Pathways: The Ontario Journal of Outdoor Education 

About: Pathways: The Ontario Journal of Outdoor Education is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Outdoor education & Environmental education. It has an ISSN identifier of 0840-8114. Over the lifetime, 187 publications have been published receiving 479 citations.

A Baseline Study of Ontario Teachers' Views of Environmental and Outdoor Education.

Abstract: Despite the surge of interest in EE, a variety of theoretical perspectives on the subject, and the growing abundance of teaching resources, it is still unclear how EE is being enacted in classrooms. As far back as 1996, Hart identified the lack of existing empirical studies tracking teachers’ views and pedagogical practices of EE. A search of academic literature more than a decade later revealed little change. We were unable to find any substantial studies mapping Ontario teachers’ knowledge, views and practice of EE or its link to OE. This study was designed in response to this gap, to act as a baseline study of environmental and outdoor education in Ontario.

Remembering the Roots of Place Meanings for Place-Based Outdoor Education.

Abstract: Place-based education seeks to connect learners to local environments through a variety of strategies that increase environmental awareness and connectedness to particular parts of the world (Sobel, 2004). The concept of place meanings encompasses the subjective ways people construct meaning through their experiences with an array of settings (Gustafson, 2001; Manzo, 2005). Place meanings are personal, often with a human focus, and are open to interpretation, while place-based education tends to be framed more concretely within the particulars of local environments. In this article, I will argue that these two concepts can work together to broaden thinking around “place” as it relates to outdoor education pedagogy (Cosgriff, 2008). The purpose of this paper is to promote the utilization of place meanings within approaches to place-based outdoor education by (1) revisiting some of the conceptual and historical underpinnings of place-based education and place meanings to show similarities and differences between the concepts and (2) presenting a synthesis of place meanings within place-based theory to inspire a useful approach to doing placebased outdoor education.

Discovering Sense of Place: Application through Education.

Abstract: 14 Over the past three decades, environmental issues have been on the global forefront and continue to affect our daily lives. Although the need for environmental attention is at an all-time high, outdoor and environmental education (OEE) plays an insufficient role in our school systems. Its minimal representation in curriculum is not due to the shortage of information or resources but instead the lack of acknowledgement it has received in fostering the development of the whole child. During the late 20 and early 21 centuries, traditional education has predominantly been focused around teacher-centred instruction and a curriculum segregated into subjects of narrow-minded focus. This divide has not only drawn a line in Ontario Ministry of Education– developed handbooks but also at the classroom door. In a period of youth when students’ imaginations soar well beyond what any adult could ever wish for, education systems have historically restricted them to evenly divided rows and enabled diminutive opportunity for experience.