Outdoor Adventure Activities Benefits Catalogue - Outdoors WA

To support these recommendations COEO also called for Canadian universities to helppromote additional Canadian research into the benefits, including long-term impacts, of OEE.4.1.7. Children and nature 2008: A report on the movement toreconnect children to the natural world, 2007Charles, Louv, Bodner and Guns’ (2008) report for the Children and Nature Network in SantaFe, New Mexico, builds upon the inspiring book Last child in the woods (Louv, 2006) thatseeks to save children from ‘nature-deficit disorder’, which they link to rising obesity levels,attention disorders and depression in young people. The movement to reconnect children tothe natural world seeks to ‘help shape a society in which the public once again considers it tobe normal and expected for children to be outside and playing in natural areas’ (Charles et al.,2008, p. 21). The biggest barrier to achieving this is fear. Other barriers identified includelack of natural resources; time pressures; electronic distractions; and, for some, ethnicity andcultural issues.The report highlights research that indicates that children in the 21 st century spend less timeoutdoors; have low levels of knowledge of nature and the outdoors; spend more time eachweek with computers and video games than with nature; are less likely to venture away fromtheir house to play; and have five times the rate of childhood obesity than in the 1960s.This research contrasts with the benefits identified of connecting and engaging with naturethat have included better health; better coping skills; reduced crime, encouraged curiosity;enhanced cognitive skills; improved academic outcomes; improvement in symptoms ofADHD, as well as the restorative value of ‘green exercise’. Meaningful engagement withnature as a child also has a direct correlation with involvement in environmental issues in thefuture which is of great interest as communities look for the next generation of environmentalleaders and activists.4.2. Australian and New Zealand research, 1995-2008The research and the reports considered in this review have drawn upon literature from arange of disciplines including, education, health, recreation, tourism, therapeutic programs.Commensurately the activities and the programs have been conducted from urban towilderness environments, over time-periods ranging from a few hours to a full year. Theactivities were conducted both on the land and in the water. As this review includes groupsfrom a therapeutic context through to recreational settings, the group sizes also varied greatly.The participants in this research covers people across all age groups, in groups that includedvoluntary participation through to mandated involvement.While previous analyses have used broad structures of self, others and the environment, giventhe diverse literature considered here, the findings will be presented under the headingsrelated to the program or activity context: education, recreation, health and therapy.4.2.1. EducationThere is a great range of programs conducted within educational contexts that have been thesubject of recent research. These include Duke of Edinburgh style programs (Bailey, 2004),extended stay outdoor education programs (ESOEP’s) (Gray, 1997; McLeod & Allen-Craig,Page 9