Outdoor Educators and K-12 Education: Making the Connection.

Overview & Synopsis

New federal and state legislation calling for environmental education creates the opportunity for outdoor educators to become an active part of the K-12 educational system. This will require that the outdoor educational community modify their professional training at the post-secondary level as well as understand the formal educational system. An outdoor educator must be competent in three general areas: (1) physical skills; (2) understanding of ecological relationships beyond minimum impact; and (3) interpersonal skills. The three general areas of knowledge are combined to propose a model for outdoor education leading to environmental literacy. The teaching license is the essential credential that shows the educational community that the person has been trained to the accepted standards of formal education. Specific course work in outdoor education teaching methods and theory should also be included in the pre-service educators' training. The State of Minnesota has recently passed a law mandating that all students who receive an education in Minnesota be environmentally literate when they graduate from high school. Environmental literacy includes an understanding of ecological relationships, a knowledge of pollution and solutions to prevent it, and humans' effect on the environment. Adventure-based education is a valid teaching method for gaining an awareness of the outdoors. (KS)