What it is
Outdoor learning experiences can boost academic learning, personal development and environmental stewardship. By creating intentional and engaging outdoor learning experiences, program staff can cultivate unique opportunities for transformation and growth. In addition, identifying and addressing access and equity barriers can ensure that all young people can experience the outdoors and grow in their connection to the natural world.
Why it matters
According to the 2020 outdoor trends, 72 percent of outdoor participants are White, with 54% of those being male. People of color are much less likely to seek recreation, adventure and solace in nature (Hispanic - 11%, Black - 9%, and Asian - 6%) due to a number of reasons, such as lack of access to outdoors spaces, historical trauma, limited financial resources and a deficiency of positive outdoor role models. To help address this adventure gap, youth-serving organizations need to provide quality and impactful outdoor learning experiences for all young people to increase connection to the natural world.
Connection to nature is more important than ever, as today’s young people spend more time in front of screens and less time playing outside. Outdoor Foundation’s 2021 Outdoor Participation Trends Report reported that, while overall outdoor participation rates rose from 2019 to 2020 during the pandemic, children ages 6 to 17 were outdoors far less and their rate of participation is declining. Environmental stewardship, or developing a passion for taking care of the natural world, can be fostered by creating a connection through inclusive and impactful outdoor learning experiences.
What effective practice looks like
From our review of the literature, we have compiled eight key components of developing transformative outdoor learning experiences. These components, along with experiential learning and meaningful reflection, through a lens of diversity and inclusion, are essential for planning and implementation of programs.
- A sense of safety and support. Program staff ensure that proper risk management policies are in place and upheld to ensure physical safety. In addition, quality learning environments are developed to provide emotional and social safety and support.
- Challenge. Young people are empowered through activities that give them a sense of being pushed, both mentally and physically. The challenge of an experience takes participants out of their comfort zones, but within their chosen limits.
- Intensity. Activities are intentionally designed to create an emotional high by engaging emotional triggers. Zeivots described this as ‘edgework’. Program staff must be cognizant of the intensity and duration of the experience according to the development of the participants.
- A guided experience in nature. Participants learn to live in nature through provided goals and reflection. The outdoor learning experience should be steeped in D’Amato and Krasny’s transformative learning theory.
- Ability to break away from normal life. Outdoor experiences provide participants a chance to get away from their normal routines and remove themselves from external influences such as family, work, social media and school, creating a sense of autonomy.
- Activities that foster self-awareness. Intentional design of the outdoor experience offers young people the space to grow in social emotional skills, setting and achieving goals and acceptance of oneself and their environment.
- Invitation to explore. The outdoor learning environment is rich in opportunities for young people to have new learning, discover new skills, play and connect with nature.
- An environment for positive, social support. Young people receive feedback and acceptance from others and have the ability to learn and live in a community, creating a sense of social responsibility.
Tips for program staff
- Use a critical lens to identify audiences in your outdoor learning experiences. Consider a strategy like ripple effect mapping.
- Listen and learn from voices and experiences different from your own, and strive to do so without burdening others. One example includes: Melanin Basecamp Diversify series.
- Ask the hard questions about how your programs meet the needs of all young people. If it feels like a safe and welcoming environment free from trauma for you, that doesn't mean it is for everyone.
- Develop strategies that incorporate elements of environmental service-learning to strengthen the connection with nature, mobilizing young people as social justice change agents.
- Cultivate approaches to ensure equity and inclusiveness in the educational design and development process. Learn how to design outdoor education as a system for building resilience in young people.
- Evaluate connectedness to nature throughout the program. Use tools such as the Practitioner Guide to Assessing Nature.
- Reassess your recruitment and marketing processes. Reframing and recreating your programs to be more inclusive to a broader audience isn't going to automatically make your program more diverse. If your marketing strategies haven’t changed, your participants will likely be the same, even for a new program.
- Create a program with an organization that serves a different audience. Instead of investing time recruiting new young people, partner with another organization and together build a high quality program to reach a broader audience in your area.
- D'Amato, L.G. & Krasny, M.E. (2011) Outdoor Adventure Education: Applying Transformative Learning Theory to Understanding Instrumental Learning and Personal Growth in Environmental Education, The Journal of Environmental Education, 42(4), 237-254, doi: 10.1080/00958964.2011.581313
- Kuo, M., Barnes, M., and Jordan, C. (2019). Do experiences with nature promote learning? Converging evidence of a cause-and-effect relationship. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 305. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00305
- Mills, J,E. (2014) The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors, Seattle, WA: Mountaineers Books.
- Zeivots, S (2018) Triggers of emotional highs in experiential learning, Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 18(3), 275-288, doi: 10.1080/14729679.2018.1443482
Reviewed in 2022