Workshops

WORKSHOPS

Exploring the Concept of Risk in Outdoor Education

Noah Spitzer, OISE (University of Toronto)

Conceptualizing Transforming Education with mental maps in patterns of 3

How do you OR how might you tell others what you do by way of transforming education. I suggest it will have to be done with concise frameworks building in complexity; hence thinking in patterns of 3 that advance your mental mapping skills as an outdoor educator for what you do or might do. We will draw on many educational theorists and traditions. There will be an personal engagement personal/group activity, discussion and a lecture component all on the move. A workshop handout should keep us playfully in motion mentally and physically.

Sparks of Our Ancestors: Rediscovering Traditional Fire-Making

Jacob Rodenburg, Camp Kawartha

For more than 100,000 years people have sat around hearths. Long before matches or lighters, people relied on skill, patience, and their deep relationship with the land to coax flame from found materials. In this hands-on workshop, participants will explore a variety of traditional fire-making techniques including bow-drill friction fire, flint and steel, pump drill, and the fire piston. Each participant will have the opportunity to try tools and techniques firsthand, gaining confidence in demonstrating fire skills to learners of all ages. We’ll also share stories and safety best practices to help spark curiosity, resilience, and stewardship in winter programming. Join us to rediscover the warmth and wonder of flame born from nature and human ingenuity.

Inuit Games

Bonnie Anderson, Elite Camps

Team building and food security issues will be in this program – this session will be an indoor session so come dressed to try new things in a safe manner in a warm area.

Slipping Through the Net: The Species at Risk Escaping our Notice

Marleine Gelineau, Lakehead University (Thunder Bay)

Why do some species get more attention than others—and what does that mean for conservation?

This workshop invites participants to explore how personal preferences and cultural biases shape which species we care about. Through hands-on activities inspired by Selby (1995) and Rakestraw (2013), we’ll reflect on what traits make certain species more appealing and discuss the real-world impacts of these biases.

We’ll then examine how species bias shows up in conservation policy, especially in vague or missing recovery measures for species at risk. These gaps are connected to education in two key ways:

Teaching about species bias can help reduce these policy gaps.
Without clear recovery plans, it’s harder to create outreach programs that raise awareness about neglected species.

Participants will leave with practical ideas for integrating species equity into education and interpretation, helping foster empathy and support for all species.

Play, Create, and Cultivate Change: Exploring Invasive Species Together

Brit Cook, Norval Outdoor School (Upper Canada College)

Let’s explore how invasive plants and animals shape our ecosystems and how we can creatively respond to their presence. Through outdoor games, nature-based activities, hands-on projects and crafts, we’ll discover fun and meaningful ways to learn about and engage with invasive species. From natural dyes and recipes to fence-making and beyond, participants will experiment with practical and artistic ways to rethink our relationship with these species. Together, we’ll observe how they interact with local habitats, discuss their ecological impacts, and imagine innovative approaches to education and our responsibilities to the land.

Snaring and Preparing Snowshoe Hares: Traditional Skills for Modern Outdoor Educators

Arthur Murgatroyd, Bluewater Outdoor Education Centre

This experiential workshop introduces participants to the practice of snaring and preparing snowshoe hares with emphasis on ecological sustainability and ethical harvesting. Participants will learn how snowshoe hare populations fluctuate in cyclical patterns, highlighting boreal ecology and food web inter-relationships.

While I am not Indigenous, much of this skill and knowledge was generously shared with me by Elders in a Yukon first nation community where I facilitated land-based learning programs. This session invites educators to integrate these teachings into their own programs in ways that respect both ecological integrity and cultural origins.

Ecohealth Promotion in Outdoor Education

Stephen Ritchie, Laurentian University

Ecohealth is a transdisciplinary term that draws on systems theory and the principle of reciprocity to reflect the holistic health of people, animals, plants, and the entire ecosystem where they live. Ecohealth promotion (EHP) is the intentional process of helping people to use their volition (will) and agency (action) to embrace evidence-based wellness practices in harmonious interactions with nature to aspire to a state of mutually beneficial relationships across six interwoven dimensions of well-being: physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual, and ecological. This workshop will consist of several different components: (1) reviewing the theory and evidence base for EHP, (2) participating in experiential activities and group discussions, (3) presenting a new Holistic Model of EHP, and (4) exploring how EHP can apply to outdoor education. By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to articulate a kinesthetic connection (heart), experiential practice (hand), and theoretical understanding (mind) of ecohealth promotion.

Topophilia at Camp Kawartha

Jeff Stickney, Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning at OISE (University of Toronto) & Karen Duplisea, Toronto Metropolitan University

This session offers an extemporaneous ‘walk & talk’: a dialogical conversation of instruction, similar to what I did at Oxford in taking philosophers outside to visit an evergreen (Harry Potter) oak tree in a medieval cloister. The goal is to engage participants in a provocative co-mingling of our combined formal knowledge of these things from the liberal arts, as gathered from local knowledges — honouring Indigenous and animist Land-based knowledge – and derived from philosophical/phenomenological reflection on various portals to ‘emplaced transcendence’: including the perception-bending arts, but also heightened awareness of taken-for-granted, early childhood initiation into languages and cultural practices. How can we come to experience more deeply, see anew and speak truly this land we are on? As a conceptually rich but practical session, relevant for outdoor educators – we seek to better ‘love this place’ (topophilia), much as I share with my students walking & talking University of Toronto’s campus.

An Outdoor Educator’s role in cultivating gratitude and empathy for the natural world

Chantale Killey, Camp Kawartha

Workshop will take for granted several premises:
– Developping empathy with other species can lead to stronger sense of connection with nature, stronger desire to protect nature, and stronger personal well-being.
– Developping a practice of gratitude towards the natural world can lead to a stronger sense of connection with nature, a stronger desire to protect nature, and stronger personal well-being.

(We might discuss these premises)
– Discussion of everyday examples of this / personal examples of this.
– Presentation of industry publications on the topic (research yet to come – lots to choose from)
– Discussion of limitations of fostering gratitude and empathy (religious beliefs, etc.)
– Discussion of ways this already happens in our work places
– Breaking into smaller groups of similar types of work (ie – public school boards, Outdoor Centres, Independent schools, forest school programs)
– Brainstorming and sharing ways we can foster gratitude and empathy through activities, example, leadership or other practices.
– Sharing our lists.

Outdoor Education meets Concrete: Embracing Contamination and Learning how to Belong

Kaia Douglas, Camp Kawartha

Through story and song, I will share a few stories about growing up in downtown Peterborough and reflect on how these experiences shaped how I think about cities, belonging, and ecological learning. I will think alongside writers David Huebert, Sabrina Scott and Anna Tsing, and bring their theories into the room to deepen our ideas. As a group, we will then discuss what it would mean to do outdoor education in urban settings. Rather than privileging the idea of a pristine natural landscape somewhere “over there,” what if we encountered our own neighbourhoods, however built up and polluted they may be, with curiosity and love? Together we will imagine what that pedagogy might look like, and how we can enact it in our communities.

Tough Questions, Gentle Conversation

Sabrina Chiefari, Ministry for Social Justice, Peace, and Creation Care – Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto

Let’s take the quiet and slowness of winter to untangle some messy, philosophical, knots. This session will use Socratic questioning to guide OE/EE practitioners into a deeper conversation around “change-making”, and what it is OE/EE practitioners are being invited to do in the current polycrisis. Participants will be guided through both large and small group questioning exercises, with the goal of helping to address complicated questions that arise whenever ‘change’ is in the air, in a cooperative and peace-building way. Participants are also welcome to privately journal/sketch in this session, in lieu of engaging in conversation.

(Re)Embodying Pedagogy to Transform our Relationship to the Natural World

Jennifer Carmichael, McMaster University

I’ll give a brief theoretical foundation for my pedagogical approach, then I will guide the participants through a practical exercise of embodied cognition. This will consist of a guided mediation to reconnect with embodied awareness, followed by an exercise of applied embodied “wonder” in relation to nature. I will conclude with a discussion focused on how participants felt in their bodies, and how they think this kind of approach might be incorporated into existing classrooms.

Making Friends with Places

Mark Dickinson, Trent University

For twenty years, Mark Dickinson has been developing a set of protocols that teach young people how to make friends with places. The premise of his work is that the land is an entity in its own right, a living being more than the sum of its constituent parts, and one with certain cognitive, emotional and spiritual powers that human beings can attune themselves to and be nourished by. The land, in other words, is worthy of our secrets and deserving of our kindness. Dr. Dickinson supports this claim with evidence drawn from a number of earth-centred traditions, including Presocratic Greek philosophy, Indigenous North American oral narrative, phenomenology, and the work of systems thinkers Gregory and Nora Bateson. In this workshop, Dr. Dickinson will talk about how to make friends with a place; point out the traps, pitfalls and excesses associated with this approach; and discuss the implications of “making friends with places” on everything from ontological and epistemological reconciliation with Original Peoples to the climate emergency.

Narrative Adventure Quests Tutorial: How to Turn Eco-Anxiety or Apathy into Hope and Agency

Sam Russell, OISE (University of Toronto)

This workshop is designed for outdoor educators seeking a pedagogical method to help mitigate their students’ struggles with eco-anxiety, apathy, nature disconnection, or other emotions resulting from the climate crisis. In this tutorial-style workshop, I will explain the Narrative Adventure Quest (NAQ) framework which I have developed during my studies at OISE. By the end of this workshop, you will be able to develop your own NAQ’s for your students to enrich their learning experience.

To elaborate further, The NAQ is one way to re-center student agency in partnership with ecological considerations. Every NAQ is inherently unique to the learning environment of choice, but every NAQ also follows the same formula of moving through the past, present, and future conditions of the local environment. For this workshop, we will explore the environment of Camp Kawartha and collaboratively develop an example NAQ of our own.

Designing for Four Seasons: What Nature-Based Play Environments Afford Young Children Across Weather, Place, and Time

Kimberly Squires, Emily Fleming, Alicia Briel, Ella Holt, Katie McPhee, & Alanis Sanchez Nolte, University of Guelph

The goal of this presentation is to share key insights, challenges, and learning moments from the research process of the Seasons of Play pilot projects. Drawing on our experiences with these two pilot studies, this presentation will outline how naturalized and forested outdoor play environments afford different types of play opportunities, encourage diverse movement behaviours, and shape children’s engagement and connection with the environment across the four seasons. Participants will be introduced to place-centred observational methods, the Tool for Observing Play Outdoors (TOPO) (Loebach & Cox, 2020), and practical strategies for noticing potential affordances in their own settings. Through group discussion and reflection, we will explore the possibilities and challenges of supporting outdoor play during Canadian seasonal variation, and explore how educators can create, adapt, and advocate for outdoor learning experiences.

Exploring Intuitive Interspecies Communication for Eco-Centric Change

M.J. Barrett, University of Saskatchewan & Christine Noble Seller, Interspecies Voices

Did you ever wonder if you could communicate with other animals? Or plants? This workshop brings together the perspectives of an experienced Intuitive Interspecies Communication (IIC) practitioner and an academic researcher. Both ancient and contemporary, IIC refers to the experience of two-way communication between humans and other species. Through stories, research, and an experiential exercise, we’ll explore what IIC is—and is not. We’ll discuss how IIC shows up for students and what might nourish their skills.
We’ll also touch on benefits, limitations, ethical considerations and how it is currently being used. You’ll leave with a handout of curated resources, including recommendations for personal practice. This session emphasizes learning from Nature as teacher and fostering respectful, reciprocal relationships with those who are more-than-human.

Ecologizing Education: From theory to praxis and pedagogy in mainstream elementary school settings

Helen Chambers, Simon Fraser University

This presentation/workshop provides an overview of some recent major works of educational philosophy, including those of Michael Bonnet, Sean Blenkinsop and Estella Kuchta, which converge around the idea that radical change in education is required to prevent the ongoing reproduction and reinforcement of the Western worldview; an individualistic, competitive, extractive, anthropocentric, and profoundly unecological perspective that has resulted in the current nexus of global anthropogenic crises. At the centre of this transformational educational paradigm – “ecologizing education” – is the natural world and our relationships both with and within it. This presentation examines proposed theoretical frameworks for effecting this radical ontological, epistemological, and axiological change, and how these might look in practice within a mainstream, public-school setting. There will be a collaborative, workshop opportunity for educators to discuss, share, and reflect on new and existing teaching practices that further ecologizing aims.

Systems Transformation Innovation for a Better World Presentation

Brent Evans, Norval Outdoor School (Upper Canada College) & Joseph Bush, Upper Canada College

Upper Canada College and the Norval Outdoor School are among four International Baccalaureate (IB) schools globally selected to pilot a new course for Grade 11 and 12 students. The Systems Transformation: Innovation for a Better World course is a unique and exciting learning opportunity that represents a shift in the International Baccalaureate curriculum towards a more flexible model with more real-world learning and greater student agency.

Brent Evans and Jo Bush will present the brand new Systems Transformation course and outline how this is an exciting opportunity for outdoor educators. This innovative course recognizes the commitment to advancing learning methods for the emerging needs of a changing world, providing students with the knowledge, skills and mindsets crucial for navigating the complex global challenges of our time.

Starting Where We Stand: New Year Intentions for Climate Change Education

Heather Wright, Lakehead University (Thunder Bay)

What is your New Years’ resolution for transformational education? There are so many ways we feel the world needs us to step up and “do something”: climate change, social injustice and biodiversity loss are but a few issues which are currently overwhelming educators as they engage in their work with the next generation. Given these pressures, how can we, as educators, take action which gives us hope and empowers us?

This workshop will explore the findings of my first semester of my Masters in Education for Change, focusing on Environmental Sustainability Education and Social Justice Education and Climate Change Education, through the lens of an educator grappling with Climate Change. It will comprise a presentation, activities and reflective discussion on current academic theory relating to hope, community, diverse forms of engagement and transformative learning, using Kwauk & Casey’s (2021) Skills for a Green Transformation as a touchpoint to action.

Say the Names: an inquiry into nominal place

David Newland, Trent University

My goal is to render visible some of the unnoticed factors that influence our relationship to place in a settler-Canadian context. By examining nominal place — my term for the place as defined by names — we can consider what underlies that place, and how we might better relate to the land and to our Treaty partners, wherever we are.

I introduce the term nominal place to describe how place-naming imposes a sense of place, using Cobourg as an example. I suggest a reading of the place names of Cobourg as a text, noting how nominal place may operate to enhance some stories—and to erase, or obscure others. Inspired by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s notion of coming to know, and James Raffan’s analysis of land-based learning, we consider the confluence of toponymic, narrative, experiential and numinous ways of knowing Cobourg. We conclude by considering nominal place as a potentially powerful tool to enhance right relations, in Canada, and beyond.

Land-Based Learning Experts Are Rebuffing Outdoor Education. What Can We Do?

Paul Kelba, Calgary Board of Education & Antioch University

A tiny Pathways article ‘Critical Pedagogy in Outdoor Education’ from one of the first issues of this publication I encountered back in 1995 certainly was foundational, as is the case with many Pathways pieces. In it, Connie L. Russell introduced me to anthropocentrism: the belief that humans are separate from and superior to other forms of life. She called on us to “carefully examine the experiences we offer as outdoor educators to ensure we are not unintentionally perpetuating anthropocentrism and contributing to another form of oppression” (Russell 1995). Thirty years on, land-based education visionaries are rebuffing outdoor education for not heeding concerns such as Russell’s. Some in the outdoor learning community are demonstrating a sincere response to this with conversations and approaches on how best to move forward in non-anthropocentric, and more eco-centric ways with all that we do.

Moving with Nature: A Mindful Meditation and Movement Workshop

Honour Stahl, Awakened Learning

This experiential workshop invites participants into a restorative movement and contemplative practice designed to leverage benefits of nature immersion and mindful movement to reestablish our sense of self and place in the natural world and in community. Grounded in environmental psychology, dance movement science, and Eastern contemplative traditions (Zen Buddhism), the session explores how embodied practices can reorient us towards relationality and interbeing, helping us to engage with the natural world and experience our bodies in new ways. Participants will engage in guided meditation on our relationship with nature, gentle movement and breathwork to support physical and cognitive wellbeing and joy in the body, and a reflective period linking the experience with key ideas from the fields that inform it. Educators and practitioners will leave with a renewed sense of embodied presence, as well as practical insights into how restorative, movement-based approaches can transform learning environments toward deeper ecological connection.

Learning through Laughter: Critical Comedic Pedagogy

Kyra Min Poole, Lakehead University (Orillia)

Through a series of games, thought exercises, and theoretical diversions, I will share theories of why we laugh, histories of humorous storytelling, and practical applications of cross-curricular comedic pedagogy.

PlantCraft: An Arts-Based Approach to More-Than-Human Relationships

Dani Hagel & Annie Sanassian, The Guelph Outdoor School

Annie Sanassian and Dani Hagel are outdoor educators, field naturalists and interdisciplinary artists who co-teach PlantCraft, a land-based art program for adults at The Guelph Outdoor School. PlantCraft weaves together ecological knowledge and land stewardship with artistic mediums like carving, weaving, and botanical dyes to invite participants into an embodied relationship with the more-than-human world. As artists and educators, our work with plants is guided by an ethic of care for our plant relatives. In this workshop, we’ll share some of our favourite activities and pedagogical practices for connecting plants and people of all ages. We will integrate this knowledge into hands-on practice, experimenting with plant processing techniques and creating our own plant-based inks. Our intention is to carve out time to engage our hands, mind, and soul with plant wisdom, nurturing both ecological awareness and creative expression.

Orbiting 인연–Pairing Spirituality with Science Education through Outdoor Investigation

Katie Cobb, University of Toronto

In my workshop, I will demonstrate and ask all audience members to participate in my creative process that lead to my paper. My paper is informed by an exploration of nature combined with a poetic approach to processing our individual relationships with nature influenced and informed by our unique beliefs.

Each participant will be given a series of prompts and questions bringing them back to memorable life experiences in nature to inspire their writing.

After having some time to respond to prompts, participants can share their thoughts (as much as they are comfortable with) and how they might feel an emotional connection to nature through the creative process.

Snowsnakes!

Ian Faulds, York Region District School Board (YRDSB) & Toronto Region Conservation Authority (TRCA)

While it is common knowledge that reptiles in Ontario are currently hibernating, there is always an exception to the rule. The rare and elusive “snowsnake” has made an appearance at Camp Kawartha! Participate in a fascinating, traditional Indigenous winter activity by watching a “snowsnake” race along a snowy track. Discover how you can create your own snowsnake “habitat” at your school site or outdoor centre using easily found materials. This activity provides another excellent opportunity for students to encounter Indigenous culture while getting outside to enjoy the winter season. Prepare for fun!

Two-Eyed Seeing Tour: Honouring the Indigenous Peoples Living “on campus” 9000 Years Ago

Carolina Camacho & Rachel Portinga, Lakehead University (Thunder Bay)

The workshop will start with a short oral presentation to share an overview of the tour we have co-developed, the route, the background research that informed it, what is covered, the objectives, and participant feedback. We can take questions throughout this. Then we will transition into a workshop for participants to consider how this could be brought to their work environments. They will be in small groups discussing questions such as: Whose land are they working on? What other units or collaborators could they work with to develop a tour in a good way? What known anthropological or archaeological sites could they reference? How do settlers engage in this work in a good way that supports reconciliation? How might a critical family history be part of the tour guides personal and professional work? Small groups can share back key takeaways with the larger group discussion.

Re-storying the Landscape of a Nation: How Maps Inform Student’s Relationships to Place

Anissah Rajpatee, Trent University & Headwaters Wilderness Program

Maps are a means for storytelling, and they shape our understandings of a landscape through the use of, or exclusion in some cases, of specific place names and borders. This workshop will present key ideas from a paper I wrote in 2024 that addressed the ways maps inform our relationships with a place. Particular attention is given to how the materials used in school shape a student’s relationship with the land based on the stories implicitly or explicitly conveyed through maps. For context, a brief overview of the history of mapping in relation to its role in colonization will be provided. Drawing from educational theory about the three curricula posited by Elliot Eisner, I propose that standard maps favour colonial perspectives and agendas thereby erasing, excluding, or rejecting Indigenous worldviews, traditional knowledge, and place names that are reflective of visceral relationships with the land. Participants will engage in a group discussion about storytelling through cartography, relationship to place, and the use of traditional Indigenous place names. To support the structure of this workshop and discussion, the focus will be on 2-3 specific maps that participants can analyze in smaller groups.

What do we really, really want? Collective agency in transformative education.

Leigh Symonds, Camp Kawartha & Trent University

What do we mean when we talk about transformative education? What is that we’re really after? And what do we need to transform in ourselves to make that possible. This combined paper/workshop explores the foundational groundwork that we all need to do to meet the invatation of what the world is asking of us as educators. This session will start will a discussion surrounding the ideas at the heart of land-based pedagogy, inquiry-based learning and well-being before engaging in collaborative and collective conversations that create a shared vision of what is possible when we ask ‘why not?’.