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Published to aid students in comprehending the philosophy of the Department of Outdoor Teacher Education at Northern Illinois' Taft Field Campus, this paper on bird banding encompasses: (1) a brief history of bird banding; (2) the rationale behind bird banding; (3) a description of the bird banding station at the Lorado Taft Field Campus and its history from 1956 to 1973, including a summary of the number and species of birds banded: (4) the types of traps used; (5) Taft's record keeping procedures, including exemplary forms; (6) an analysis of the Taft Station banding records; (7) statistics relative to the Taft birds found elsewhere; (8) the mortality rate of the birds banded at Taft; (9) statistics on bird migration patterns; (10) prevention of the harmful use of bird bands; (11) the population dynamics of Taft birds; (12) the yearly percentum of returns of the birds banded at Taft; (13) the longevity of birds; (14) the educational implications of banding activities; (15) suggestions for improvement of bird banding at Taft (e.g., promote annual workshops on bird banding; require a short course on bird banding for all graduate assistants at Taft; develop a color banding procedure; improve/standardize the weather station; prepare publications re: banding outcomes; promote sustained research; etc.); (16) a bird banding bibliography (7 periodicals, 2 catalogues, and 17 annotated book, article, and pamphlet citations). (JC)

The booklet commemorates a quarter century of outdoor teacher education at Northern Illinois University. In that time, the Taft Campus and the Outdoor Teacher Education faculty have developed a reputation which reaches beyond the borders of Illinois nationally and internationally. The rationale for extending the instructional process beyond the school building itself is as sound today as it was a quarter century ago. Direct experience learning relies heavily on sensory awareness. From a beginning of two summer courses in outdoor education offered in 1954, the curriculum has grown to a total of 21 courses today, 7 of which were added in the last 12 years. Six courses are offered by the department on the undergraduate level. A major in the subject is offered in the graduate curriculum. During the 1976-77 academic year, 165 students were majoring in Outdoor Teacher Education and in 1976, 339 students attended the summer session. In the past 12 years, the department offered 81 extension courses in 38 communities, and 4 foreign study tours and 4 travel courses were conducted during various summer sessions. A total of 314 students have completed graduate degrees in the department. Sketches of the 10 members of Northern's Department of Outdoor Teacher Education, listed in the order each joined the Taft Campus faculty, are given. (NQ)

In 1949 the newly-inaugurated president of Northern Illinois University (NIU), Dr. Leslie Holmes, announced his intention to establish a program in outdoor teacher education. The program would provide opportunities for teaching and experiential learning in a naturalistic setting. Two years later, NIU acquired a 66-acre camp near Oregon, Illinois, a former art colony, created by sculptor Lorado Taft, that had fallen into disuse following the artist's death. From modest beginnings, Taft Field Campus developed a six-pronged educational program that has made northern Illinois a focal point of outdoor education in the United States. Faculty members have been active in promoting the philosophy and practice of outdoor education and outdoor teacher education. Many conferences, seminars, and workshops have been held at Taft Campus. Over 96,000 schoolchildren and 45,000 NIU undergraduates have participated in resident outdoor education programs. Over 900 graduate students have received master's degrees in outdoor teacher education. The Taft Instructional Materials Center houses over 1,000 dissertations and theses on outdoor education and related topics. This anniversary booklet contains photographs, poems, a brief timetable of Taft Campus historical events and noteworthy faculty, and selected paragraphs about outdoor education and Taft Campus excerpted from NIU publications. (SV)

British environmental education differs somewhat from that of the United States. In the U.S. "environmental education" refers to the teaching of a set of concepts by which one might learn to appreciate, conserve and protect the natural environment. In Great Britain many of the same objectives and procedures of the U.S. system are employed, but they are accomplished through more varied means. Conservation is still of importance, but the impact is stressed through more direct involvement of the individual through both formal activities and recreational experiences where pleasure and appreciation are part of the expected results. Environmental education in Great Britain was influenced by two issues: (1) the work of environmentalists in their efforts to clean up the material and aesthetical spoilage left by the industrial revolution and (2) the emergence of the environment as a teaching tool that could take children out of the classroom into the reality of a first-hand experience. Environmental education in England takes many forms from natural studies in the class to week-long trips to Field Study Centers where skills such as camping or sailing are taught. The final section of this paper describes three examples of environmental activities in which the author participated. These included a town survey, compass activities, and a trip to a county environmental center where children may visit from one day to a week to learn specific activities and apply lessons learned in class. (DS)

Findings of this November 1980 study indicated that outdoor education staff and classroom teachers should consider not only what they perceive to be important, but also, what children and parents consider important as outcomes and activities for resident outdoor education (ROE). An opinionnaire, designed to test whether participant groups in ROE programs attached different levels of importance to an objective or activity, was administered to 329 children, 168 parents, 27 classroom teachers and 41 ROE teachers prior to participation in 4 ROE programs in Illinois and Wisconsin. The opinionnaire asked subjects to rate four broad categories of objectives (increasing social skills, building on school subjects, improving self-concept, and developing an interest and understanding of the natural world and man's place in it) and rank corresponding activities. Results indicated that building interest in the environment was considered the most important objective area and the second most important activity category. All respondent groups rated building on school subjects as the least important objective and activity area. Agreement did not exist between ROE participant groups as to relative importance of all objectives or activities. Teachers and ROE staff tended to give greater importance to self-concept and social areas than did children and parents. (NEC)

In resident outdoor education programs, students and their teachers attend an outdoor facility for two days or longer and use the outdoor environment as their primary classroom, focusing on natural sciences, outdoor recreation, social skills, and attitudinal and cognitive development. A resident program should have significant impact on social interactions and environmental attitudes of participants, and should flow from and back into the on-going classroom program. Most of the day at a resident center is devoted to activity sessions involving problem solving, multidisciplinary approaches, group interaction, field science, and outdoor skill development. Outdoor instruction includes use of small groups, emphasis on process of discovery rather than results, and teachers as guides rather than dispensers of information and as facilitators in group social growth. Considerable planning is necessary, with careful attention to site and personnel selection; program content, timing and length; student groupings; health and safety; classroom preparation; explanation of the program to parents; and funding. Follow-up to a program should review and reinforce program accomplishments and allow parents to share in the excitement. The overview, intended to explain to parents, teachers, students, and administrators the use of resident outdoor education as an effective educational tool, lists eight supplementary readings. (MH)

At a meeting in DuPage County, Illinois, in April 1972, speakers representing the PTA, students, school teachers and administrators, outdoor education, the Illinois School Boards Association, and the Open Lands Project voiced enthusiastic support for introducing environmental education into the school curriculum. One of the County's several college, secondary, and elementary level environmental programs described in the meeting, the Glencoe (Illinois) Environmental Education Curriculum was designed to develop environmental consciousness and social responsibility through an integrated curriculum approach for grades K-8. The program's initial success was partly due to the fact that it involved all sectors of the community in its activities which included the establishment and maintenance of a glass recycling center, largely the work of students and the PTA. Speakers advocated such citizen participation in environmental education as well as the reassessment of educational priorities to make education accountable to an environmentally responsible society. (SB)

It is essential in communicative situations for teachers and students to have comparable percepts. A paucity of information is available on the percepts held by children regarding quantities and intervals of distance, height, weight, time, temperature and volume or on improvement (if any) that occurs as children mature. Teachers cannot be effective in the teaching-learning process if their own and their pupils' percepts in these areas are unclear, inaccurate, or invalid. To determine the accuracy of school children's (grades 4-12) percepts of intervals and quantities using both English and metric units of measure, this study involved nearly 50 teachers and some 2300 children in field experiences estimating distance, air temperature, weight, height and acreage. Extensive data supported the hypotheses that school children have inaccurate or invalid percepts of intervals and quantities of distance, weight, height, area and temperature and that percepts expressed in English units are more accurate than those expressed in metric units. Results also indicated that: children do estimate some things, such as distance, more accurately than other things, such as weight; some differences because of sex and urban versus rural home location exist; and high school students perform better than younger children. Evidence supported the notion that percepts can be clarified and reinforced through direct, first-hand experience. (NEC)