Current Trends and Tensions in Outdoor Education.

This article explores some of the benefits of outdoor education and examines some of the historical approaches taken to outdoor education, with an emphasis on current trends in the field. Specifically, fostering environmental stewardship through connections to the outdoors, incorporating Indigenous perspectives into practice, and place-based education are discussed. Natural links between these trends are explored, and areas of possible tension between these approaches are examined. The value of outdoor education lies in the multitude of benefits it provides to those who participate. Outdoor education has historically been adventure-based education, with a focus on individual health and personal growth through camping and survival skills. However, recent trends in outdoor education are shifting the focus away from individual health and wellness goals to fostering environmental stewardship through connections to the outdoors. Another current trend is incorporating Indigenous perspectives into the practice of outdoor education. Place-based education is another recent trend, which encourages teachers to focus their lessons on local places that students can relate to. These recent trends have natural links between each other, so they can complement each other. However, there are also areas of possible tension between these approaches that outdoor educators should be cognizant of and avoid. Outdoor education is an important area for curriculum development and is beneficial to children and youth for several reasons. The physical benefits of being outdoors are too numerous to recount here, but include the usual gains that we associate with any physical exercise, such as improved balance, faster reflexes, and stronger bones and muscles (Dietze, 2016). It also boosts immunity and energy levels, and reduces the likelihood of developing nearsightedness (Suzuki, 2017). The physical benefits of outdoor education are crucial to the health of children and youth. The benefits of being out-of-doors go beyond simply getting exercise to including emotional, cognitive, and social benefits. The emotional benefits to being outdoors include increased confidence and an increased ability to cope with stress and even trauma (Dietze, 2016; James & Williams, 2017). The cognitive benefits include more opportunities for independent problem solving, especially through manipulating objects (Dietze, 2016; James & Williams, 2017), and it gives students who may not demonstrate high-level thinking skills in regular classrooms a chance to do so (James & Williams, 2017). Another cognitive benefit of being outdoors, in more “natural” settings, is that it can be restorative and help people who have impulsive tendencies, are unable to concentrate, or are mentally fatigued, to work better and think more clearly (Louv, 2008). A child’s social development benefits from outdoor activities in a variety of ways, including learning to work in groups, take turns, and understand social norms (Dietze, 2016). Students who are apathetic toward school-based learning are often more engaged in outdoor learning (James & Williams, 2017). I have personally witnessed, on more than one occasion, how students who do not normally interact with each other can more easily do so in the outdoors, and how some students who do not achieve well in regular classrooms can be engaged in lessons and excel during outdoor activities. Engaging in outdoor activities benefits students in many ways.