The Backcountry Classroom: Lesson Plans for Teaching in the Wilderness - Tapa blanda

The Wilderness Education Association is a nonprofit membership organization that promotes wilderness education and preservation through wilderness leadership training at the college level. Affiliate organizations are accredited to offer WEA's National Standard Program for Outdoor Leadership Certification (NSP). Successful graduates of these programs receive WEA certification.

Jack K. Drury is a WEA instructor having taught WEA NSP courses annually since 1979 and is a former president of the Wilderness Education Association. He was the founding director of the Wilderness Recreation Leadership Program and an Associate Professor at North Country Community College in Saranac Lake, New York. He is co-owner of Leading EDGE, a professional development organization that designs learning experiences for educators, businesses, non-profits, and government agencies.

Bruce F. Bonney taught public middle and high school social studies at Morrisville-Eaton Central School in New York for twenty-three years. A WEA instructor, he was an associate of Education by Design at the Antioch New England Graduate School before cofounding Leading EDGE. He is an adjunct professor for North Country Community College.

Dene Berman, Ph.D., a practicing psychologist, is Clinical Professor in the School of Professional Psychology at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. He has been involved with the wilderness therapy movement since the mid 80s, and is co-author of Wilderness Therapy: Foundations, Theory, and Practice, as well as numerous articles in professional journals. A WEA instructor, Dene is on the Board of Trustees and is the current President of the WEA Board.

Mark C. Wagstaff is currently an associate professor of Recreation, Parks and Tourism at Radford University, Virginia. Mark has been instructing for the Wilderness Education Association since 1986 and served as executive director for three years. Mark's outdoor career includes instructing for the North Carolina Outward Bound School and professional whitewater guiding throughout the United States and abroad.

Tools for Training Tomorrow's Outdoor Leaders

If you are teaching future outdoor leaders the basics of running a safe, enjoyable, and environmentally sound expedition, let The Backcountry Classroom be your companion. It's designed to train instructors and students in the essentials of outdoor leadership based on the Wilderness Education Association's (WEA) nationally recognized eighteen-point curriculum.
A valuable resource in the classroom as well as in the field, the book is formatted into forty-eight chapters that describe the learning outcomes, the body of knowledge, and the materials needed for teaching about a specific topic within the curriculum. This second edition expands its coverage of outdoor topics, plus it contains all-new chapters intended to develop teaching skills, good judgment, and decision-making abilities. New hands-on exercises-called "Challenges"-transform the lessons into engaging and memorable interactive learning experiences.
Topics Include:
" Teaching and Learning
" Backpack Fitting and Packing
" Campsite Selection
" Canoeing and Sea Kayaking
" Considerations for Top Roping
" Crisis Management
" Introduction to Knots
" Decision Making
" Environmental Ethics
" Expedition Behavior
" Food Protection
" Group Orienting and Monitoring
" Hiking
0" Interpretation of Natural and Cultural Environments
" Introduction to GPS
" Leadership
" Map Interpretation
" Trip Planning
" Waterfront Safety