…When it comes to describing the course of study for a school or university, the word “curriculum” is most often used, and it traditionally references all of the courses offered at a particular institution. Curriculum has been described as “a path for students to follow,” which is actually fitting when you think about the backcountry…

…Judging from the headline atop this particular blog post, you can gather that this is the fourth in a series of posts about the curriculum we offer here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE). And if you haven’t taken a look at the first three installments, it would behoove you to do…

…It hasn’t been a speedy process but we continue be excited about the deep dive we’re offering up on the curriculum offered here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE). As you might recall, our last blog post on this topic covered the educational group (Ed Group) topics of feelings identification, levels…

In Part 1 of this series, we told you about the unique curriculum offered here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE) and the fact that its focus is much more than just developing outdoor skills for our students and adult course participants. In addition to teaching how to best use nimble feet…

…We’re sure the good folks over at the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics know this, but tt was Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, the father of Boy Scouting, who coined the phrase, “Try and leave this world a little better than you found it.” This retired British Army officer and founder of the scouting…

…What happens when someone answers the call to outdoor adventure and enrolls in a wilderness education, outdoor education, or backcountry expedition like the ones we offer at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE)?  They’re pretty much guaranteed they’ll be engaged in an experience that involves adventure, challenges, and fun, but most important…

By Stephen Mullaney, NCOAE Staff Development Director When The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE) got together to host a multi-day “invitation only” event for instructional candidates, we took the same care as we would when building a campfire. As a rule, wood doesn’t burn on its own. It’s the gases released, along…

…What are your plans for Thanksgiving? Here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education, we’re expanding our outdoor educator-training program on a global scale and announcing a month-long training expedition that culminates in a Thanksgiving celebration in Patagonia — a remote region at the southernmost end of South America that is shared by…

…We here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education are starting off the summer with some truly great news. Beginning in June, we’ll be offering students who successfully participate in any of our Teen Adventure courses the opportunity to earn high school credit. This most excellent announcement is the result of the NCOAE…

…At NCOAE we understand the value of outdoor education and aim to incorporate outdoor and adventure-based experiential education into student’s curricula!…

…Curious what separates NCAOE from other outdoor programs like Outward Bound & NOLS? Check out our blog to learn more about the differences!…

…There’s an unspoken rule in the blogosphere that says we’re obligated to post a “welcome to our blog” entry, so we’ll play along (we wouldn’t want to upset the balance of the interweb by not playing by such geeky rules)….

…Nothing makes us happier here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE) than meeting up with three busloads of seventh and eighth graders in a wilderness area and then teaching them about how to get along in an outdoor setting — in this case Joshua Tree National Park with its breathtaking sandstone…

…Come early October, more than 100 seventh and eighth graders — along with an experienced crew of outdoor educators from The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE) — will be camping under the stars in Southern California’s Joshua Tree National Park. The only thing missing from this scenario are the outdoor educators, and…

…It probably goes without saying that most of us here at the National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE) are big fans — and loyal customers — of our local Whole Foods Market. Since we put such an emphasis on doing good things for our bodies, it only makes sense that we purchase those…

…Embedded in each of our outdoor and wilderness-based experiential education courses is the delivery of place-based learning, which was first introduced by David Sobel in his groundbreaking book, Place-Based Education: Connecting Classrooms and Communities. Place-based learning connects students to history, landscape, geography, and people through the intense exploration of a specific area which, along the…

…Editor’s Note: In our continuing effort to introduce the staff at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE), we decided we’d go straight to the top of the ladder and quiz Celine Adair, our co-founder and director of operations. Celine is in charge of a lot of things here at NCOAE, including grant…

…You know us as The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE), but after today’s news, we may need to change “National” to “International”. That’s because we just booked our first overseas program — a March 2015 custom outdoor education expedition in the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. Sure, we’re still offering courses like…

…Looking for a teen expedition this summer? We here at NCOAE are excited to announce that our 2022 season of backcountry and wilderness adventures for teen-agers is already up and running and in full swing. At the end of February, a dozen students led by a team of NCOAE field instructors, headed down to Ecuador…

…Gratitude is most often used as a noun, describing as it does, the feeling of being thankful. This warm and comforting word is often bandied about during the holidays, when we reflect upon all of the things for which we are grateful. But for some of us — and in particular, many of our staff…