Outdoor Learning Conference 2025: Full Schedule

Welcome to the 2025 Outdoor Learning Conference

2:00pm MDT

Beyond the Child: Exploring Land-Led Pedagogies in K-6 Outdoor Education LIMITED

Friday May 9, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm MDT

This interactive, outdoor workshop invites educators to explore the shift from traditional child-centered pedagogies to land-led pedagogies in outdoor education. Emphasizing the land as a teacher, this session fosters reciprocal, respectful relationships between students and the natural world. Drawing from Natural Curiosity’s Four Branches of Environmental Inquiry and Indigenous Perspectives, participants will engage in hands-on activities, group discussions, and reflection-based practices. They will also explore a spiral model of learning and assessment that is rooted in the natural cycles of the seasons. This holistic framework helps educators deepen their connection to the land and integrate seasonally attuned teaching practices into their classrooms.

Speakers

Alyson McMullen

Natural Curiosity/University of Toronto

Alyson (she/her) is of Mushkegowuk (Swampy Cree), Irish and French ancestry. She is an educator (RECE, OCT) whose work is centered around decolonizing education through land centered inquiry based practice. Alyson is a graduate of the Waaban Indigenous Teacher Education Program at... Read More →

Krista Spence

Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study Lab School/University of Toronto

Krista Spence, (she/her) BA, MA in Ed., RECE, Teacher-Librarian and Land-based Educator, works at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study Lab School, an elementary school in downtown Toronto. Krista was the recipient of the ‘Outstanding Early Childhood Educator’ EECOM award... Read More →

Friday May 9, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm MDT
Eagle

Indigenous Ways of Knowing Workshop

3:15pm MDT

"Because I Wanted Everyone to Know We Need to Take Care of Our Lands": Exploring Children's Rights and Generating Their Perspectives of the Outdoors LIMITED

Friday May 9, 2025 3:15pm - 4:30pm MDT

Eagle

In this workshop, we will explore what children have to tell us about their outdoor play environments and cultivate our own “voices” about our outdoor experiences. Framed through the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, we will share findings from a recent participatory research study, The Voices of Play, that investigated children’s use of the voices of drawing and photography in outdoor play environments within an early childhood education and care setting. Our hope is that you will be able to learn from the children’s voices and perspectives and reflect on how their knowledge may relate to your own experiences and settings. We also hope that these results help adults in choosing or designing outdoor play environments to best support children’s health and well-being from their perspectives. As an expansion on this information, we will also engage in the experience of drawing and photographing our outdoor connections with the outdoors.

Speakers

Dr. Kimberly Squires

Assistant Professor, University of Guelph

Kimberly Squires (she/her) is a Registered Early Childhood Educator, Ontario Certified Teacher, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition at the University of Guelph. She is also on the Board of Directors for the Council of Outdoor Educators... Read More →

Starlene Ruttan

Starlene is a Child & Youth Worker, Registered Early Childhood Educator (RECE), Ontario Certified Teacher and a Forest and Nature School Practitioner. As a daughter, wife, mother, auntie, friend, and educator – she works to inspire both children and adults to make positive lasting... Read More →

Kim Barton

Friday May 9, 2025 3:15pm - 4:30pm MDT
Eagle

Health and Wellbeing Workshop

9:45am MDT

Terra Divina: A Practice of Mindful Wonder, Spirituality and Gratitude for an Era of Environmental Crisis LIMITED

Saturday May 10, 2025 9:45am - 11:00am MDT

Eagle

This workshop involves guided immersive connection with the earth and exploration of the power of gratitude for this wondrous, miraculous, planet. The workshop also digs into opportunities for sharing this wonder and experiences of gratitude in a range of pedagogical and social contexts. The mindful wonder, or eco-spiritual, part of the workshop will follow what author Victoria Loorz calls Terra Divina – or a “divine conversation with the sacred land.” Participants will learn about and explore the four stages of this divine experience: wander (lectio), listen (meditatio), respond (oratio) and release (contemplation). We will then share our Terra Divina experiences in a talking circle. The workshop will conclude with a group discussion about how people of all ages can be guided to celebrate eco-spirituality, wonder and the revolutionary power of gratitude.

Speakers

Dr. Jenellen Good

Associate Professor, Brock University

Jennifer Ellen (Jenellen) Good (PhD Cornell University): I am a professor at Brock University and I research the role of communication in how people relate to the “natural environment.” More specifically, I explore intersections of screens and the climate crisis, materialism... Read More →

Saturday May 10, 2025 9:45am - 11:00am MDT
Eagle

Environmental and Climate Change Education Workshop

Outdoor Learning Conference 2025