The Backcountry Classroom: Lessons, Tools, and Activities for Teaching Outdoor Leaders

This unique collection of lesson plans represents not only the fundamentals but the very foundation of leadership and outdoor skills. No outdoor students, educators, or leaders should be without a copy.

Although designed to be part of an outdoor expedition's mobile library, The Backcountry Classroom is just as valuable a resource in an indoor classroom. Each lesson plan describes the overall goal, the specific objectives, the body of knowledge, and the materials necessary for teaching about specific topics within the WEA curriculum.

Lesson plans include:
>Bathing & washing >Campsite selection>Clothing selection>Decision making>Environmental ethics>Expedition behavior>Fire building & site preparation>Group processing & development>Latrine construction & use>Leadership>Nutrition & rations planning>Pack adjustments & packing>Personal hygiene>Stove operation>Teaching technique>Trail techniques>Trip planning>Water safety>Water treatment>WEA history>Weather food preparation>Risk management & emergency procedures

The Wilderness Education Association is a nonprofit membership organization that promotes wilderness education and preservation through wilderness leadership training at the college level. Affiliate organizations are accredited to offer WEA's National Standard Program for Outdoor Leadership Certification (NSP). Successful graduates of these programs receive WEA certification.

Jack K. Drury is a WEA instructor having taught WEA NSP courses annually since 1979 and is a former president of the Wilderness Education Association. He was the founding director of the Wilderness Recreation Leadership Program and an Associate Professor at North Country Community College in Saranac Lake, New York. He is co-owner of Leading EDGE, a professional development organization that designs learning experiences for educators, businesses, non-profits, and government agencies.

Bruce F. Bonney taught public middle and high school social studies at Morrisville-Eaton Central School in New York for twenty-three years. A WEA instructor, he was an associate of Education by Design at the Antioch New England Graduate School before cofounding Leading EDGE. He is an adjunct professor for North Country Community College.

Dene Berman, Ph.D., a practicing psychologist, is Clinical Professor in the School of Professional Psychology at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. He has been involved with the wilderness therapy movement since the mid 80s, and is co-author of Wilderness Therapy: Foundations, Theory, and Practice, as well as numerous articles in professional journals. A WEA instructor, Dene is on the Board of Trustees and is the current President of the WEA Board.

Mark C. Wagstaff is currently an associate professor of Recreation, Parks and Tourism at Radford University, Virginia. Mark has been instructing for the Wilderness Education Association since 1986 and served as executive director for three years. Mark's outdoor career includes instructing for the North Carolina Outward Bound School and professional whitewater guiding throughout the United States and abroad.