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2015 Autumn | Education & Outreach

Outdoor Environmental Education, Educating Youth for the Future

Student(s):

Ryan Cun

Program or Department(s):

  • Program on the Environment
  • University of Washington

Site supervisor(s):

Jamie Stroble

Partner(s):

  • InterIm CDA Wilderness Inner-City Leadership Development (WILD) Youth Program

Faculty advisor(s):

Yen-Chu Weng, Program on the Environment, University of Washington

During my project, I interned at the Wilderness Inner-city Leadership Development (WILD) program as a youth mentor to a cohort of nine high school youth. My research question was: What are attributes of an outdoors environmental education program that contribute to effective leadership training and the success of a program? To answer this question I surveyed youth and did academic research. The results from my surveys implied that camping trips had a significant effect on their learning. From my academic research, I found that youth learn more when they engage in many of their senses. Lastly, youth learn a lot when they are in situations where they have to critical think and problem solve.