RESEARCH SUMMARY
RECONNECTING CHILDREN
Through Outdoor Education: A Research Summary, 2007
Thanks to a one-year Ontario Trillium Grant, COEO is very proud to announce its publication of Reconnecting Children Through Outdoor Education, an 80-page document summarizing a wide array of current and international research into the multiple, powerful and lasting outcomes produced through outdoor and experiential education (OEE). The comprehensive document has 169 end-notes and 101 references. The findings are reported according to COEO's four stated values, namely, education for curriculum and community, character, wellbeing, and environment.
In addition to a text that details compelling research, different programs and exemplary instances of government initiatives to establish and make effective use of OEE, this document features a number of great colour photos of students powerfully connecting with themselves, others and their natural surroundings through outdoor learning. It also provides a number of evidence-based recommendations to the Ontario government as well as to Canadian postgraduate schools.
COEO hopes that Reconnecting Children will contribute significantly to current discussions about making today's youth more active and comfortable in the outdoors, more confident about their own abilities and their interactions with others, and more connected through their hands, heart and mind to the natural life support systems of this planet.