Learning in Eden: The Philosophy of Outdoor Education of the SCOPE Outdoor Learning Laboratories Program.

Designed as a guide in inservice preparation and as a reference in planning and conducting outdoor lessons, this statement of philosophy will help teachers who participate in the Outdoor Learning Laboratories program understand the aims and methods of outdoor education. To educate children is, of course, the ultimate purpose of outdoor education. It is hoped that professional understandings of the educational processes involved will help children learn school subjects through outdoor experiences and especially help them become deeply aware of the importance and beauty of the natural environment. Outdoor teaching differs from classroom teaching by creating an experiential relationship between the student and the material to be studied and by creating informal, personalized patterns within the learning situation. Outdoor education as most commonly practiced supplements those disciplines which pertain to environmental studies but should encompass aspects of the social sciences and humanities as well. Lesson plans should be designed to involve the child's body and each of his senses. While experiential learning may involve activation of the rational faculties and memory, as does classroom learning, to be truly experiential it must also activate other inner powers such as imagination, emotion, insight, and judgment. (NEC)