What is Outdoor Education?
Outdoor Education is teaching outdoors
that which can be learned better there than in the classroom. The outdoors
provides both the content to be learned and the place to learn it. Activities
are tied to the MCPS curriculum and engage students in authentic learning
experiences.
Why have an Outdoor Education Program?
There are seven major objectives for
students:
- To make the school program more
meaningful by applying the knowledge and skills acquired in the classroom
to real-life situations outside of the classroom.
- To provide experience in using scientific
processes such as observing, hypothesizing, measuring, and classifying.
- To cultivate an awareness, knowledge,
appreciation, and concern for the natural environment and its systems,
including the effect of people's actions upon it.
- To help students learn to live democratically
and responsibly for the welfare of the total group.
- To help students develop, enhance
and maintain good human relations---among themselves and with their teachers.
- To help develop positive attitudes
about learning through varied experiences in the natural environment.
- To deliver MCPS curriculum by providing
students with hands-on, authentic learning opportunities.
Who participates in the program?
Sixth grade students at each middle
school or elementary school in the county spend three days/two nights at
one of three outdoor education centers. They are accompanied by their teachers,
other school staff, and high school or parent volunteers. Special education
students, special populations and students in alternative programs also
participate. There is a student fee that covers food, lodging, transportation
and insurance. Financial assistance is available to all students who need
it.
Day program field trips are also
part of outdoor education program and serve students in grades K-12. These
trips take place during the normal school day and usually have a focus
on ecology, natural systems, or living history curricular connections.
The trips are free with the only cost being transportation.
When and where do they go?
Sometime during the school year each
school sends its sixth grade classes to one of three sites. Students attend
either the Lathrop E. Smith Environmental Education Center located in Rock
Creek Regional Park, Summit Lake Camp near Emmitsburg, Maryland, or Skycroft
Center near Middletown, Maryland.
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What do the students do while they're at Outdoor Education?
From the time students crawl out of
their sleeping bags on bunk beds and finish breakfast in a large dining
hall, they take part in a wide variety of planned activities to apply what
they've learned in the classroom. The sixth grade program involves students
in the study of different natural communities, including the forest, field,
stream and pond. Use of map and compass, local history, natural systems,
wildlife, astronomy and aspects of other subjects best learned outdoors
are emphasized. Many activities also take advantage of the unique features
of the site.
While one group is learning to recognize
animal habitats, another may begin a lesson in forestry. They learn to
use measuring instruments and to apply their classroom math to real problems.
They also learn about the components or a forest community and how they
interact. Writing about their experience may be an integral part of the
lesson.
After lunch, where students eat family
style, they may dig into some soil and catalog what they find to get an
idea of a forest soil's composition. Another group of students may be learning
about food webs and interdependencies through engaging learning experiences.
Students also learn about maps and compasses, about pacing and contour
lines, how to determine the correct direction to travel in terms of a compass
bearing, and map symbols. Throughout, written and mental notes will become
the basis for discussion back at the center or at school.
Other instructional activities involve
group problem solving through the use of the confidence course (instructors
for this activity have taken an MCPS certification course), ecology studies,
local history, aquatic studies, and the use of appropriate technology outdoors
such as global positioning systems (GPS) in orienteering and digital cameras
to record their experiences.
After dinner (again served family
style), there is usually an evaluation or journal writing session for students
to ask questions or write down their daily observations and experiences.
Evenings also provide learning opportunities for some stargazing and astronomy,
group activities, campfires, evening walks, or special programs that enhance
student's understandings of the natural world.
How is the program organized?
Teachers begin by preparing students
before they leave school for their outdoor education experience. Most of
this emphasis is in science, social studies, language arts and reading,
or physical education. Many MCPS curricular units have direct tie-ins to
outdoor education and may be taught prior to the outdoor education experience
or just afterwards.
The intent of outdoor education is
to have students learn by doing, and outdoor education is an attempt to
provide students with many varied, first-hand experiences in the natural
world. Teachers plan cooperatively with the help of the outdoor education
teacher who is assigned to their school for the program. They develop the
week's schedule, determine the learning opportunities, and designate teaching
and supervisory responsibilities for the experience.
The way the students are grouped
and the daily schedules may vary with the philosophy of the school. Generally,
students are divided into small groups of 10 to 15 students per teacher,
allowing for more individual attention and exploration. Each group is led
by an instructor who is frequently aided by a high school student assistant
or parent volunteer.
What makes outdoor education different from the regular classroom?
For one thing, in a shared 24-hour day
experience, students and teachers become more aware of individuals' interests,
needs, and abilities. In addition to getting to know each other better,
students of diverse backgrounds see that they have many things in common
with their peers and school staff.
By seeing students in a less traditional
educational setting, teachers gain insights into their students' academic
strengths and have the ability to individualize instruction to a higher
degree, both at the outdoor education site and back at school. Students
are also exposed to learning activities that embrace various learning modalities,
are multi-disciplinary in nature, and actively engage them in authentic
learning experiences. Students from the middle school's feeder elementary
schools have an opportunity to better acquaint themselves with their peers.
How do students, parents, and teachers feel about the program?
Students have been eager to participate,
enthusiastic while there, and more excited about school when they return.
Many return as high school student assistants because they enjoyed their
sixth grade experience so much and want to share their increased skills
and knowledge with the current sixth grade students.
Teachers find the experience physically
demanding, but most are enthusiastic about the positive growth they see
in students' learning and appreciate the insights into their students'
skills afforded by the experience. Many also report improved relationships
with students, improved peer interactions, and a carry over of the instructional
techniques and understandings developed during the experience.
Parent volunteers are supportive
and complementary of the experience as well. In fact, they become some
of the program's strongest advocates.
What other programs are offered at the centers?
Workshops are held each semester for
teachers, to familiarize them with outdoor teaching techniques and appropriate
curricular ties. Other agencies, such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation,
Maryland National Capital Park and Planning, and the Audubon Society also
utilize the site for teacher training opportunities.
Montgomery County Public School in-service
courses are taught by the outdoor education staff and are held throughout
the school year at the Lathrop E. Smith Environmental Education Center
to train teachers in the instructional possibilities and teaching strategies
appropriate for the outdoor education program.
Where can I learn more about the outdoor education program?
Each school will send information on
procedures, what to bring, various forms, and other administrative details
home to parents of students before they participate in the program. Evening
informational meetings are held to better acquaint parents with the program
and to clarify any questions parents may have. If there is still an unanswered
question, a call to the school should result in the needed information.
For general information on the program,
write or call the Lathrop E. Smith Environmental Education Center, 5110
Meadowside Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20855. Phone @ (301) 924-3123
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