoortopia, and a former engineer before turning his talents to teaching; his argument is that environmental education is now pointless as we're well beyond bringing Earth back from the brink of ecological disaster. "...we could become a Star Trek species, speeding around the Milky Way Galaxy or beyond to our heart's content and inhabiting

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Exploring Science Outdoors Encourages a Love of Learning Like Nothing Else.

Jan 27, 2019
3 min

Exploring Science Outdoors Encourages a Love of Learning Like Nothing Else.

Scientific literacy is vital nowadays. In our age of "fake news" and "alternative facts", the ability to discern between credible scientific evidence and sensationalist news stories with little foundation, is more important now than ever before. "Learning, which is relevant to children's lives, authentic and observable in real-world settings has the potential to be truly transformative." Scientific Literacy is Vital to Solving 21st Century Challenges We need children who are

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Children Are Never Safe in Outdoor Education. Here's Why.

Jan 25, 2019
4 min

Children Are Never Safe in Outdoor Education. Here's Why.

I frequently hear outdoor education practitioners, parents and children using the words safe and safety in the context of outdoor learning. Many parents will ask the question: "If my child participates in your outdoor program, will they be kept safe?" And the short answer is "Not exactly." So today's blog post is about risk management in outdoor and experiential education (OEE) for children, and changing perceptions of the concept of safety while taking part in outdoor and ad

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Is Outdoor Play Just a Big Waste of Time?

Nov 25, 2018
3 min

Is Outdoor Play Just a Big Waste of Time?

Some believe that outdoor play for children has little educational value. It's unstructured and has no obvious learning outcomes, you might hear them say. But is outdoor play a waste of time? Are children learning valuable lessons or are they just messing about in the mud? Should we lessen the amount of outdoor play to focus more on structured classroom learning instead? Well, unlike maths or literacy which can be rigorously assessed each term to determine a child's progress,

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Is Mindfulness for Children Just a Fad?

Nov 17, 2018
3 min

Is Mindfulness for Children Just a Fad?

Mindfulness has become a modern buzzword. It stems from ancient Buddhism, and it's become a hot topic in education in recent years. It can practiced without the need for religious or spiritual context, and it can be incorporated into classroom and out-of-classroom education with relative ease. But it's also become riddled with misconceptions and a sense of mystical ambiguity that risks putting educators off mindfulness as a dynamic learning tool for students and teachers alik

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Why On Earth Do We Trap School Children Inside Four Walls to Learn?

Nov 1, 2018
5 min

Why On Earth Do We Trap School Children Inside Four Walls to Learn?

There is little doubt that outdoor and experiential learning has many benefits for children. It helps make learning relevant, meaningful and authentic by engaging learners through hands-on experience. Abstract concepts and knowledge learned within the classroom make much more sense when set in a real-world context. Regular curriculum subjects can be brought to life outside the classroom, by using the senses and engaging students using a wide variety of learning approaches. St

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Community Mapping: What's Affecting Your Neighborhood?

Oct 20, 2018
5 min

Community Mapping: What's Affecting Your Neighborhood?

In service learning, students learn to tackle real-world problems in their community, while building deeper understanding and skills for themselves. I've seen first-hand what service learning can do to help the local community, while also providing valuable learning experiences for young people. The best thing is - it can be a real win, win. By both empowering youngsters to make positive real-world change (e.g. tree planting, building community facilities in under resourced c

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Can We Educate Today's Youth to Create a Sustainable Future?

Oct 17, 2018
5 min

Can We Educate Today's Youth to Create a Sustainable Future?

Changemakers are people who desire change in the world and, by gathering knowledge and resources, make that change happen. To achieve meaningful change on sustainability issues, it's crucial that the next generation are well-informed of global socio-political and environmental issues and develop well-formed values, based on knowledge and critical thinking. But being informed is only half the answer, as young people also need the confidence and resilience to make real change a

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Worrying Trends in Health & Wellbeing Among Children

Sep 3, 2018
4 min

Worrying Trends in Health & Wellbeing Among Children

Health and wellbeing among children in many developed nations is showing some very concerning trends. In this blog post, I explore why this is and what evidence-based solutions are emerging in the research with a special lens on outdoor education. The Facts & Figures 1 in 3 10-11 year olds are obese or overweight in England according to recent research (NCMP England, 2012-13). 1 in 10 school pupils (5-16 years) suffer from a diagnosable mental health disorder in England and h

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Shining Outside the Classroom

Jul 19, 2018
4 min

Shining Outside the Classroom

In an average classroom of students, some are likely to possess a talent for mathematics. Others might find art a natural fit and enjoy letting their creativity flow through the tip of a paint brush. Likewise, some may find their calling in the sciences and relish being immersed in a web of test tubes and Bunsen Burners. Fitting the Mold But what about those kids who don't fit the mold? Those square pegs who simply don't fit into the round holes of the education system. For m

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Are Children Born to Be Wild?

Jun 23, 2018
3 min

Are Children Born to Be Wild?

The word innate means hereditary or human nature and I'm a big believer that human beings are born to be outdoors as much as possible. Remember, homosapiens evolved over millions of years during an intimate struggle to survive the unforgiving forces of nature, which included big predators, climate fluctuations, disease, food shortages and countless other evolutionary pressures. Modern humans once shared the Earth with big apex land predators including the formidable saber too

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7 Easy-to-Follow Steps for Experiential Learning: How to Structure a Lesson with Impact!

Jun 2, 2018
3 min

7 Easy-to-Follow Steps for Experiential Learning: How to Structure a Lesson with Impact!

How to Structure a Experiential Lesson with Big Impact! Raising awareness and understanding of the global challenges facing humanity and our planet are perfect platforms for experiential educators to explore complex concepts, develop student knowledge and inspire positive change. One of the most incredible ways to successfully lead an experiential learning session outside or inside a classroom is based on the 7E Instructional Model developed by Dr. Arthur Eisenkraft. The 7E

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What is Experiential Education? Questions Answered!

May 16, 2018
2 min

What is Experiential Education? Questions Answered!

What is Experiential Education? In a nut shell, experiential education (EE) is best defined as "Challenge and Experience followed by Reflection leading to Learning and Growth" Association for Experiential Education. It's a philosophy and structured methodology of teaching used in a wide variety of disciplines and settings including both indoor and outdoor environments. Who Is It For? The tools and techniques of experiential education can be used to engage both youth and adult

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