Reflect on Outdoor Exploration is a young person’s experience with an adult who takes time to create attentive, critical, and exploratory thoughts about spending time in the outdoors.
Reflecting on outdoor exploration with young people involves connecting what they learn in the outdoors with their daily lives, identifying the process that leads to outdoors achievements, and raising awareness on their impact on their environment. This is a Focused Experience for young people, one that specifically bolsters Outdoors SEL.
WHY IS REFLECTING ON OUTDOOR EXPLORATION IMPORTANT?
Intentional opportunities for reflection in outdoor programs can increase young people’s learning, awareness of their own emotions, empathy, and self-worth (Children to the Nature, 2018). Outdoor programs best promote these outcomes when they integrate reflection opportunities into activities and provide opportunities to transfer their outdoors-focused learning to other contexts. Such opportunities are a strong signal to young people. They communicate that their time in the outdoors is a moment for intentional growth of their SEL capacities.
DISCOVERIES FROM HELLO INSIGHT
Young people are dynamic and full of promise, with many different pathways to success. We continually mine our growing HI Outdoors dataset, made up of thousands of young people. This lets us continue to learn what works for every young person.
In 2022, we looked at our dataset of more than 6,000 young people, participating in more than 70 programs across more than 20 states. We found that Reflect on Outdoor Exploration is highly predictive of Outdoors SEL development, especially for young men.
Download the Reflection GuideRESOURCES
Children & Nature Network's Youth Programming ToolKit
Children & Nature Network
This toolkit provides resources and research that connect positive youth development (PYD) approaches with nature-based programming. It shows you how you might help young people reach their full potential as people–and as nature advocates
Guiding Questions:
- How will my program utilize research in the toolkit and the Reaching Youth Full Potential Through Nature framework to describe our program models and the importance of ongoing reflection with youth?
- How will my program engage young people in reflection to promote interest, connection, and support for the outdoors and nature?
- How will my program encourage young people to reflect on their relationships with other living and nonliving things?
- How will my program help young people reflect on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)?
Lasting Lessons in Outdoor Learning: A Facilitation Model Emerging from 30 Years of Reflective Practice
Tonia Gray1and and Fiona Pigott
This article discusses how outdoor learning promotes the 3Rs:
- Resilience: allowing nature to be the teacher
- Reflection: using journals and photographs to anchor memories
- Relationships: building connections between peers, family, and indigenous cultures
Guiding Questions:
- How will my program integrate more opportunities for young people to reflect on their experiences in the outdoors (using, for example, journals, photo collages, and social media posts)?
- How will my program engage young people in reflection to promote interest, connection, and support for the outdoors?
- How will myprogram help young people reflect on their relationship with other living and nonliving things?
The Importance of Reflection Outside of Outdoor & Environmental Education Settings
This article outlines why reflection is important to consider, particularly when outdoor, adventure, environmental or experiential activities are taking place. The Authors argue that structured reflection allows students to: consider how they feel before an activity, assess prior knowledge, consider what they have accomplished after an activity, how they felt about the experience, share their ideas, and communicate the value of others and themselves. In addition, they provide tips and strategies for incorporating greater reflection in outdoor programming.
Guiding Questions:
- How will my program engage young people in reflection to promote interest, connection, and support for the outdoors?
- How will my program utilize reflection to gauge the quality and depth of experiences young people have in the outdoors?
- How will my program help young people assess and reflect on their social and emotional well-being and growth during their time in nature?