Historical Development of the Oudoor Education Movement

Lecture Notes on Historical Development of the Oudoor Education Movement Brief notes on the Outward Bound and Adventure Education (historical timeline) 1886 - Kurt Hahn is born in Germany. 1920 – Salem Schule: First modern, Western school focusing on personal responsibility, equality, social justice, respect, community service, in Germany. This was the first significant involvement of Kurt Hahn as an innovative educator in a school. 1941 – The first Outward Bound program was conducted in Aberdovey, Wales. 1946 - The Outward Bound Trust is established, with an eye to expansion, to oversee fund-raising, publicity, and recruitment of staff and students. Its long-time chairman is Sir Spencer Summers, a Conservative MP, whose energy, enthusiasm, and influence does a great deal to establish the Trust as an important and expanding force in British education. 1962 – Outward Bound Colorado (now Outward Bound West) was The first Outward Bound school started in the USA, in Marble, Colorado. The program spurred America’s interest in outdoor education. The rugged approach to personal growth appealed to a culture based on pioneering, individual freedom, and dealing with America's vast and challenging physical landscape. Outward Bound Colorado was founded by Josh Miner, with the help of Paul Petzoldt, among others. 1965 – National Outdoor Leadership School: First dedicated school for teaching outdoor leadership skills, founded to the USA; later spreads to other countries. Started by Paul Petzoldt who had worked for Outward Bound Colorado and noticed the need to train outdoor education leaders. Go to more on the history of NOLS. 1971 – Project Adventure was started by Jerry Pieh in a Massachusetts high school. Jerry Pieh was the son of Bob Pieh who had founded the Minnesota Outward Bound School (later to become the Voyageur Outward Bound School), so he had a good understanding of the principles of Outward Bound. The challenge for Jerry was to bring those principles into a mainstream school. Thus Project Adventure became the second major spin-off from Outward Bound (NOLS was the first). In 1974, Project Adventure received federal funding through the National Diffusion Network, allowing Project Adventure to spread into 400 schools, itself spawning a variety of different experiments with adventure-based learning in schools. 1974 - Kurt Hahn dies (born 1886). 1976 – Association for Experiential Education (AEE) was created in the USA to help to foster and spread the word about outdoor and experiential education. More on the history of AEE. 1977 – Wilderness Education Association (WEA): Paul Petzoldt left that National Outdoor Leadership School to create the Wilderness Educators Association. Petzoldt aimed to bring the training of outdoor leadership into colleges and developed an extensive leader training curriculum. WEA has had less impact on the outdoor education industry than NOLS. 1983 - Development of Outward Bound International. 2003 - Outward Bound Colorado merged with Pacific Crest Outward Bound School to become Outward Bound West 2005 - Outward Bound USA announces merger of 5 out of 8 of its chartered operations For details on outward bound program model see other lecture. Brief notes on the Nature study movement (from Wikipedia) The nature study movement (alternatively, Nature Study or nature-study) was a popular education movement in America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Nature study— closely related to natural history—emphasized first-hand appreciation of nature and its beauty, rather than an analytical understanding of the natural world. Cornell University in New York, where Anna Comstock and her husband John Henry Comstock taught, was the center of the nature study movement. Nature study can be described as “conceiving of the movement as a loose coalition of communities composed of individuals, societies, and institutions able to find some common ground in the study and appreciation of the natural world.”[1] The Nature Study movement changed many of the ways science was taught in North American schools in a number of regions in the late 19th century. Scientists and naturalists such as Louis Agassiz, Wilbur S. Jackman, and Mrs. Comstock brought about the first sign of this midto-late nineteenth century movement.[2] Definitions of nature study In "Leaflet I: What Is Nature-Study?" from a 1904 collection nature study lessons, Liberty Hyde Bailey presented the following description of nature study: NATURE-STUDY, as a process, is seeing the things that one looks at, and the drawing of proper conclusions from what one sees. Its purpose is to educate the child in terms of his environment, to the end that his life may be fuller and richer. Nature-study is not the study of a science, as of botany, entomology, geology, and the like. That is, it takes the things at hand and endeavors to understand them, without reference primarily to the systematic order or relationships of objects. It is informal, as are the objects which one sees. It is entirely divorced from mere definitions, or from formal explanations in books. It is therefore supremely natural. It trains the eye and the mind to see and to comprehend the common things of life; and the result is not directly the acquiring of science but the establishing of a living sympathy with everything that is. Mrs. Comstock defined the idea extensively in her book, Handbook of Nature Study: “Nature Study is for the comprehension of the Individual life of the bird, insect or plant that is nearest at hand.”[3] It is said to aid “both discernment and in expression of things as they are” by Comstock.[4] The movement came at a time when society was concerned with the future of the next generation[5] and with nature conservation itself[6], and because of this was met with high regard and high expectations.[7] Though many efforts had come before 1890 by some naturalist and scientists to teach and expand the movement, the nature-study movement really did not gain momentum with the public until the late 19th century, early 20th century.[8] The Nature Study changed the curriculum for children in many of areas of the country[9], and it also affected the way young and teenage girls were able to learn and find job placement.[10] The movement was often related to creating a less extensive or formal science training for females. Before the 1890s, the idea of nature study existed, but the “efforts had been sporadic and piecemeal.”[11] Naturalist Louis Agassiz wanted to capture “learners in studying the natural world.” His students, who where influenced by this philosophy, went on to provide the nature study knowledge in public schools.[12] It was Aggasiz who coined the phrase, “Study nature, not books.”[12] Many scientists, teachers, and leaders throughout the United States agreed on value of nature study, and the subject became an important part of how the natural world was examined in many areas of the country by the early 20th century.[13] Scientists gave public support to the philosophy and added to the creation of a curriculum and courses.[11] The movement was particularly popular in the Northeast, the West, and the Midwest. The American Nature Study Society was founded in 1908, and still exists today.[18] The society was an important aspect as well in helping to bring about the Nature-Study movement. Anna Botsford Comstock is one of the societies’ past presidents. It is considered to be America’s oldest organization for environment.[19] A study in Kim Tolley’s the Science Education of American Girls showed that of 127 public schools systems 49% offered Nature-study in all grades, 25% offered in at least six grades, 11% in at least four grades, 5% in three grades or lower, and 0% didn’t offer it at all in 1925.[26] Brief notes on the Natural History movement: Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards the observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is known as a naturalist. Grouped among the natural sciences, Natural history is the systematic study of any category of natural objects or organisms. Today, well into the scientific revolution, natural history is sometimes considered an archaic term in the scientific community. In the eighteenth century and well into the nineteenth century, natural history, as a term, was frequently used to refer to all descriptive aspects of the study of nature—what today are called natural sciences—as opposed to political, ecclesiastical or other human-related history. In that era, where knowledge was divided into two main branches, the humanities including theology— which was considered by far the most important discipline in the mindset of the age until about the late seventeenth century—and the studies of nature, it was the counterpart to the analytical study of nature, natural philosophy, which today we call the physical sciences. Spurred by the industrial revolution, the later became ascendant, natural history grew alongside it—mostly spurred by needs to analyze rock strata and find mineable mineral deposits, and the modern world gradually took place with a very different set of priorities and mindsets, as new sciences such as psychology emerged with expanding knowledge. Furthermore, in modern usage as a term, natural history's sense has become narrowed and more tightly focused, and more often refers to matters relating to biology (the study of living organisms such as plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, etc. and their relationships in natural systems). In contrast, until the twentieth century, it had the designation as the study of all things in the natural world, such as rocks and minerals (geology), atoms and molecules (chemistry), and even the universe at large (astronomy, physics, astrophysics), etc. It has historically been an often somewhat haphazard or less strictly organized study, description, and classification of natural objects, such as animals, plants, minerals, and placed an importance and significance on fieldwork as opposed to the more systematic scientific investigation such as experimental or lab work.[3] Amateur collectors and natural history entrepreneurs played an important role in building the large natural history collections of the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, particularly the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History. Natural history museums Main articles: :Category:Natural history museums and Natural history museum Many landmark institutions are Natural History Museums, such as the Natural History Museum in London, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C., Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, which also publishes a magazine called Natural History. The term "natural history" alone, or sometimes together with archeology, forms the name of many national, regional and local natural history societies that maintain records for birds (ornithology), mammals (mammalogy), insects (entomology), fungi (mycology) and plants (botany). They may also have microscopical and geological sections. Examples of these societies in Britain include the Natural History Society of Northumbria founded in 1829, British Entomological and Natural History Society founded in 1872, The Rise of Nature Interpretation – National Parks "Although the National Park Service did not invent interpretation, that organization was largely responsible for the broad public recognition of its values in developing understanding and appreciation of nature and history. . . . the national park service effectively modified formal educational processes to arouse the latent interests and desires of park visitors, and, as a result of ever-increasing numbers of such visitors over the years, interpretation has become practically a household word." So wrote C. Frank Brockman, retired from a long career at Mount Rainier National Park, in the January 1978 Journal of Forest History. Brockman's excellent article, "Park Naturalists and the Evolution of National Park Service Interpretation through World War II," With Congress reluctant to support park educational activities, outside sponsorship would play a large role during the first decade of Park Service operation. Charles D. Wolcott, secretary of the Smithsonian, organized a National Parks Educational Committee in 1918. With Mather's help, it spawned the National Parks Association in May 1919. Yard moved over to become executive secretary of the association, among whose purposes were "to interpret the natural sciences which are illustrated in the scenic features, flora and fauna of the national parks and monuments, and to circulate popular information concerning them in text and picture," and "to encourage the popular study of the history, exploration, tradition, and folk lore of the national parks and monuments." [11] In the parks themselves, most educational or interpretive programs were undertaken or aided by outside parties. In 1917 Rocky Mountain National Park examined and licensed young women as nature guides; the women were employed by local hotels. Mesa Verde National Park that year rehabilitated a ranger station for museum purposes and in 1918 installed five cases of excavated artifacts and photo enlargements of the park's ruins. The University of California extension division inaugurated a lecture series in memory of Professor Joseph LeConte at Yosemite in 1919 and continued it through 1923. Some lecturers stayed in the park, giving additional talks in the public camps and at Sierra Club campfires.[12] Notwithstanding precedents elsewhere, the first reasonably comprehensive interpretive programs directed by the Park Service blossomed at both Yosemite and Yellowstone in 1920. The program included daily guided hikes, evening campfire talks, and lectures at Camp Curry illustrated by motion pictures. "The response has been so great that we are sure there will be sufficient demand not only to continue the work in Yosemite National Park but to extend it to other parks," history bulletins for posting in the park.[14] Director Mather's 1920 annual report called for "the early establishment of adequate museums in every one of our parks" for exhibiting regional flora, fauna, and minerals.[16] Because appropriated funds for park museums and related programs were not forthcoming, it became customary to seek outside support. The case of Yosemite exemplifies this pattern. Other national parks were not long in emulating the interpretive lectures, guided hikes, publications, and exhibits pioneered at Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Mesa Verde. In 1921 Rocky Mountain National Park established an information office. To support and encourage these park programs, Director Mather made Ansel Hall chief naturalist of the National Park Service in 1923. Organizationally, Hall became chief of the Service's Education Division, headquartered at the University of California at Berkeley with the forestry school there. At the Eighth National Park Conference, held at Mesa Verde in October 1925, Mather voiced strong support for interpretation and made the Education Division one of three equal units--with Landscape Architecture and Engineering--in the Service organization.[24] To better train naturalists for positions in and outside the parks, Harold Bryant--still with the California Fish and Game Commission--cooperated with the National Park Service to found the Yosemite School of Field Natural History in 1925. The seven-week summer course was limited to 20 students who had spent at least two years in college. Sixty percent of the program was devoted to field observation and identification, distinguishing it from typical academic courses in the natural sciences. Graduates, who were awarded certificates, went to parks and summer camps throughout the country. Bryant and Yosemite naturalists regularly taught the popular course. Many seasonal and permanent Service naturalists were trained at the school, which operated each summer (the war years excepted)until 1953.[26] Contention and controversy over the status of interpretation and its practitioners in the national parks would continue throughout its early history. A quarter-century after Bryant's report the Service's Chief of Interpretation would again complain that park interpreters were out of the organization's mainstream, enjoying little consideration for advancement into management. [31] But from the 1930s few doubted the importance of interpretation to the Service mission, as a significant part of what the bureau was about. The History of the Organized Camp Experience (from ACA.org) The camp experience is a unique American tradition. With more than 140 years of history, camp as we know it today has its roots deeply planted in American soil. But while clothing, music, and pastimes have changed over the years, camp has always been a place where children could prepare to be productive, healthy adults in the context of fun and games. 1861—The Gunnery Camp is founded The Gunnery Camp is considered the first organized American camp. Frederick W. Gunn and his wife Abigail operated a home school for boys in Washington, Connecticut. In 1861, they took the whole school on a two-week trip. The class hiked to their destination and then set up camp. The students spent their time boating, fishing, and trapping. The trip was so successful, the Gunns continued the tradition for twelve years. 1874—First YWCA camp The Philadelphia chapter of the YWCA founds the organization's first camp (or "vacation project," as it was called). This summer boarding and vacation house was for "tired young women wearing out their lives in an almost endless drudgery for wages that admit no thought of rest or recreation." First YWCA camp was at Asbury Park, Pennsylvania, called Sea Rest. 1876—The first private camp founded Dr. Joseph Trimble Rothrock founds the North Mountain School of Physical Culture near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. For about $200, boys from Philadelphia and Wilkes-Barre came for four months over the summer. The idea was to take "weakly boys out into camp life in the woods . . . so that the pursuit of health could be combined with the practical knowledge outside usual academic lines" (Dr. Rothrock). 1885—First YMCA camp Summer F. Dudley and seven boys from the YMCA in Newburgh, New York, go on a camping trip. By 1891, there were eighty-three campers. 1900—First Boys' Club camp The Boys' Club in Salem, Massachusetts, organized a seven-week summer camp and 76 boys attended. By 1930, more than 60 Boys' Clubs conduct summer camp with approximately 26,088 campers attending. 1910—The American Camping Association (ACA) is founded under the original name, Camp Directors Association of America (CDAA), founder Alan S. Williams creates a model and standardizing influence for the organized camp experience for the young. The CDAA merges with the National Association of Directors of Girls' Camps in 1924 and changes its name to the Camp Director Association (CDA). In 1935, the name is changed to the American Camping Association. 1910—Boy Scouts of America (BSA) founded. The first official BSA camp was held at Silver Bay, Lake George, New York. 1910—Dr. Luther Halsey Gulick founded Camp Fire Girls—today known as Camp Fire. 1912—First Girl Scout camp First Girl Scout camp was held in Savannah, Georgia. Ever since the founding of Girl Scouts in 1912, camp has played an important role in the Girl Scout program. In 1922, the organization decides to charter camps throughout the country. 1914—First Camp Fire Girls camp Approximately 500 Camp Fire Girls participate. 1926—The forerunner of Camping Magazine, The Camp Directors' Bulletin was founded. Camping Magazine is the official publication of the American Camping Association, under the authorization of the National Board of Directors. Its purpose is to inform and educate camp professionals and others in related fields so they can successfully serve their clientele. 1948—ACA adopts the Standards, which are the basis for ACA camp accreditation. The ACA Standards are recognized by courts of law and government regulators as the standards of the camp industry. There are currently 300 standards for health, safety, and program. 1997—Emphasis on Youth Development Outcomes of the Camp Experience In the mid 1990s the Search Institute begins providing results of research in schools on child and adolescent development, risk prevention, and resiliency based on a framework of forty developed assets, which are positive experiences, relationships, opportunities, and personal qualities that young people need to grow up healthy, caring, and responsible. 2001—ACA is awarded a national research grant by the Lilly Endowment based in Indianapolis, Indiana, to conduct research to quantitatively assess the youth development outcomes of the camp experience. 2004—Outcomes study is completed and results are published. 2005—American Camp Association rolled out new brand identity along with their first national parent magazine, CAMP: A Resource For Families, and a parent and family Web site in English and Spanish School Camping Movement School camping began with three movements in American society: children's camping, which has been traced back as far as 1823; the Nature Study Movement, which is thought to have begun as early as 1839; and the holistic "new education." In 1940, L. B. Sharp opened National Camp in New Jersey and Julian W. Smith initiated the Clear Lake camp near Hastings, Michigan. National Camp, a graduate training center for educators and youth leaders, held until 1959 6-week summer sessions in which participants solved practical problems related to their situations. The Clear Lake Camp served as a national demonstration center for school personnel, provided consultation services to schools, and served as a training ground for camp personnel. In 1955, Smith founded the Outdoor Education Project, which nationally promoted outdoor education and school camping. Until the mid-1950's, school camping programs focused on children's personal and social growth, planned cooperatively around the school classroom unit, and based programs on problem solving, work, fun, and first-hand experience. After Sputnik, however, many camps became more school-like. They did not involve children in planning, included short activity "periods," and involved less fun. Biographical sketches of the authors and an abstract of the 1948 New York City Board of Education research into the relative educational values of residential camping are included. (SB)