A guide of administrative organization for use in establishing school camping programs

109 Pages·04.786 MB·English

by  Hoskin, Alvin Dale

A GUIDE OP ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION FOR USE
IN ESTABLISHING SCHOOL CAMPING PROGRAMS
A Project
Presented to
The Faculty of the School of Education
The University of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Science in Education
by
Alvin Dale Hoskin
February 1950
UMI Number: EP45879
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This project report, written under the direction
of the candidate’s adviser and approved by him,
has been presented to and accepted by the Faculty
of the School of Education in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of Master of
Science in Education.
Date... ..........
Adviser
fit.
Dean
TABLE OP CONTENTS
CHAPTER I5 AGE
I, INTRODUCTION............................. 1
0
Statement of the problem................ 1
Importance of the st u d y ................ 1
Need for a guide .................... 6
Organization of the study .............. 8
Outdoor education In other states . . . . 9
Techniques of gathering data........... 12
Summary................................ 13
' II. PROVIDING FACILITIES . . . . . ............ 15
Legal basis for establishing camps . . . . 15
Selecting the camp s i t e ......... 21
Finances in the camp program............ 26
Insurance .............. 30
Summary.................. 31
III. PERSONNEL ............ 33
Steering committee . . . . . . . 33
The camp director .................. 36
Leadership training............... 38
Student leaders . ij-3
Summary................................
IV. HEALTH AND SAFETY........................ ip5
The health program..............
CHAPTER PAGE
The food program ................... 50
Sanitation . . . . . ......... 52
Safety ......... $k
Transportation .................. 57
Summary......................... 59
V. THE PROGRAM............... 6l
The curriculum committee . . . . . . . . . 6l
Types of outdoor education . . . . . . . . 6f>
Areas of the camping program............ 68
Principles in program planning . . . . . . 7^
Summary............ 78
VI. EVALUATION AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS........ 80
Evaluating the program 80
Promoting community support ............ 87
Summary......... 92
VII. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS.............. 9k
Summary . . . . . . . . ........ . . . . 9k
Recommendations......... 98
BIBLIOGRAPHY......................... 99
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The area of school camping is a recent innovation
in the traditional educational program. Educators for
years have been searching for a means of enriching the
learning experiences of children and of making these ex­
periences more meaningful. Outdoor educational learn­
ings through school camping have developed out of this
felt need and are making steady progress in many sections
of the country as a vitalizing and rejuvenating force in
the educational life of the children and the program
planning of the school administrators.
Statement of the problem. It was the purpose of
this study to fulfill a felt need for a guide that could
be used by school administrators and school district'
trustees as an aid in the planning, development, and org­
anization of a school camping program which embodies out­
door learning experiences in a variety of forms. Emphasis
was placed upon the administrative aspect of the problem.
Importance of the study. Summer camping exper­
iences have long been accepted as valuable leisure time
pursuits. It has been only in recent years, however,
2
that importance has been attached to camping and outdoor
experiences as an integral part of the school program*
Realizing the tremendous educational possibilities of out­
door learning experiences, educators have conducted exper­
iments in' school camping. These were conducted in Michigan,
New Jerseyi Tennessee, and California, and have proved to
be highly successful in the fulfillment of the previously
established educational objectives through outdoor educa­
tion experiences*^
As a result of successful experiments in camping
education conducted by the Kellogg Foundation in coopera­
tion with the Battle Creek, Michigan, schools, the Life
Camps experiment in New Jersey, and the San Diego City-
County program, educators and parents have recognized the
possibilities of conducting learning experiences in the
out-of-doors environmentof the mountains, woods, lake
areas, and sea shores. "Camping, as a learning environ­
ment, is slowly but surely making inroads on the educa­
tional scene.
Not only has camping education made such inroads
in the educational program, but educators are so thoroughly
* R. T. DeWltt, "Camping Education— A Philosophy,"
National Elementary Principal, 28i3-Ij., February, 19^9•
2 Loc. cit.
convinced of its contribution to the learning experiences
of children, that suggestions have been made that the
school camping program become one of the chief means through
which the conventional nine months school term can be ex­
tended.^
This contention is supported by Van Til, who says,
"The school may well become an integral part of the child*s
year round experience which blends what is best in camping
with what is best to foster democratic living,"^"
Additional support for the extension of the school
year and the enrichment of the program through camping
education was brought out in the Second County Education
Conference of California, when it was stated that,
Each community should explore the possibility
of a lengthened school day and year for the en­
richment of the educational program and the en-
tension and improvement of a well planned prog­
ram of recreation. Camp schools may well be
added to the present organization,5
3
National Resources Planning Board--Report for
19U3, Part 1, "Post-War Plan and Program,w Washington,
D.C.: Government Printing Office, January, 19i+3*
^ W. A. Van Til, "Schools and Camping," Toward
a New Curr 1 eulum— 19Uj- Yearbook, N. E. A., Department of
Supervision and Curriculum Development, p, lOl^.,
^ Arch D. Lang, editor, "Helping Develop the Cali­
fornia Education Framework," Proceedings of the Second
California County Education Conference, San Francisco
State college, lyl+9, p. 33.
One of the fundamental objectives of the new school
camping program Is to provide a better learning environ­
ment for the children than does the traditional classroom*
Thus, if better human relations can be developed, if demo­
cratic procedures and many skills, knowledges and attitudes
can be learned more effectively through living experiences
in a camping environment, then educational administrators
are justified in transplanting these learning experiences
to an outdoor educational environment. In this situation
the children learn first hand rather than by learning
through the eyes or experiences of others as related in
the text books or as related by the instructor. There is
no substitute for first hand experiences.
The basic thesis of outdoor education and camping
is, according to Dr. L. B. Sharp, "That which can best be
learned inside the classroom should be learned there; and
that which can best be learned through direct experience
outside the classroom, in contact with native materials and
life situations, should there be learned."
School camping makes the educational program func­
tional and realistic. Under the guidance of well trained
counselors, the program functions as a series of children
L. B. Sharp, "Basic Considerations in Outdoor and
Camping Education," The Bulletin of the National Associa-
tion of Secondary-ScEool Principals, N. E. A., 31:114.?, "p. 1+.3•
selected and planned projects. Rules are few and coun­
selors encourage group decisions rather than making them
teacher or counselor dominated plans or decisions. The
democratic process holds forth throughout the entire
camping experience of the children. As Julian Smith,
Chief of Physical Education and School Camping of Michigan
says, "I know of no more realistic way of making education
functional than through the school camp.”^
The inclusion of camping in the program vitalizes
and contributes towards making the traditional education
program a more functional and realistic educative exper­
ience for boys and girls. This is supported by Helen
Macintosh of the United States Office of Education, when
she says,
As a year-round program, camping or outdoor
school experiences open up unexplored possibilities.
It can give the traditional school program a re­
juvenation by taking education into the open when­
ever and wherever the out-of-doors can make an
experience more real and vital, especially in the
fields of nature study, science, and the social
studies.®
She further concludes that,
7
Ottilia M. Frisch, "Rural School Camping Program,
National Elementary Principal, 28:ij., February, 19i|-9, p. 35
A
Helen Macintosh, "Camping and Outdoor Experiences
in the School Program," Office of Education. Federal Sec­
urity Agency, Bulletin IV, 19^7» P*