Outdoor education in Canada: a qualitative investigation

[Retracted] Exploration and Analysis of Educational History from the Perspective of Educational Environmental History and Environmental History

“…The analysis of environmental education is still weak, and there is no systematic and in-depth study on this problem. This paper attempts to explore Dewey's thought of environmental education through the analysis of geography and history education [ 14 ]. It is helpful for educators to thoroughly understand the essence of environmental education and firmly grasp its philosophical foundation, so as to develop environmental education better [ 15 ].…”

Outdoor education in Canadian post-secondary education: common philosophies, goals, and activities

“…Based on our previous research that identified seven values and philosophies commonly underlie OE programs in Canada (Asfeldt et al, 2021 ), we asked participants to indicate the extent to which these seven values and philosophies influenced their program. The seven values and philosophies included: (1) the vision and values of the program’s founder, (2) a hands-on experiential learning approach (e.g., combines content, experience, and reflection), (3) a holistic integrated learning approach where disciplines (i.e., biology, history, physical education) are blended, (4) religious traditions (e.g., Christianity, Judaism), (5) spiritual connections (e.g., making connections to people and the natural world), (6) self-propelled wilderness travel experience, and (7) educational philosophers (e.g., Dewey, Kolb).…”

“…Based on our previous research that found OE programs/courses in Canada have five common learning goals (Asfeldt et al, 2021 ), we asked participants to indicate the extent to which these five learning goals were part of their program/course. The learning goals included: (1) building community (i.e., promote teamwork and relationships), (2) employability (i.e., students gain practical work experience), (3) environmental stewardship (i.e., students learn sustainable practices), (4) people and place consciousness (i.e., students learn about the location, people, historical significance), and (5) personal growth (i.e., students develop in character, leadership, and self-awareness).…”

“…In the second phase of this project, Asfeldt et al ( 2021 ) report findings from 22 interviews and site visits from OE programs at summer camps (6), K-12 schools (10), PSE institutions (5), and one CEGEP in Canada. CEGEPs (Collège d'enseignement général et professionnel) are one-and two-year programs offered only in the province of Quebec that provide diplomas and certificates.…”

“…In the 1960s and 70 s, OE developed further being spurred on by a growing environmental movement resulting in OE appearing in K-12 schools (Raffan, 1996 ). In the third phase of this larger project, we identified 58 PSE institutions in Canada that offer at least one for-credit course that self-identified as outdoor or adventure education and used an online survey to more deeply understand how the findings from the qualitative phase of this research (Asfeldt et al, 2021 ) apply in PSE. Recently, Dyment and Potter ( 2021 , p. 16) claimed that OE in PSE is undervalued and poorly understood which often results in OE being “thrown overboard” in the ocean of neoliberalism (Berg et al, 2016 ).…”