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There's a Buzz in the Air For Outdoor Education. But Are We Missing Something?

Apr 13, 2019
5 min

There's a Buzz in the Air For Outdoor Education. But Are We Missing Something?

Outdoor education has a long history. But sadly it's not always received the kudos it deserves. For too long it's been sidelined as a "nice to have" or a once-a-year box ticking exercise in the busy school calendar. But now there's an unmistakable buzz in the air for outdoor education, and it's truly inspiring and refreshing to see! Related Posts Is It Time to Re-think Outdoor Education for the 21st Century? Exploring Science Outdoors Encourages a Love of Learning Like Nothin

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Are You "Nature Smart?" How to Awaken Naturalistic Intelligence in Children

Mar 26, 2019
3 min

Are You "Nature Smart?" How to Awaken Naturalistic Intelligence in Children

Multiple Intelligence Theory In 1983, Multiple Intelligence Theory was first put forth by Professor Howard Gardner in his ground-breaking book, Frames of Mind. Over the past four decades, Gardner’s MI theory has become popular with both teachers and parents as a tool for explaining and differentiating the talents and gifts of children. "When planning and delivering educational activities and lessons, combining multiple learning styles in your teaching is essential for fulfill

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Top 10 Tips for Outdoor Environmental Teaching

Mar 20, 2019
3 min

Top 10 Tips for Outdoor Environmental Teaching

Outdoor environmental education is a brilliant way to engage students with hands-on science and ecological understanding that reinforces classroom learning. Teachers and environmental educators alike can always benefit from adapting their teaching approaches, tools and methods to maximize learning in outdoor settings. Check out our Top 10 Tips for Outdoor Environmental Teaching below! We hope you find them helpful! Related Posts Is It Time to Re-think Outdoor Education for th

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5 Simple Ways to Inspire a Love of Nature and the Outdoors Among Children

Mar 11, 2019
4 min

5 Simple Ways to Inspire a Love of Nature and the Outdoors Among Children

Children need surprisingly little to develop a love of nature and the outdoors - essentially it's coded into their DNA. Children didn't evolve to sit day after day in small boxes of neat tables and chairs called classrooms. The key really is exposure to the natural world from an early age. It's in Our DNA Even the most urbanized, citified children in our schools today can quickly learn to appreciate nature and green spaces, through hands-on outdoor education experiences. Afte

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How to Instill a Love of Learning and Prepare Children for the 21st Century

Mar 8, 2019
1 min

How to Instill a Love of Learning and Prepare Children for the 21st Century

Once called STEM, STEAM education is growing in popularity worldwide. It stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics, and it's designed to equip children with 21st Century knowledge and skills for the 4th Industrial Revolution. Some educationalists also add Electronics and Robotics to extend the acronym to ‘STEAMER.’ When combined with outdoor and experiential education, this type of learning can be extremely powerful. "By getting children to work togeth

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10 Steps to Starting Your Own School Outdoor Education Program

Mar 7, 2019
3 min

10 Steps to Starting Your Own School Outdoor Education Program

Imagine a world where every school has outdoor education built into the school fabric and ethos. Imagine a school where children are truly connected to nature. Imagine a class of children who plant, grow and harvest their own school canteen food. Well, you'll be glad to hear that these things are possible in every school. In my view, schools have a responsibility to support outdoor learning on their school grounds to ensure the children they educate do not develop an acute ca

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Experiential Education Fosters a Love of Learning Like Nothing Else! Ask Albert Einstein.

Mar 4, 2019
3 min

Experiential Education Fosters a Love of Learning Like Nothing Else! Ask Albert Einstein.

In a world where children spend most of their education cooped up in small boxes called classrooms, real-world experiential learning can be truly transformational for 21st Century youth. As Albert Einstein famously said "Knowledge is experience. Everything else is just information." "Breaking children out of the safety of their boxed classrooms and encouraging them to experience things with their own senses, makes learning fun, exciting and engaging in a way that classroom le

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Creating Tomorrow's Entrepreneurs through Outdoor Learning.

Feb 14, 2019
3 min

Creating Tomorrow's Entrepreneurs through Outdoor Learning.

Children growing up in the 21st Century will need to be adaptable, dynamic and creative lifelong learners in a highly uncertain globalized world. Humanity faces global environmental, social, economic and political challenges on a scale and magnitude never before seen. The pace of technological change will mean that 21st Century workers need to learn, re-learn and keep reinventing themselves as individual businesses and whole industries respond to new opportunities and rapid c

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Is Outdoor Education a Privilege of the Wealthy?

Feb 9, 2019
6 min

Is Outdoor Education a Privilege of the Wealthy?

I've been thinking about this question for a while now, and I've come to learn the unfortunate truth. There is a burgeoning inequality in outdoor education opportunities in our society primarily due to wealth, socio-economic status and ethnic background among children and their families. Is Outdoor Education a Human Right Or a Privilege? Children from wealthy families, in middle-class neighborhoods have significantly more and better quality outdoor education opportunities, an

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"Nature is Boring. I Want My Smart Phone Back!"

Feb 4, 2019
5 min

"Nature is Boring. I Want My Smart Phone Back!"

Sometimes the older children become, it seems the less interested they become in nature and the outdoors. As an experiential educator in an international school setting, I work with children of all ages and nationalities and this trend can be difficult to ignore. Hit adolescence and it becomes harder and harder to engage young people in outdoor and environmental learning. And that's what prompted me to write this blog post. Related Posts Let's Scrap Environmental Education &

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What Is the Future of Outdoor Education?

Jan 31, 2019
4 min

What Is the Future of Outdoor Education?

The concept of modern outdoor education is nothing new. It owes its beginnings to separate initiatives. Organized camping was evident in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century in Europe, the UK, the US, Australia, and New Zealand. The Scouting movement, established in the UK in 1907 by Robert Baden-Powell, employs non-formal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities. The first Outward Bound center at Aberdovey in Wales was established during

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How to Actively Engage Children in Conservation: A Game of 'Predator-Prey'

Jan 20, 2019
7 min

How to Actively Engage Children in Conservation: A Game of 'Predator-Prey'

So far the focus of my blog posts for Outdoortopia has been on education reform and integrating outdoor and experiential education (OEE) into our education system by focusing on ecological literacy and broader sustainability issues, particularly through the framework of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Now it's time to get down to the nitty gritty and provide the know-how to create real change and impact through outdoor learning. The incredible benefits of learning exper

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Is It Time to Re-think Outdoor Education for the 21st Century?

Jan 19, 2019
5 min

Is It Time to Re-think Outdoor Education for the 21st Century?

Outdoor and Experiential Education (OEE) is the perfect vehicle for developing young people into well-informed global citizens. The kind of citizens who are ecologically literate with well-formed values and a changemaker mindset on global sustainability issues, together with a wide range of dynamic (or so-called 'soft') skills that could be used to help the next generation to create social and environmental change, for a brighter future in the 21st Century. OEE develops the i

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Philanthropy is Not the Solution to Sustainability. Here's Why.

Nov 26, 2018
3 min

Philanthropy is Not the Solution to Sustainability. Here's Why.

Ecosia is a commercially-driven and clever search engine powered by Microsoft. But why would anyone want to change search engines from Google or Bing? Well, there's one huge difference. Ecosia is 'the search engine which plants trees.' Every time you make a search on Ecosia, income is created through ads and the profit generated is spent on planting trees. Genius right? "Social enterprise has the power and scaleability to solve global sustainability problems by re-channeling

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Can the Global Community Take Sweeping Action on Climate Change Before it's too Late?

Oct 13, 2018
2 min

Can the Global Community Take Sweeping Action on Climate Change Before it's too Late?

Can humanity face the challenges presented by climate change before it's too late? This is a big question and it's vital if we are to achieve global sustainability and live in harmony with our only home, Planet Earth. But alarmingly, scientists have discovered that we are presently consuming resources at a rate equivalent to 1.7 Earths per year, well beyond what our planet can sustain. Researchers are uncovering clear evidence of big scale changes within global ecosystems due

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Sustainability & the 8 Billion People Conundrum

Jul 16, 2018
5 min

Sustainability & the 8 Billion People Conundrum

Almost nobody actually wants to harm wildlife and fewer still want to exploit factory workers in developing nations. And I've never met anyone who willingly wants to send their plastic waste to landfill to spend the next four centuries decaying. Yet frustratingly, these things happen day in, day out around the world. And due to the complexity and challenge of these global issues, it's far too easy to feel disheartened, as if there's very little we can do as individuals to cha

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