Outdoor Club curriciulum

[W I S N E R !]

Hello all…
Ryan’s post on LNT for kids prompted me to solicit all of you for more ideas: I’m a high school ceramics teacher in the Los Angeles area that has tried to sponsor an outdoor/environmental education related club for the past couple years. The primary focus is getting kids outside and on hikes, learning about outdoor ethics, and again, GETTING KIDS OUTSIDE (frightening and amazing how many have never really seen a forest!). Ecology, environmentalism, etc., are incorporated as well. I primarily teach seniors, so every year I basically have to start over and recruit a new batch of students. For this reason, the club has never developed into what I believe could be its full potential.
Outside of monthly hiking trips, we will meet once a week to discuss technique, philosophy, gear, how-to, etc.
Any ideas for short, skills-based lessons would be welcomed. LNT, ethics, MYOG, technique, anything you think might be engaging for 15-18 year olds. If it can be practiced during a school lesson, great (i.e., I plan on building alcohol stoves this year, creating emergency/first aid kits, doing a lesson on compass/map use, etc.). Any links to outdoor education/LNT ethics-based sites would be appreciated as well.
My faculty co-advisor is gone this year, as are almost all former student members- I’m basically starting over from scratch with a handful of interested students, so I’m wide open to any suggestions. I think LNT principles are the best place to start, but again, give me whatever you’ve got.
Thanks everyone,
Craig

[Laurie Ann March]

Teach them how to make their own energy bars or trail snacks or even a full meal – if you want I can give you login info for the online wilderness cooking course that I teach and you can glean some info from there – just send me a pm with your contact info.

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