Background: Summer camps can promote positive youth development. Unfortunately, racial, ethnic, and economic disparities contribute to inequities in camp participation and related research on marginalized youth. Consequently, it is not clear what types of camping programs work best for marginalized youth. Purpose: To conduct a quasi-experimental…

The Clearwater County Sixth Grade Forestry Tour is a unique 3-day, 2-night program that provides participants an objective view of the importance and impact of natural resource-based industries while promoting an understanding of issues regarding natural resource uses. The targeted audience is 6th grade youth, but others interested in natural…

In this investigation, we examined how youth during learning conversations at an informal science education camp negotiated and authored identities as learners of science. Using identity theory as our analytical lens, we investigated by application of qualitative methodology the socially constructed nature of youth's identities. We focused on the…

Environmental education (EE) facilitates students' scientific and environmental literacy, and addresses content areas including sustainability, ecology, and civic responsibility. However, U.S. science content compartmentalization and EE's interdisciplinary nature historically made it a fragmented curriculum within U.S. schools. To gain a better…

Physical inactivity is a growing problem among children, particularly school-aged youth. Research suggests children are especially prone to inactivity in the summer months when access to structured school-time and extra-curricular activities is reduced. Community programs like residential summer camps offer an excellent environment for engaging…

Residential environmental education centers are important providers of science curriculum, offering students learning experiences outside the traditional classroom. One major criticism of these centers and other nonformal science centers is that they often do not include student outcomes in the evaluation of their programs. The purpose of this…

In this exploratory case study, I investigated the ways that youth engaged in negotiating their identity during learning conversations at an informal science education camp. In particular, I was interested in exploring the ways that youth positioned themselves within their learning group and how this influenced their identities as learners of…

This study examined whether emotions and coping explain (mediate) the association between mother-child attachment and peer relationships. Attachment, positive and negative emotion experience, coping, and peer relationships were examined in 106 fourth-grade through sixth-grade girls attending a 6-day residential camp. Attachment, experience of…

Camp and outdoor education facilities operated by state Future Farmers of America associations should be made available to local school districts in an effort to broaden general education in "true to life" outdoor education. (Author)

Finds that ecological and moralistic attitudes toward the environment correlate with talking about the environment at home, watching nature films, and reading about the environment. (Author/CCM)

The purpose of this Outdoor Education Program was to develop in children a keener insight into the responsibilities of citizenship, as well as a better understanding of man's interrelationship with and dependence on nature. The program was an extension of the school curriculum to the out-of-doors and offered opportunities for developing many of…

Described is a three-day camp program where sixth-grade students were led to see the interrelatedness of various art forms--to realize that the design elements and principles working within art are related to the basic organizational tools of creative writing and music. (Author/KC)

The Toledo Public Schools developed this curriculum guide for the resident camp experience as a part of a new program especially designed for educating disadvantaged children. Emphasis at the camp is placed on young people learning to live as a community group where 8 to 10 students plus a counselor live in cabins for 5 days. The student group…

To prepare students for attending school out-of-doors, this manual addresses the student directly. Topics covered in the first part of the manual include the Outdoor School site, the school staff, living at the Outdoor School, studying in the Outdoor School, fun at the school, and a brief paragraph of initial preparation for the Outdoor School.…

Compares effect of two different outdoor education programs (Van Matre's Sunship Earth and a traditional nature study program focusing on plants, animals, water, and soil) on attitudes and knowledge of 266 selected Washington County (Oregon) sixth graders attending a five-day residential outdoor school program. (NEC)