Outdoor education in secondary school.....A call for input ??

Greetings…I am teaching an Outdoor Occupations course in a public technical secondary school (grades 11-12) this fall… This is the first time we have been able to offer this class, although I have been campaigning for it for several years.... It is very important that it be judged a success from the local board of education's standpoint, or it will be not be repeated.... I am looking for reference material and collaborative relationships to help with curriculum design.... MInd you, It will not be hard to offer a course that the students will judge to be a success.   The difficult part will be identifying some measureable outcomes, preferably related in whole or in part to more widely recognized certifications or educational attainments....Upon course completeion I will have to point out the "value added" to some fairly skeptical oversight…This is an open appeal for ideas and the counsel of experience..Thanks

Clay, could you elaborate more on what falls under the title "Outdoor Occupations" and what your goals are for the class. Do you want to teach them outdoor skills? Teach them about the job requirements of differen occupations?

Rick

Sure Rick, and thanks for your Interest.. I think I will have to cover both outdoor skills and a rather thorough treatise on related careers.... It's also prudent to have a strong ecology thread like "leave no trace" running trough it as well... I'm sure the students will be very interested in the more trendy recreational and eco-tourism opportunities, but I will also need to cover science and industry careers that occur in the outdoor environment... I place great stock in being agile in terms of curricular specifics... but I will need to meet considerable expectation for curricular planning as this is a pilot program.... My initial vision calls for the class to meet outdoors for the majority of the semester for didactic as well as experiential topics... Sort of a semester long journey into building the, Ok so I'm outdoors, and need to be comfortable here mindset... We are on the coast of Maryland and have ready access to ocean, estuary, & river.... Further, there is no shortage of raw wilderness territory (lowland forest ) close to school....I have a great wealth of experience in outdoor leadership, gathered mostly while scouting with my sons, all adults now.... I know a lot about what's fun, challenging, and rewarding for young people and how to do it with comfort, confidence, and safety.... As I said it will not be hard to treat the students to relevant and exciting experiences during the course....The challenge for me lies in providing evidence of useful and valuable outcomes.... Hopefully ones that would be recognized as valuable in the broader community...for it is in this venue that the usefulness of the program will be judged, irrespective of the depth of it's actual impact on the participants.... I'm looking for avenues to legitimize and quantify outcomes for this arena.... At this point I have the ability to steer the curriculum to pick up the accountability pieces as we go...Shortly.. I will send out a pre-course questionnaire to see if I can divine the nature and breadth of the students’ interests before I start scheduling the semester… Any ideas or resources you have would be most welcome… Thanks again, Clay…