Is ROEE good for your camp?

Camping Magazine, Nov-Dec, 1998 by Jim Parry

A group of excited fifth graders exits the school bus on a brisk Monday morning - the start of an extraordinary week of school. There are no sidewalks, crossing patrols, or brick walls adorned with any "Washington Elementary" sign. Instead, a forest surrounds the dusty road, and there is a lake in the distance, with rowboats racked up on the shore.

This group of children is not here for summer camp, and they are here for more than simply nature study. They will participate in a unique learning experience called resident outdoor environmental education (ROEE). These students will have a terrific time, and they may even learn more this week than any other week in school.

What Is ROEE?

ROEE is more than a field trip and more than a special day program. Ideally, an ROEE experience is an extension of the classroom. Good ROEE classes are student discovery-based and make use of activities best done in the outdoors, in settings not possible at school.

During a few days at an ROEE center, students may take interpretive hikes through deciduous forest and short grass prairie ecosystems, and may discover daphnia and spirogyra in aquatic microscopic habitats by doing a water-study lab by the lake. Students may build lasting friendships with classmates by sharing a meal in the dining hall or by walking down the trail, arms around shoulders, chatting together. They learn that support is real among the group at the challenge course where they cross the King Kong Walker or the Australian Trolley. They learn, too about growing a little stronger and independent during a week or several days away from home.

Common Demographics

School groups as young as second grade and into high school come to ROEE, and college experiences are common. Upper elementary (fifth or sixth grade) is most common.

With all of the time required to prepare and energy spent during the program, a five-day week impacts learning more. Many groups come for four-day, three-day, or even two-day trips and have excellent results. In general, the longer the stay, the better.

A common chaperone method is parent volunteers. Teachers and trained high school or college students can also do this job. Some centers provide cabin chaperones. Teachers (through pre-experience training) and the center staff usually share the responsibility of teaching and leading activities.

The Main Objectives

ROEE generally focuses on two main goals: get to know people better and get to know nature better. These goals can be further defined as follows:

* Through a sustained group-living setting, including sharing of work projects, group problem-solving, time for personal interaction, and simple fun, students will gain a greater sense of independence and confidence, and have practiced and improved interpersonal skills.

* Students will be in a natural setting to gain a greater awareness of ecological relationships and processes and the identities of local flora and fauna. They are given some positive sense of their role as part of the solution to environmental problems.

The benefits

An ROEE experience teaches students to care more for the natural world. Students can see environmental living in practice, like recycling, waste reduction, pausing for the sunset, and stepping over erosion-reducing logs on hiking trails. They can be reminded that the trees around them help provide air for breathing and habitat for woodpeckers. They can sing songs around a campfire.

After students have experienced ROEE, they are able to make correlations between textbook concepts and the encounters they had during the program. The teacher may say, "Remember when we saw the waterfalls on the limestone cliff?" Each student feels more part of the group, with the shared experience in common. And they get to know their teachers better.

Summer Camp vs. ROEE

ROEE is not summer camp, and it is not a classroom school experience either. It is a taste of how much fun summer camp can be, but the experience is rarely long enough to compare with all the activities and experiences of resident summer camp.

Many camp activities may be reserved strictly for summer camp. The atmosphere of summer camp is not quite as academic. Students are reminded by teachers in blue jeans to get their backpacks and journals; at summer camp, college-age counselors walk around in shorts, asking kids, "Are ya having fun?" Where ROEE involves nature classes and group projects, summer camp features more song, games, swimming, recreation, and personal growth. The two overlap but are not identical. They can cross-market one another.

The Faces of ROEE

Two distinct models of ROEE programs exist. Although, these models are helpful, beginners should avoid either extreme and incorporate the needs and resources of both the camp and the school group clientele. As varied as schools, students, and teachers are, there is a corresponding variety in program offerings.

No matter which model is used, the camp staff should provide a certain service level, including thorough pre-trip communication and planning, consultation several times per day, written evaluations and response. Camp staff should be at least partially involved as curricula are developed and be able to help with supplies and teaching.