In resident outdoor education programs, students and their teachers attend an outdoor facility for two days or longer and use the outdoor environment as their primary classroom, focusing on natural sciences, outdoor recreation, social skills, and attitudinal and cognitive development. A resident program should have significant impact on social interactions and environmental attitudes of participants, and should flow from and back into the on-going classroom program. Most of the day at a resident center is devoted to activity sessions involving problem solving, multidisciplinary approaches, group interaction, field science, and outdoor skill development. Outdoor instruction includes use of small groups, emphasis on process of discovery rather than results, and teachers as guides rather than dispensers of information and as facilitators in group social growth. Considerable planning is necessary, with careful attention to site and personnel selection; program content, timing and length; student groupings; health and safety; classroom preparation; explanation of the program to parents; and funding. Follow-up to a program should review and reinforce program accomplishments and allow parents to share in the excitement. The overview, intended to explain to parents, teachers, students, and administrators the use of resident outdoor education as an effective educational tool, lists eight supplementary readings. (MH)