Designed to aid educational institutions and community organizations in selecting, planning, developing and using outdoor learning areas as outdoor classrooms, this guide includes: (1) Learning by Discovery (scientific, cultural, and recreational goals); (2) The Initial Planning Effort (use of: a planning committee including teachers, administrators, local leaders, and students; a technical advisory committee; soils maps; natural resource inventories; reference books); (3) Site Selection (examples of sites with: school proximity; soil diversity; water; specific vegetation; etc.); (4) Soils Mapping and Resource Inventory (development of: maps with photographic enlargements; site visits; an agronomic and town/country planning balance; area inventories such as cutover woodland, wet, white pine and pond, brook, and woodland areas); (5) Planning the Outdoor Classroom (facilities and special study points such as: soil erosion; weather stations; pioneer living; observation platforms; orientation courses; soil profiles; water wells; tree stumps; trails; etc.); (6) Site Development (financing, student construction, committees, etc.); (7) Using and Maintaining an Outdoor Classroom (suggestions re: biology, chemistry, math, arts, shop, home economics, social studies, vocational agriculture, ecology, communication, and English); (8) Bibliography (24 annotated citations and two films). (JC)