A Service-Learning Approach to Wilderness Education

Abstract

This article has provided a brief look at a service-learning approach to wilderness education. The partnership has been highly successful, receiving accolades from students, teachers, and industry and university personnel. In the six years that the environmental and wilderness education course at Cal Poly has included wilderness education, almost 2,000 children on the California central coast have been given a glimpse of wilderness. There are 10 designated wilderness areas in the Los Padres National Forest that virtually lie in the backyards of many of these children. Although there are no expectations that wilderness behavior has been significantly influenced, the Cal Poly students feel a sense of community accomplishment and a connection to what they learn in the class and through the service they provide. They were instrumental in reaching an audience that would not have been touched if the WEP had relied solely on federal employees and teachers to take the Wilderness and Land Ethic Curriculum into the classroom.