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IN THE NEWS
We've packed a lot of news into this edition of Horizon. Read about: the 2008 AEE Award Recipients; an overview of SEER 2008; the 7 hot new titles--as well as 1 classic--now available in the eStore!; the new Adventure & Recreation Law Center; as well as more than a dozen links to awards, grants, free resources and more." And be sure to click on Conference Update, Member Happenings and Accreditation News
for updates and news specific to those subjects.
2008 AEE AWARDS
Every November at the Annual International Conference, AEE recognizes outstanding experiential educators and organizations whose contributions have inspired others to dream, to act, to reach for and maintain a high standard of excellence. Awards are presented at an Awards Recognition Ceremony that is one of the conference highlights. This year’s awards recipients are:
Organizational Member of the Year: Santa Mountain Center
To recognize and honor an organization that maintains innovative
and outstanding programming at consistently high standards and demonstrates a high level of commitment to and support
for the work of AEE.
Presented to Sky Gray of the Santa Fe Mountain Center
The Santa Fe Mountain Center (SFMC) is a nationally recognized, accredited, private, 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization that, since 1979, has been promoting personal discovery and social change among youth, families and groups through the use of creative learning experiences in wilderness, community and cultural environments. Its methodology represents an alternative to traditional educational and therapeutic approaches conducted in institutional settings. SFMC creates dynamic learning experiences that include elements of adventure, education and challenge.
Michael Stratton Practitioner: Gary Stauffer
To honor an experiential practitioner who has demonstrated consistently high levels of performance in working directly
with students or clients. His work in the trenches demonstrates
that an individual practitioner can bring about significant change and impact the lives of his students.
GARY STAUFFER has spent the past 30 years of professional social work practice working with children and youth. Those years have included a decade of clinical work in a community mental health setting and 20 years as a school social worker, including 10 years in a day treatment program for youth with severe emotional impairments. He has integrated adventure-based principles into every aspect of his work as a clinician, school social worker and teacher. During the course of his career, he’s been spit on, cussed out, forced to physically restrain kids he loved, given the finger more times than one can count…..and he wouldn’t trade one of those experiences for a job sitting behind a desk!
His current practice includes operating an adventure program and ropes course for the Monroe County Intermediate School District in Monroe, MI, as well as offering adventure based social work interventions at a school for students with developmental disabilities. He also moonlights one night a week at the University of Michigan School of Social Work preparing young social work students for a career in the trenches.
Outstanding Experiential Teacher of the Year: Mary Breunig
Recognizing an individual who demonstrates an active passion for
experiential education principles and theories in teaching practice.
This teacher has practiced innovative experiential education methodologies in a public or private school system.
MARY BREUNIG has been involved in outdoor and experiential education for 20 years. She started her career working as a wilderness trip guide and has led over 200 trips. Mary currently is an assistant professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at Brock University in Ontario, where she teaches courses in outdoor leadership, outdoor education, and experiential education, in addition to a number of field-based courses.
Her research interests include the intersections between experiential education and issues of social justice; critical pedagogy and Freirean praxis; wilderness trips and psychological sense of community; and outdoor and environmental education in Ontario schools. Mary is currently the co-editor of the Journal of Experiential Education.
Karl Rohnke Creativity Award: Chris Cavert
Presented to an individual whose outstanding commitment to experiential education principles is evidenced through the design, creation and/or production of experiential education resources.
CHRIS CAVERT is an internationally known speaker, trainer and author who focuses on using experiential activities to develop pro-social community-building skills within groups of all ages. Chris has authored 12 activity books, holds a masters degree in experiential education and is currently a doctoral candidate at Northern Arizona University. Chris' goal is to one day teach adventure and experiential education at the university level.
Servant Leader Awards: Dennis Call, Jude Hirsch and Sandy Newes
Recognizing individuals for their active, excellent servant leadership to AEE and its members. These leaders exemplify that the “how and why”
of doing something is as important as the “what will be done.”
DENNIS CALL has worked in therapeutic adventure programming for court-committed youth for more than three decades. Currently, Dennis serves as the Risk Manager for Adventure and Equine Activities at VisionQuest, where he has worked for 27 years. Dennis became an active member of AEE in 1995. Since then he has served the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council in many roles, including Chair, has presented at annual and regional conferences, and has overseen the Mid-Atlantic’s newsletter and website for 5 years.
JUDE HIRSCH, Ed.D., is a professor of outdoor education at Georgia College & State University, where she teaches in and coordinates undergraduate and graduate programs in outdoor education and directs the Georgia College Outdoor Education Center. Jude has been a tireless volunteer leader in AEE since joining in 1977. She currently
is Chair of the AEE Accreditation Council, and has co-authored numerous books, including two of the association’s core texts—Administrative Practices of AEE Accredited Programs and the 4th edition of the Manual of Accreditation Standards.
SANDY NEWES, Ph.D., is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and founder of Clear View Psychological Services, through which she integrates psychotherapy and experiential activities. She also is part of Peak Experience Training and co-facilitates Clinical First Responder staff trainings. Sandy attributes most of her career to her association with AEE, and has been active in the organization since 1997. She currently is Chair of the GCL and a member of CORE, and has served as Chair of the TAPG. She also co-edited Coming of Age, published by AEE. | +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
SEER 2008: CARRYING ON A TRADITION, SETTING NEW STANDARDS
By Wynn Shooter
Every November, researchers from around the world convene at the Annual International AEE Conference for the Symposium on Experiential Education Research (SEER). SEER provides an outlet and venue for researchers in the field of experiential education to present, share, dialogue, and further develop their research ideas. Each presenter is allotted 20 minutes to present his/her research, which typically includes an introduction, a description of the methods employed, and the results and conclusions developed from the research. In 2007 and 2008, four countries were represented in the papers, adding an international perspective to the proceedings.
This year’s SEER again used the organizational structure introduced at the 2007 SEER in Little Rock, Arkansas, by which 12 presentations are divided into four sessions, each focused on an emergent theme. This year’s themes were: Issues in Leadership and Program Administration; Experiential Education and Youth Development in Diverse Settings; Program Outcomes and Factors that Affect Them; Current Insights into Wilderness and Adventure Therapy. An opening address by Dr. Katherine Pinch, CSU Sacramento, kicked off the symposium on Friday morning, November 7, 2008.
In her opening address, Kath highlighted the importance of both research and evaluation to experiential education. She recognized that program operators are under ever-increasing pressure to prove the value of their programs through evaluation. However, Dr. Pinch cautioned researchers to remember the importance of conducting well-conceived studies that utilize the methodologies most appropriate to the research questions, population and setting. It is paramount that researchers not forget qualitative methods in the urgency to demonstrate efficacy. Kath emphasized that greater public awareness and understanding of experiential program effectiveness is essential to generating and maintaining public and private support, and she acknowledged the concurrent need to continually build a better understanding of factors that contribute to program effectiveness (e.g., methods, facilitation techniques, and so on). She suggested that a way to balance perceived conflicts between practitioners’ needs for evidence and researchers’ needs to advance understanding is an emphasis on examination of outcomes, as opposed to documentation of outcomes. She recommended that researchers and evaluators remain open to creative ways of working together to understand, document and communicate the efficacy and value of experiential programs.
More than 30 studies were submitted for the 12 presentation slots available, and the researchers selected for this year’s symposium did an outstanding job of meeting Dr. Pinch’s mandate for examining outcomes and utilizing appropriate methodologies. This year’s slate included four studies that examined college and university outdoor orientation programs using mixed methods and varying research designs. Five studies examined experiential programming for youth in public school and therapeutic settings. Kevin O’Connor did an amazing job of telling the audience about how experiential learning is being used to re-invigorate indigenous education. Cass Morgan and Mike Gass addressed (among other things) how a greater understanding of participants’ perceptions of risk and competence can help us better understand how to design high-quality programs. Both studies highlighted the continuing need for documenting what happens to participants during a program in order to gain a better understanding of how to program effectively. As one attendee noted, it will benefit all conference attendees for SEER to continue to publicize how the themed sessions relate to practitioners’ need to know.
Typically, a closing address for this type of research presentation format involves weaving presentation topics together by arguing for the relationships among them and thereby acknowledging how this work is advancing the field. Instead, in his closing remarks, Dr. Jim Sibthorp, University of Utah, asked the group two questions: Why do we do research and why should we do research. The outcome of this conversation led to a cogent argument for the importance of high-quality, theory-based, transdisciplinary, generalizable research and for an organization-wide research agenda that could direct the focus of future research projects. Jim suggested that a series of invited “state of the knowledge” papers might be a first step toward establishing such an organization-wide research agenda. His concluding comments challenged the group to consider how we might become more unified and focused in our efforts to examine various aspects of experiential programs (e.g., leadership, activities, and so on) addition to describing participant outcomes. Researchers and evaluators need to continue to seek partnerships with practitioners to further our mutual goals of understanding, improving and advocating for effective experiential education.
Until now, SEER has been the annual conference’s primary gathering point for attendees interested in research and evaluation. At this year’s conference, however, SEER participants were in good company: the Council on Research and Evaluation (CORE) and Research and Evaluation in Adventure Programming (REAP) had a significant presence, and the combined efforts, events and discussion generated by representatives from the three groups (SEER, CORE and REAP) created a great deal of energy around identifying what our field can do to address larger social, environmental and health problems.
Thank you to all of the scientists who participated in SEER for sharing your work and inspiring us to make greater contributions toward providing high quality programs that address our contemporary world’s larger problems. Thank you also to AEE for providing the ideal venue for this research symposium to take place. And finally, thank you to Alan Ewert, Jim Sibthorp and Keith Russell for their past service to SEER; and thank you to Cheryl Stevens and Jayson Seaman for their current efforts in coordinating, organizing and disseminating this important work.
Note to Reader: Abstracts from SEER 2008, as well as the Opening Address and Closing Remarks, will be published in the next edition of the Journal of Experiential Education (Volume 31, issue 3), which will mail to subscribers in March 2009. They, along with the abstracts from the past seven years of SEER, are also currently available online on the SEER page at http://www.aee.org/re/seer.
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ESTORE ADDS 7 HOT NEW TITLES, PLUS 1 CLASSIC
AEE has been on a publishing hot streak over the past year, putting out 3 new books in 12 months! The newest addition to our growing portfolio is Theory & Practice of Experiential Education, edited by Karen Warren, Ph.D., Denise Mitten, Ph.D., and TA Loeffler, Ph.D., a completely revised and expanded 4th edition of the EE classic, The Theory of Experiential Education. In the almost three decades since the first edition was released, there have been key developments in the theory and practice of experiential education, and this edition is reflective of this evolution.
As those of you with keen eyes noticed, the word "Practice" has been added to the book's title, and that is because the editors of this edition (Karen Warren, Ph.D., Denise Mitten, Ph.D., and TA Loeffler, Ph.D.) embrace the concept of experiential education as both a philosophy and a methodology.
To celebrate the release of the long-awaited revise of this EE classic, AEE is extending a 10% discount off both the member and nonmember price until December 31. To receive the discount, simply enter the coupon code TPEE08 upon checking out!
Book Details: ISBN: 978-0-929361-17-8; 578 pages, printed here in Colorado by an FSA-certified printer using all green practices. It added a bit to the price, but we hope you'll agree that supporting sustainable practices is worth it; member price $55; list price $67; 20 percent discount extended to qualified bookstores and vendors.
Also new to the eStore:
> The Power of One, by Tony Alvarez, Maurie Lung and Gary Stauffer
> Leading Together, by Laurie Frank, Carol Carlin, and Jack Christ
> Childhood & Nature, Design Principles for Educators, by David Sobel
> Schoolyard-Enhanced Learning: Using the Outdoors as an Instructional Tool (K-8), Herbert W. Broda
> In Defense of Childhood: Promoting Kids Inner Wildness, Chris Mecogliano
> Teaching for Social Justice, by William Ayers, Jean Ann Hunt, Therese Quinn
>>> And, finally, Dewey's Experience & Education!
Enjoy! And don't forget to log in prior to placing your order, as members get between 10 and 40 percent off eStore purchases!
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OutdoorEd.com to Launch The Adventure & Recreation Law Center
Those of you who remember and miss the Outdoor Recreation & Law Quarterly publication will be excited to hear about a new online subscription service being offered by OutdoorEd.com beginning January 2009. Every other month, Adventure & Recreation Law subscribers will be able to access two new case law studies focusing on critical legal issues with commentary and take-away points written by Reb Gregg and Catherine Hansen-Stamp, two of the most respected figures in outdoor education law. The private online community at also will provide subscribers with opportunities to post questions and interact with other members in the Adventure Recreation & Law Forum.
About the Authors: Reb Gregg is a practicing attorney in Houston, Texas, specializing in issues of significance to the outdoor recreation and education industry. Catherine Hansen-Stamp is a practicing attorney in Golden, Colorado, and consults with recreation, sport and adventure providers on law, liability and risk management issues.
An annual subscription to this private online community costs $95. Preview a sample of what's in store at www.outdoored.com/community/blogs/reclaw
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STUDENT, EDUCATOR & PRACTITIONER RESOURCES
Thanks to the NAEE for providing much of the following information!
Clean Sweep USA Web Site & Poster
This Keep America Beautiful Web site is an educational math and science classroom resource that was recently expanded to include lessons on litter prevention and beautification. The site features interactive learning modules addressing real-world issues about waste. A free copy of the promotional poster is available to the first 100 teachers that contact KAB by email at cleansweepusa@kab.org http://www.cleansweepusa.org/
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YouthXchange Training Kit on Responsible Consumption
This UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN Educational, Scientific,and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) training kit is a train-the-trainer tool that aims to promote sustainable consumption patterns among young consumers worldwide. http://www.youthxchange.net/main/english-guide.asp
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2009 Volvo Adventure Awards
Deadline: January 31, 2009
In collaboration with the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), the Volvo Adventure Award rewards young people creating their own environmental projects. There are two competitions for the 2009 awards. The Adventure Award is for youth, ages 13-16, working in groups of two to five, that are actively involved in devising and managing the project. The second competition is the Great Big Bob the Bunny Cartoon contest for youth under the age of 13, to create a cartoon picture using Bob the bunny. http://www.volvoadventure.org _______________________________________
Adobe Community Action Grants
Quarterly Application Deadlines: December 31; March 31; June 30; September 30
Adobe Systems awards one-time grants for one-year general operating and program support ranging from $5,000-$20,000. Focus areas include Creativity in Education and Commitment to Community. Eligible nonprofit organizations and schools must be located in one of the following areas: San Jose/Silicon Valley and San Francisco, California; Seattle/King County, Washington; and Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/philanthropy/commg...
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Captain Planet Foundation Grants
Deadline: December 31, 2008
The Captain Planet Foundation is accepting applications for funding projects that help students better grasp environmental issues. Projects must promote understanding of environmental issues, focus on hands-on activities, involve students ages 6 to 18, promote interaction and cooperation within a group, help young people develop planning and problem-solving skills, include adult supervision, and commit to follow-up communication with the Foundation. http://www.captainplanetfdn.org/grants.html
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Intel Schools of Distinction Awards
Deadline: February 17, 2009
The 2009 Intel Schools of Distinction Program awards schools that exemplify the best of the best and serve as role models to other schools across the nation. http://www.schoolsofdistinction.com/
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Nominations for the 2009 Richard C. Bartlett EE Award
Nominations accepted through January 31, 2009
The Richard C. Bartlett Environmental Education Award is awarded annually by the National Environmental Education Foundation to an outstanding educator who has successfully integrated environmental education into his or her daily education programs. The award is given to a 5th-12th grade educator who can serve as an inspiration and model for others. A $5,000 cash award is provided for the recipient to continue their work in environmental education. Do you know a teacher who stands out among the rest? If so, please nominate him/her for the 2009 Richard C. Bartlett Award. http://www.neefusa.org/bartlettaward.htm
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River of Words Environmental Poetry and Art Contest K-12
Deadline: February 15, 2009
River of Words conducts a free international poetry and art contest for youth on the theme of watersheds and the environment. The contest helps youth explore the surroundings in which they live, and to express what they discover through poetry and art. It is held annually in affiliation with the Library of Congress Center for the Book. The grand prize and international winners receive an all-expense paid trip to Washington, DC, to attend the awards ceremony at the Library of Congress. http://www.riverofwords.org/contest/index.html
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Diversity and Environmental Justice Highlights
Breaking the Silence Conference ~ Kansas
January 16-18, 2009 ~ Kansas City, Kansas
This second annual Building a Sustainable Earth Community conference theme is "The Lack of People of Color Involvement with American Progressive Groups and Organizations." Keynote speakers include David Korten, author of The Great Turning; David Cobb, Democracy Unlimited and 2004 Presidential Candidate for the Green Party; Naomi Davis, Black In Green (BIG) out of Chicago, Illinois; and many more.
http://www.breakingthesilence.us/
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International Events, Announcements, Resources
Smaller World Service-Learning Adventures to Central America
Sustainable Harvest International is reversing poverty and environmental destruction in Central America by working cooperatively with farming families to sustainably manage their crops, forests, and businesses. Smaller World Service Trips provide volunteers the opportunity to support projects such as family gardens, reforestation, erosion control, microcredit, irrigation systems, wood-conserving stoves, and biogas digesters. Participants work side by side with local experts and truly experience village life. Program fees are tax-deductible and cover all in-country expenses. Contact Kevin Johnson for more information on this once-in-a-lifetime experience. http://www.sustainableharvest.org/tours.cfm
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Travel the World with Earth Expeditions
Applications due: January 28, 2009
Field Expeditions is offering tuition-free graduate courses from Miami University's Project Dragonfly and the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. Field Expeditions offers extraordinary tuition-free professional development opportunities for formal and informal educators in Belize, Costa Rica, Trinidad, Mongolia, Thailand, Kenya, and Namibia. New this year is the Global Field Program, a Miami U. master's degree offered entirely through Field Expeditions experiences worldwide with coursework on Web-based learning communities. http://www.EarthExpeditions.org/
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National Events, Training, Announcements
IslandWood Graduate Residency ~ Washington
The IslandWood Graduate Residency in Education, Environment, and Community is based on the principle that a sustainable future demands knowledgeable, committed, and reflective educators. Each year Islandwood graduate students spend 10 months living, learning, and teaching on their 255-acre campus in Washington State. Tuition discounts for 2009-2010 available for early applicants – $500 discount for applications received before January 1st, or $250 when received before February 15th. Contact: mailto:hillarym@islandwood.org http://islandwood.org/graduate_program/front-page
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The AEE community is dynamic and interesting.
Keep your friends and colleagues aware of all that is going on with the people and events in the world of experiential education. Help AEE members get to know and support
one another by submitting news for inclusion in this
section to publications@aee.org. | |
