Outdoor Experiential Learning in Canada

Moving students' learning from the traditional indoor classroom to outdoor spaces has proven benefits. It expands student engagement and uptake, promotes mental and physical health, and strengthens students' awareness of Indigenous ways of knowing as well as environmental issues. Outdoor Experiential Learning in Canada takes pre- and in-service teachers and outdoor professionals on a journey that elevates their experience and effectiveness when teaching any curriculum content in an outdoor classroom.

With its focus on curriculum and instruction, this book focuses on 'where' students learn, emphasizing using outdoor spaces to teach. This book illustrates all the benefits of outdoor learning and how to be successful when educators teach students outside. The voices and perspectives of professional educators and practitioners from across Canada give readers a broad overview of outdoor learning from a variety of viewpoints, including Indigenous voices that ground the topic and provide a basis for connecting to the earth.

This book is intended to inspire teachers, pre-service teachers, outdoor professionals, and outdoor enthusiasts to take their students and clients outside to learn, connect, and grow.

Tim Buttler is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Burman University in Alberta. With a decade of experience as a high school science teacher, his current scholarly work focuses on science education, cultivating student-centred learning environments, and exploring the impact of teacher resilience.

Kevin Kiers is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Burman University in Alberta. Previously, he chaired the Outdoor Leadership Department for four years, served as Youth Program Director and Summer Camp Director for ten years, and was an elementary school teacher for twelve years. He began and led an annual fifth & sixth-grade outdoor school program for twenty years, focused on curriculum-based outdoor learning. He serves on a North American Camp Committee and is developing training programs for outdoor educators, naturalists, and teachers. He recently completed his Ph.D. in Education at the University of Alberta. His dissertation on "School-based outdoor learning in Alberta: Examining K-9 teachers' success through mixed methods research" is the basis of this text.