ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Winter Chickadees
Author: Sarvis, Gisele Winton
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Outdoor Education,Recreational Activities,Entomology,Foreign Countries,Grade 3,Wildlife,Agricultural Occupations,Elementary School Students,Animals

Hiking between the farmer's field and the deciduous forest at Scanlon Creek Nature Centre near Bradford, Ontario, a grade 3 class and the author were studying different types of soils. As soil explorers they were hiking to different locations to see, touch and smell clay, silt and humus soils. The author always likes to bring a sense of discovery and adventure to all the outdoor education programs she offers, so to this end she is always on the lookout for the presence of wildlife. This, however, was a late November day and there was a scarcity of wildlife in the open. Most of the insects were hibernating, the summer birds had departed and common mammals in the area were mostly nocturnal. Walking along a trail cut between evergreen trees, she spotted some black-capped chickadees. She shushed the line of students behind her, told them about the birds ahead and asked them to walk quietly with eyes wide open. It was a great opportunity to talk to the children about how these well-dressed puff balls will land on a human hand for seeds in the winter when their food supply is diminished. Such wild animal and human contact is rare, which is why winter programs offering this experience are so valuable.
Embodying Environments: Walking through Your Body
Author: Lane, Julia
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Adventure Education,Elementary Secondary Education,Teaching Methods,Outdoor Education,Well Being,Learning Experience

The author comes to outdoor education from a background in theatre training. In the theatrical world one knows that the body remembers what the mind does not, or cannot. There are thus entire theatrical programs dedicated to developing the senses and training the body to engage beyond the facility of the mind alone. Anyone who has ever smelled a familiar scent and been "transported" to a different time and place knows about the power of the body's sensations to trigger thoughts and memories that the mind had previously forgotten or tuned out. In this article, the author describes an activity that engages the unique capacity of the body to experience learning in new ways and also to retain this learning beyond the scope of the thinking mind alone. What is particularly amazing about this activity is that it is relevant for students from K-12 at almost all levels of development. It encourages students to connect with a place in the absence of right or wrong--there is only the student's individual experiences, reactions and expressions. This exercise engages the body, the senses, sound and movement, while encouraging the intellectual mind to take a backseat to the experience. The article also suggests simple ways this activity facilitates well-being.
IMBYs and the Future of Outdoor Experiential Education: Redefining the Meaning of  "Up Close and Personal"
Author: Linney, Grant
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Outdoor Education,Experiential Learning,Physical Environment,Ecology,Neighborhoods,Attitudes,Community Attitudes,Social Bias,Social Attitudes,Place Based Education

Outdoor experiential education (OEE) is about hands-on, direct experience; it's about a community of learners; it's about rapt attention and total engagement; it's about discovering oneself, one's peers and one's surroundings. The author has experienced many extended and remote wilderness trips. He has spent most of his teaching career at a dozen day and residential outdoor education centres and he appreciates that their settings offer a range of geographies and habitats that can be effectively used for a wide variety of programs at different times of year. However, the time is past due for educators to consider the downside of travelling away for OEE. Many years ago, the author read an article in which the author praised "Not in My Back Yards" (NIMBYs) for their passion and for lines of argument that were frequently very well thought out. With reference to OEE, his proposal is that educators move from NIMBY to "IMBY." The author does not say that educators should close existing outdoor education centres, but they should face it: they're not about to get many more of these relatively expensive facilities. They should get their outdoor educators to assume more of a resource role for classroom teachers. They should get their students to realize that the life support systems of this planet are all around them and that "up close and personal" can occur locally, repeatedly, relatively inexpensively, and in powerful ways that really bring home connections with themselves, their classmates, and their natural surroundings.
Ontario's Policy Framework for Environmental Education: Indoctrination and Integration
Author: Pardy, Bruce
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Outdoor Education,Environmental Education,Foreign Countries,Policy,Models,Environmental Influences

Outdoor educators should find little to like in the Ontario government's new policy framework for environmental education. Released in February 2009, the document, titled &quot;Acting Today, Shaping Tomorrow,&quot; relies heavily on the 2007 Report of the Working Group on Environmental Education in Ontario, &quot;Shaping Our Schools, Shaping Our Future,&quot; also known as &quot;The Bondar Report.&quot; The policy framework has two main flaws: The first is its plan to program children to believe in a particular version of environmental stewardship, and the second is its intent to integrate environmental education into existing curriculum. The message of this policy framework is that schools will imbue children with conformist environmental beliefs and keep curriculum basically the same. Genuine environmental education, states this author, requires scepticism and hard questions. Instead of developing analytical skills to distinguish between genuine environmental problems and moralistic hand-wringing, the framework seeks to condition children to believe in the version of environmental stewardship that society currently endorses.
Overcoming Fear: Helping Decision Makers Understand Risk in Outdoor Education
Author: Haras, Kathy
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Outdoor Education,Familiarity,Risk Management,Probability,Fear,Risk,Decision Making,Recreational Activities

The long history of outdoor education does little to alleviate the fears of many parents, teachers, principals and superintendents who believe that outdoor education is too risky. These decision makers often lack both the knowledge to make informed decisions and the time and resources to investigate their assumptions. Pair these circumstances with a fear of making the wrong decision and the popular media's focus on tragic events, and it is no wonder that decision makers' first instinct might be to say "no" to outdoor education experiences. Outdoor educators understand the benefits of taking students outside and view risk as a product of the probability and magnitude (risk = probability x magnitude) of an event (Gardner, 2008). Based on their experience, they know that outdoor education incidents aren't that frequent and most aren't that serious. As a result, outdoor educators are perplexed when decision makers say outdoor education is too risky. Decision makers, on the other hand, are responding to a moral-emotional data set rather than a technical one. Helping decision makers overcome their fear of outdoor education consists of four steps: increasing their familiarity with outdoor education; sharing responsibility for risk management; developing credibility; and communicating effectively. This article will outline the steps and techniques that will enable individuals to reach informed decisions about outdoor education experiences.
Dwelling Where I Teach: Connections with Friluftsliv
Author: Elrick, Mike
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Secondary School Teachers,World Views,Sustainability,Ecology,Outdoor Education,Environmental Education,Teacher Attitudes,Teaching Methods,Place Based Education,Experienced Teachers,Nontraditional Education,High Schools

The author was born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada in 1963 and grew up digging forts and tobogganing in the backyard of his parents' home. Today, the author still lives in Guelph, resides in his old neighbourhood, and teaches at his old high school. The unique part is this: he is one of the few that teaches in their hometown. And this "uniqueness" has had a direct influence on, and has shaped much of his teaching. For many years, he has struggled to describe the kind of curriculum and teaching techniques he has been drawn to. Hence, when the idea of friluftsliv education was described to him, it lined up with much of what he believed in. Learning the term friluftsliv affirmed and clarified for him, this might be a way--a way of seeing the world from a long term, sustainable outlook. To date other ways don't seem to be working. As Aldo Leopold stated so many years ago, "Is it certain that only the volume of education needs stepping up? Is something lacking in the content as well?" (Contains 12 endnotes.)
There's No Place Like Home
Author: Elrick, Mike
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Fuels,Environmental Education,Field Trips,Water,Conservation (Environment),Sustainable Development,Relevance (Education),Integrated Curriculum,Foreign Countries,Outdoor Education,Leadership,College Faculty,College Students

The integrated program that the author teaches--the Community Environmental Leadership Program (CELP)--begins with a five-night wilderness trip. Here connections to the Earth are clear: water comes from lakes, fuel comes from trees and waste decomposes in the soil below. Students learn quickly that they shouldn't pee in the water they are drinking. This is logical and easy to understand on trip. But on a typical day at home and at school, water comes from the tap, waste is flushed down the drain and fuel comes from a gas element on the stove. The learning is not as simple. The connections are not as clear. The author believes that to live sustainably on this planet, educators need to begin at home. Educators need to bring the wilderness trip lessons into daily life. The unit, called &quot;bioregions,&quot; is an example of how he attempts to do this in an integrated program based in the City of Guelph. This unit can be taught in all settings, obviously tailored to fit each community. This is one of the author's most enjoyable units to teach and he believes it represents the essence of what an integrated program allows: full-day field trips, all by bicycle, no conflicts with other classes, and seven days when their community is the classroom and they never step inside the traditional four walls.
Headwaters: The Next Stage in High School Integrated Programming
Author: Elrick, Mike
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Canadian Literature,Community Problems,Recreational Activities,Grade 12,Outdoor Education,Integrated Curriculum,Physical Environment,Natural Resources,Food,Interdisciplinary Approach,High Schools,Environmental Education,Sustainability

In 2006, the grade 12 program &quot;Headwaters&quot; was initiated and offered the following four courses: (1) Environment and Resource Management; (2) Canadian Literature; (3) Outdoor Activities; and (4) Interdisciplinary Studies. The author has always described the program as simply &quot;school.&quot; The teachers teach curriculum courses outlined by the Ministry of Education. They are certified teachers hired by the public school system, and they support students to continue to play sports or music with their home schools. Their integrated programs are not intended to exist in isolation, but rather to support and enhance the educational possibilities for those in their community. The skills and lessons they impart are meant to be &quot;taken back&quot; and used in each student's home school, university or college. The overall theme of the Headwaters program is &quot;A Journey to the Source.&quot; They attempt, metaphorically, to journey farther upstream, to the source of environmental and community problems, and to the source of solutions for a sustainable future. (Contains 2 endnotes.) [The full version of this article was first published in &quot;Pathways,&quot; vol. 19, no. 3, p14-19 (2007).]
Striking a Memory the Right Way
Author: Elrick, Mike
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Heat,Family Life,Fuels,Decision Making,Technological Advancement,Social Change,Life Style,Quality of Life

The author has strong childhood memories of sitting on the ledge of an open fireplace after a bath on a cold winter's evening. While the logs crackled and sizzled, he and his brothers would toast their pajamas on the screen and slowly dress themselves before bed. Those are good memories for him. So it was with great joy that he recently bought a secondhand airtight wood stove. The next step was to get it installed in his two-storey house with no existing chimney. In this article, the author shares how he was able to fulfill his strong desire to build a wood fireplace even if everyone was discouraging him from using real wood. He states that what get him more excited is the idea of splitting, hauling, dust and bugs and the feeling of being connected to the heat and light from using a wood fireplace. He is worried about his son growing up believing that gas fireplaces are true wood fires and a whole new generation of kids who will know fireplaces that get started by a switch, not a match, and who think that wood comes from a ceramics factory, not trees. [This article was first published in the &quot;Globe and Mail,&quot; Facts and Arguments, Feb 9, 1998.]
Memories of Mike Elrick
Author: Sandlos, John
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Outdoor Education,Environmental Education,Employment Interviews,Leadership,Recreation,Personal Narratives,Teacher Attitudes,Educational Environment,Foreign Countries,Profiles

The first time the author met Mike was in the winter of 1989 at his job interview for a senior staff position at Camp Kitchikewana. Mike carried his own passion for outdoor education into his work at Kitchi. The camp had always had a focus on outdoor recreation, with strong boating and swimming programs. Mike showed his staff that they could do more, using the Kitchi site as a staging ground for children to encounter the natural world in profound and meaningful ways. Through his leadership and inspiration, Mike laid the groundwork for the environmental education focus that continues as a critical part of the Kitchi program to this day. Mike was always working with the river. From Kitchi he went on to become one of Canada's most revered outdoor educators, developing two unique environmental leadership programs for Guelph students. Since Mike's passing, the author has been thinking about how much of him, particularly his interests in the environment and education, had flowed into him.
Three Stories about Mike, or How to Advance a Play Ethic in Life over a Work Ethic
Author: Henderson, Bob
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Play,Foreign Countries,Physical Education Teachers,Ethics,Profiles,Outdoor Education

As a physical educator in the mid-1980s, Mike came to the author's office with a proposition. Rather than write a research term paper with &quot;X&quot; number of sources properly referenced, a length of &quot;X&quot; number of words, and the correct formula-style structure, Mike wanted to use the &quot;opportunity&quot; to work out on paper a philosophy. Among the author's first memories with Mike include him doodling on the guitar to the tune of &quot;Alice's Restaurant&quot; while Mike singing the song. Another memory with Mike was starting a debate about what is the better water craft for travel in Canada. It was the playfulness of it that they liked as they kept it alive. It was the play that mattered. There is hard work in all these stories. But it was not working that matters to these actions. It was play. Play can be hard work. Play for Mike was a warm feeling, personally satisfying like that term paper and socially engaging like a performance of Alice amongst friends. Play matters in learning and pushes one passionately. For Mike the gem of life experience figured brilliantly. There is a play ethic to be had. Life lessons abound in revisiting these stories for everyone. (Contains 1 endnote.)
Remembering Mike at MacArthur
Author: Horwood, Bert
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Recreational Activities,Profiles,Outdoor Education,Curriculum Development,Integrated Curriculum,High Schools,Foreign Countries,Environmental Education,Leadership,Natural Resources

For Bert, Mike, like all good teachers, proved early that he had the ability to predict potential problems and also to look back recognizing problems not adequately controlled. He wrestled with these. He worried at them, not in the neurotic sense of worry, but in the sense of thoroughly examining every aspect of the matter. Mike also knew how to get the best out of his teachers. Both Jim and Bert remember that Mike took a lead role in developing integrated curricula as he brought the Community Environmental Leadership Program (CELP) to life at Centennial High School in Guelph and how, at an event at Bark Lake, he took a lead in grappling with an abiding problem with integration. For Jim, his first impression of Mike was by way of a paper he had written for Bob Henderson. The paper was about &quot;warm&quot; versus &quot;cold&quot; approaches to camping but it was apparent in the piece that what he was really talking about was something more profound than the temperature of your skin at midnight. &quot;Warm&quot; living and camping was about a life integrated with nature, but &quot;cold&quot; was more detached from the essential processes of life. And now he's gone. Because of the way he created CELP and Headwaters, they have no doubt that in the fine hands of his successors these programs will continue to thrive and evolve.
Journeys of Mike and Wayland: Reflections on a Friend and Mentor
Author: Gifford, Paul
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Mentors,Recreational Activities,Experiential Learning,Profiles,Outdoor Education,Foreign Countries

According to the author, Mike was his close friend and also his mentor. Mike helped him find his way into teaching and he drew him into traditional winter camping. His first winter camping experience was with Mike 16 years ago in Killbear Provincial Park, near Parry Sound. Mike was thinking up Community Environmental Leadership Program (CELP) way back then--even before then. Mike could see so far ahead. He is sure Mike was writing about CELP (or what would become CELP) in his journal on that trip. They went to visit Wayland Drew, author of the novel &quot;Halfway Man,&quot; and talked about a lot of things--the book, the trail, canoe trips, Lake Superior teaching. The author looks back on his career and his life and he finds Mike on the trail, just off to the side, because it was the author's trail, not his. But Mike had helped guide him. In his wonderful, gentle, artful and affirming way, he'd guided. The author sees him there: he's grinning and nodding approval. His blue eyes are lit up. He's alive. (Contains 4 endnotes.)
Following Mike's Blazes: Thoughts from the CELP and Headwaters Trail
Author: Dalziel, Janet
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Outdoor Education,Environmental Education,Experienced Teachers,Teacher Attitudes,Recognition (Achievement),Death,Recall (Psychology),Recognition (Psychology),Secondary School Teachers

In Mike's 14 years teaching the Community Environmental Leadership Program (CELP) and Headwaters, over 500 students have passed through these programs. Mike wove together outdoor education, environmental education, place-based education, and praxis, amongst other pedagogies. Mike had a keen, intuitive sense of the educational potential that lay at the heart of certain activities. Recognizing a new possibility, he would launch a new project with enthusiasm and an experimental sense of adventure. He was generous with his time and unfailingly supportive in his mentorship of colleagues and numerous student teachers. He practiced what he preached, and in doing so inspired students and staff alike. The authors say as they continue Mike's work and begin making it their own, they find themselves supported by the network he created of volunteers and resource people. Mike always encouraged each of them to find their own path, but his mentorship and the blazes he has left to help them along on their journey are an invaluable gift that they will always be grateful for.
Mike's Guiding Warmth
Author: Leckie, Linda
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Outdoor Education,Instructional Effectiveness,Environmental Education,Recreational Facilities,Profiles,Climate,Interpersonal Relationship,Teacher Attitudes,Altruism,Educational Environment

Mike Elrick knew how to stay warm. He loved to wrap himself from head to toe in wool; the author pictures Mike as a wool-clad moccasin-footed snow walker twisting into lampwick harnesses with his trail axe looped through his belt. Mike looked forward to winter and welcomed a drop in the mercury--the lower the better! He loved the physical work of life on the winter trail and never stopped moving long enough to get cold. Mike had a self-professed devotion to a wood fire and he shared his spiritual connection to wood openly with others. Mike also loved the physical act of working with wood. In addition to keeping himself warm, Mike was passionate about creating and sharing that warmth with others. He provided a cozy loving home heated with wood for his family, he kindled all of his friendships with deep affection and anyone who met him would instantly feel the warmth radiating from his signature smile. He warmed the hearts and minds of educators with his published writings that shared his passion for teaching outdoor and environmental education. His commitment to traditional camping principles and philosophies created an endearing glow in the memories of his students. As a true dweller of place he was able to see the land with elements of sacredness. This is one of Mike's lasting legacies. He felt that not having a sacred place was the missing link in effective teaching for the environment.