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Encyclopedia of Teacher Education pp 1–6Cite as

Culture, Role in Outdoor Learning

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Introduction

The human-nature relationship is a core of environmental and outdoor education, and culture informs how people relate to the natural world. Having acknowledged that peoples with different cultures think differently and have a variety of ways of expressing relationship with the environment, it becomes obvious that understandings of teaching and learning outdoors need to consider cultural dimensions especially when dealing with multicultural participants and groups. Showing examples from Alaska and Japan, this entry demonstrates that culture is inseparable from outdoor learning and broadens the significance of what the land teaches the learner.

What Is Culture

What does culture have to do with outdoor learning? And what, to begin with, is meant by “culture”?

Culture is certainly a very complex concept, yet dictionary definitions speak of culture as a way of life; as general customs, manners, beliefs, and values; and as the understandings of a particular group of people at a...

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References

  • Altman, I. A., & Chemers, M. (1984). Culture and environment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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  • Barnhardt, R., & Kawagley, A. O. (2003). Center for learning and indigenous knowledge systems. Retrieved from Fairbanks, AK: http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/proposals/

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  • Kawagley, A. O. (1995). A Yupiaq worldview: A pathway to ecology and spirit. Prospect Heights: Waveland Press.

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  • Pullar, G., & Knecht, R. (1995). Alutiiq. In V. Chaussonnet (Ed.), Crossroads Alaska: Native cultures of Alaska and Siberia (pp. 14–15). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.

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  • Takano, T., Higgins, P., & McLaughlin, P. (2009). Connecting with place: Implications of integrating cultural values into the school curriculum in Alaska. Environmental Education Research, 15(3), 343–370.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan

    Takako Takano

Authors
  1. Takako Takano
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Correspondence to Takako Takano .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. WMIER, The University of Waikato WMIER, Hamilton, Waikato, New Zealand

    Michael A. Peters

Section Editor information

  1. No affiliation provided

    John Quay

  2. No affiliation provided

    Tonia Gray

  3. No affiliation provided

    Peter Higgins

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© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

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Cite this entry

Takano, T. (2019). Culture, Role in Outdoor Learning. In: Peters, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Teacher Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1179-6_364-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1179-6_364-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-1179-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-1179-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education

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