Creation, Implementation, and Evaluation of an Outdoor Site Teacher Training Program at Rosholt School District

Abstract

Connecting children to the natural world not only builds environmental sensitivity but also contributes to their emotional, physical, and mental development. The outdoor school site provides a vehicle for hands-on, active learning and builds on lessons taught in the classroom. Utilizing the outdoor school site is advantageous because students have the option of studying an area more often and in greater detail. In addition, school sites can also be used to teach a variety of subjects. Outdoor school sites are rich areas for learning that are often underutilized by teachers. In the fall of 1997 an effort began to help teachers in Wisconsin utilize their outdoor school site more often for educational purposes. Two focus groups were conducted with elementary school teachers in Wisconsin in order to determine what teachers need in order to utilize their outdoor school site more often for educational purposes. In addition, interviews were conducted with resource professionals from several organizations devoted to outdoor school sites. The information gathered from the focus groups and interviews indicated that a teacher training program would be an effective method for helping teachers utilize their outdoor school site. The Rosholt School District was chosen as the site in which to implement the teacher training program. A teacher training program was developed for the Rosholt School District by analyzing information gathered from several organizations devoted to outdoor school sites as well as the focus group and personal interview data collected. The main goal of the training program was to help the teachers in the Rosholt School District utilize their outdoor school site for educational purposes. The teacher training program began in August 1998 and consisted of a two-day workshop in August and co-teaching days in the following fall and spring semesters. The coteaching days were a unique element to the training program because it enabled the training staff to co-lead activities with the participating teacher and their students on the outdoor school site. Evaluation of the training program consisted of a group interview and a series of questionnaires. At the conclusion of the two-day workshop and again after the fall co-teaching day a questionnaire was sent to all of the teachers participating in the training program in order to determine which aspects of the training program were valuable and beneficial to them. A group interview was conducted with all of the participating teachers at the conclusion of the training program. In the data gathered from the questionnaires and group interview the teachers indicated that all of the training program's components were beneficial. Overall, the participating teachers gave the training program high marks in the evaluation. A pre-test/post-test questionnaire was also sent to participating teachers to determine changes in behaviors and attitudes in relation to the outdoor school site. The data revealed that more of the participating teachers were utilizing the outdoor school site in the year that the training program was delivered than in the previous year. In addition, the teachers were utilizing the site more frequently. There was no discernable change in the participating teachers' attitudes towards the outdoor school site. In addition to the surveys sent to the participating teachers, a pre-test/post-test questionnaire was sent to the entire Rosholt teacher population to identify any behavioral changes in relation to the outdoor school site. There was a reported increase in the number of teachers who utilized the outdoor school site. In addition, the average number of times each teacher went out also increased. The results of this study indicate that an outdoor teacher training program that provides experiences on the site and on-going support to teachers can be an effective tool for getting teachers to utilize their site more often. The subsequent recommendations based on the findings of this study indicate a need for implementing similar teacher training programs and evaluating their effectiveness.