Examining environmental learning experiences at an earth education summer camp

Why this matters
Most program evaluations check whether children reached set learning goals. That misses what children themselves find meaningful, and where and how they like to learn. Knowing this helps educators design experiences children value.

What the researchers did
The researchers studied 23 children, mostly aged 11, at Sunship Earth, a six-day residential camp near Halifax, Nova Scotia.

• Daily lessons: campers spent three to four hours a day in small groups doing outdoor activities about seven ecological ideas. These were energy flow, cycles, diversity, community, interrelationships (how species affect each other), change and adaptation.
• Other time: they also had daily solo reflection time outdoors, plus swimming, canoeing and campfires.
• The surveys: on the first and last days, campers took a 14-question multiple-choice quiz on the seven ideas. They also answered open questions, in writing or in drawings with captions, about favorite activities, favorite places to learn, feelings about nature and ways to help it.

What they found

1. Knowledge grew, but not evenly. Average quiz scores rose from about 11 to about 12.5 out of 14. Clear gains came in cycles, interrelationships and adaptation. Adaptation was the least understood idea before camp and showed the biggest jump. Diversity was still the hardest idea after camp. Most other ideas were already well understood beforehand.
2. Campers liked the hands-on lessons best. Their favorite activities were the lessons on how nature works, not swimming, canoeing, meals or free time. Examples were learning about photosynthesis with a giant leaf prop, acting out a food chain and looking for decomposers. They also valued learning alongside other campers and from camp leaders.
3. The forest became a place for learning. Before camp, children pictured the classroom as the place to learn, and several drew it as dull. After camp, almost all said they preferred learning outdoors. They described the forest as quiet enough to concentrate and as a place to see topics like decomposition firsthand.
4. Campers felt happy, calm and caring toward nature. Children described feeling happy, calm, interested and amazed at camp. After camp, more answers and drawings showed a wish to protect habitats and care for plants and animals. One camper described feeling able to use what she had learned to make a difference.
5. Ideas for helping nature broadened. Before camp, most answers were about recycling, planting trees or picking up litter. After camp, about six in ten campers named a new action. Examples included:
   • making homes for wildlife
   • buying organic food
   • protecting small plants
   • teaching family members to sort waste or drive less

What this means for your practice

• Make the concept lessons the highlight. Campers ranked the hands-on lessons above free time. Props, role-play and games let children act out ideas like food chains.
• Teach topics where they happen. Children valued seeing decomposition and photosynthesis in the forest itself. Where you can, take a lesson to the place it is about.
• Make learning social. Campers liked team games and learning from leaders and each other. Small groups and time to share build this in.
• Give hard ideas extra attention. Diversity, energy flow, community and change did not show clear gains. The researchers recommend more emphasis on these ideas. At the end of your own program, check which key ideas children still struggle with.
• Help children take action home. After camp, children thought of teaching their families. You could give campers time to plan one thing to share or try at home.
• Connect nature to everyday life. The researchers recommend helping children see how ecological ideas link to wider issues in society.
• Let children draw. Drawings with captions showed changes in feelings and in where children thought learning happens, which a quiz would miss. Try a simple before-and-after drawing prompt in your own program.

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