Introduction to my Genuis Hour

As a future educator I have many ideas regarding how I would like my classroom to look and run. Coming from an outdoor education background, I know that this is one thing for certain I would like to include in my class.  From working at an outdoor education center in Algonquin Park, I have seen hundreds of students go through our program and benefit from learning about the environment while in the great outdoors. I understand the value of outdoor education for young people and would like to pass my knowledge on to the next generation.

A quick Google search of the phrase "Outdoor Education in Ontario" provides the top 15 results, all of which are different centers and camps teaching outdoor education. With that being said, most of my knowledge on outdoor education during elementary school originated from field trips to the local Barrie Landfill Site, the Tiffin Conservation Center, and our four day stay at Camp Kandalore, Coming from a fairly privileged school, field trips were very common. I understand that not all schools are as fortunate, and even when they are, there will always be some students for which field trips are not economically feasible. For this reason I am interested in how outdoor education can be introduced, without having to leave the school property. My genius hour question is:

Wilde, F. (2005, December 9). Unidentified tree in Waikato region, 
New Zealand [Online Image]. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/1XQmXUd

Can I introduce authentic outdoor education into an Ontario classroom without going on field trips?

I am excited to learn about the different possibilities for teaching my students outdoor education. I hope to be able to figure out how to incorporate outdoor education into various subject areas both inside the classroom, and outside the classroom in the school’s outdoor spaces. Some of my goals for this project are:

1.     I want to learn more about authentic outdoor education in Ontario

2.     I want to find alternatives to field trips, and ways I can teach outdoor education    without leaving the school property

3.     I want to find ways to motivate students to investigate the outdoors

4.     I want to figure out how to make students passionate about outdoor education

Over the next few weeks I will be going through a step by step process, researching many alternatives, then creating a project pitch, a movie trailer, a learning objective, and a TED Talk.