Outdoor Environmental Education Programs

The Grade 6 MCPS Outdoor Environmental Education Program (also known as Outdoor Ed) provides students with a three-day residential experience focused on the driving  question, “How do our actions and choices impact the health of  the watershed?” It fulfills the state environmental literacy standards by serving as the middle school Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE) and is part of the grade 6 MCPS curriculum. Using relevant, engaging, and interdisciplinary  lessons, students explore the local ecosystem and their role in it. The outdoor natural world is both a classroom and a laboratory for teaching  and learning at Outdoor Ed, and literacy and mathematics are authentically integrated. The core lessons of the program and MWEE include the following: 

• • field experiences where scientific practices are used to  investigate the environment, and where components  of the MCPS Grade 6 curriculum are learned in a real world setting. Environmental science lessons focus on  the local watershed including water-quality analysis of  a local stream, use of a live-action simulation to study population  dynamics, and investigation of the impact of humans on  the environment.
  • engaging lessons created to foster inquiry, collaboration, critical thinking, and problem solving. 
  • structured and unstructured opportunities for building positive interpersonal relationships as students learn and  practice communication, teamwork, and relationship-building skills with their peers and  teachers. Making a new friend is reported by more than 90  percent of students at the conclusion of Outdoor Ed!
  • motivation and opportunity for students to be active  stewards of the environment as they investigate how their  choices impact the environment and choose a daily action  to improve it. 

    field experiences where scientific practices are used to  investigate the environment, and where components  of the MCPS Grade 6 curriculum are learned in a real world setting. Environmental science lessons focus on  the local watershed including water-quality analysis of  a local stream, use of a live-action simulation to study population  dynamics, and investigation of the impact of humans on  the environment.

At Outdoor Ed, students stay in dormitory-style housing at one  of three sites, work collaboratively to take care of the dorms, and serve each other at family style meals. Teachers from each middle school  accompany their students and teach the lessons at  Outdoor Ed along with the Outdoor Ed MCPS coordinators. Although a fee is set by the Board of Education for the program, as a part of the MCPS curriculum all students are entitled to and have access to the program regardless of ability to pay. Speaking volumes about Outdoor Ed, MCPS high  schools seniors commonly cite this unique experience among  their three most remembered and cherished learning events in  their 12 years of education.

*Day-only options are available to accommodate individual needs at the Grade 6 program.
*Additional Grade 6 Residential Programming Information