45 Years of Outdoor Education: Assessing the long-term impact.

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45 Years of Outdoor Education Assessing the
long-term impact.

• Kendra Liddicoat Jim Rogers Marianne
  Krasny
• Cornell University Bradford Woods
  Cornell University

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A 3-day residential outdoor education program for
all 5th graders from the Martinsville, Indiana
Began in 1958 as a day program. Became
residential in 1961. Developed and led by local
teachers and principals.
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Research Objectives

1. To investigate what adults remember of a 5th
   grade residential outdoor environmental education
   experience.
2. To assess program impact.
3. To consider what types of activities,
   experiences, and settings encourage long-term
   memory and impact.

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Background

• Retrospective Studies
• emphasize active childhood experiences in nature
• adult mentors
• positive and negative environmental experiences
• Program Evaluations
• mixed results
• primarily short-term

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Concepts to Explore
Sense of Place
Challenge/Novelty
Residential Setting
Memories
Turning Point
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Methods Data Collection

• Background Research
• Interviewed 7 former and current
  teachers/directors
• Reviewed documents
• Participant Interviews
• Recruited through ads, emails, events, and
  interviewee recommendations (snowball sampling)
• Semi-structured in-person interviews lasting
  20-40 minutes each
• Youth Questionnaires
• Distributed questionnaires to approximately 120
  12th graders and 120 8th graders.
• 50 returned completed.

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Methods Sample Characteristics

• 1958-1965 11 1968-1973 13
• 1978-1982 10 1990-1992 11
• Females 33, Males 14
• Representatives of all nine Martinsville
  elementary schools
• Half volunteers, half recommended
• Varying professions, levels of education, leisure
  interests, environmental perspectives

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Methods Data Analysis

• Content Analysis
• Taped and transcribed all interviews
• Typed all questionnaire responses
• Read repeatedly, coded and sorted quotes, looked
  for emergent themes
• Member Checks
• Shared and discussed results with former
  teachers, Bradford Woods staff, and community
  members
• Familiarity with the Setting

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What just came to mind?

• Sleeping in the tents
• Being outdoors
• Staying away from home/parents
• Spending time with friends
• Program leaders and teachers
• Learning and measuring trees/plants
• Panning for gold
• Rainbow Trail and Pin
• The dining hall and being a hopper
• Campfires, night hikes and star gazing

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An Overnight with Friends

• First time camping or staying away from home
  without family.
• Bonding in small living groups without adults.
• Spending time with ones class before leaving
  elementary school and making new friends for
  middle school.
• Remember the dining hall as a time of warmth,
  good food, conversations, and awards.

True across genders and decades
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Memorable Teachers

• Many mentions of the program leaders
• Commented on preparation in the classroom,
  instruction at Bradford Woods
• Saw teachers in a new setting, new light

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Memorable Teachers

• And when youre a kid its like when you go away
  from school the teachersgo underneath a
  baseboard or something and they were there at
  Bradford Woods after school hours with you, at
  night and in the early morning.
• I remember my teacher wore slacks and see back
  then girls had to wear dresses to school. And the
  teacher came in pants, Id never seen a teacher
  not in a dress, so to me that was real cool.

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• Started in the early 1960s and continued until
  1999.
• A source of pride/status and an incentive for
  learning.
• Fostered individual interaction with teachers and
  helping other students.
• Only 5 people did not remember the Rainbow
  Program and
• 8 people said they still have their Rainbow
  Badge!
• 10 species named, 7 explanations of how to
  measure a tree.

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Youth Memories

• Learning trees and plants
• Earning ribbons (rainbow badge)
• Staying in the tents
• Singing
• Campfires and night hikes (lifesavers stars)
• Hopper duty and yuck
• Being with friends
• Wildlife games
• Hiking

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Stated Impacts

• Gained independence and felt more grown up.
• Bonded with classmates and met new people.
• Learned trees and shared this knowledge with
  parents and now their children.
• Trees were more memorable and useful later.
• Became generally more aware of local nature, of
  preserving natural areas, and of not littering.
• Choose to camp now or to live in the country.
• Those who said it didnt really impact them just
  had fun.
• Different impacts on kids from city and rural
  areas.

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Stated Impacts

• I grew up out in the country, so being outdoors
  wasnt a new experience for me, but I enjoyed
  finding out all the things you could learn about
  the plantsI remember that impressing meas
  something you wouldnt know unless you had had
  that experience at Bradford Woods (1971).
• It really made me appreciate natureId been
  pretty much a city kid. And to actually get out
  into the woods and you know, walk on something
  that wasnt concrete or asphalt, see trees where
  you can see more than ten planted in a row. It
  made me realize that I wanted to live in the
  country when I got older (1972).

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Youth Impacts

• Yes (36 students)
• Learned about nature
• Created good memories
• Time with friends and meeting new people
• Grew up through the experience
• Know specific things like trees, the big dipper,
  and not wasting food
• No (10 students)
• Just had fun
• Already knew about the woods

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Environmental Behaviors

• Outdoor Recreation (33)
• Not littering (27)
• Conserving electricity (25)
• Saving water (19)
• Buying local food (17)
• Tent camping (17)
• Gardening (16)
• Birding or nature study (11)
• Walking or biking to save gas (11)
• Hunting or fishing (10)
• Reading about nature or environmental issues (9)
• Teaching about nature (9)
• Volunteering at a park (8)
• Member of an environmental organization (4)
• Advocating for environmental practices (4)

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Environmental Attitudes

• Prefaced by
• Im not a tree hugger or an extremist
• Stewardship of Gods creation.
• Concerns about land development.
• Concerns about consumption, trash production.
• Mentions of recycling.
• Object to littering.
• Concerns about gas/utility prices.
• Want to know more and get the facts.

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Program Goals

• For the class, the resident outdoor education
  experience provides a culminating activity toward
  which pupils can work. Another positive value is
  the cohesiveness and unity of spirit that results
  when individuals are pursuing a common goal. In
  the 24-hour-a-day setting, children are provided
  the opportunity to develop a certain amount of
  independence and self-reliance in assuming
  responsibility for their own well-being.
• (Hammerman Hammerman 1973)
• We wanted the kids to come away with an
  appreciation for the outdoorsthe majority of the
  kids were from in townmaybe they had never
  really been in out in the woods, so it was an
  opportunity for them to gain some
  appreciationand hopefully instill a sense of
  stewardship for places like that.
• director 1973-1981

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Concepts Explored
Challenge/Novelty
Sense of Place
Residential Setting
Memories
Turning Point
Community
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Reflections

• Using the overnight experience.
• Considering student age and program length.
• Creating memories.
• Balancing tradition, community expectations, and
  innovation.
• Creatively linking with school and home.
• Designing appropriate evaluations.

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Future Directions

• Expand to a comparative study.
• Tease apart possible impacts of local and novel
  (day or residential) programs.
• Consider current practices and future directions
  of ROEE.

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Im awed by how for a two-day span of time, I
probably have an awful lot of memories that
occurred such a long time ago. Which sort of
surprises meyou know looking back on it, there
was a lot of things I did in school that I dont
remember any better than that. student, 1961

• Thanks to
• All who participated in the study
• and
• Jerry Sanders, MSDM
• Teachers and principals of MHS, EMS, WMS
• Bradford Woods staff
• Cornell faculty and graduate students
• US EPA NNEMS Program for funding