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Headwaters Institute

Research & Action for Educational Change

Integrating academic & nature-based education

"The gift that I wanted for my granddaughter was the soft shelter of what might be Earth, but could well be mistaken for heaven." ~ Kathleen Dean Moore

A Unique Approach to Education

The Headwaters Wilderness Program is an educational organization founded on the belief that a meaningful relationship with the natural world is necessary for both the future of the planet and for a fully lived human life. We believe that our educational system is failing in a major way by re-producing a model of education separated from the natural world. Headwaters seeks to be different. We reject the idea that outdoor education is something separate from academic and character education, believing instead that each of these are integrated, essential components of any good education. Too often outdoor education is reduced to outdoor gym class and once-a-year 'nature trips'. To do better, for our students and for the planet, we need a comprehensive integration of academic and nature-based education. By viewing education with a transdisciplinary approach, Headwaters integrates the lessons and values of academic education into wilderness experiences and, crucially, brings the lessons and values of the wilderness into the academic curriculum.

We take a deliberate, long-term, slow-paced approach to educational programming, creating transformational pedagogies and practices by combining and integrating experiences such as canoe trips directly into the academic elements of schooling. Our intentional approach and thoughtful purpose enlivens the curriculum, engages students deeply, and elevates educational outcomes. Ultimately, we strive to develop educational models and programs that are attendant to place, rich in meaning, and centred around relationships, enabling a life fully lived on our beautiful, breathing, complex world.

To achieve this, we take a three-pillar approach. Recognizing that institutions are often siloed between research and practice (those who research are rarely also those who practice, and vice versa), we bring them together. Always research-based, and always integrated, we follow a cyclical model of Development, Practice (Implementation), and Dissemination in everything that we do, enabling us to be at the forefront of educational philosophy and pedagogy – of both research and practice – advancing the field through an integrated approach.

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Development

Develop and integrate programs which are unique to the needs, culture, and mission of the school, melding academic and nature-based education

Practice (Implementation)

Put these programs into Practice through the organization, facilitation, and delivery of the programs, in partnership with the school and its teachers

Dissemination

And Disseminate any findings, research results, philosophies, and pedagogies which were discovered in the delivery of the program, with the goal of improving the educational work and expertise of the school, building their internal capacity and educational excellence

This Development, Practice (Implementation), Dissemination model is cyclical, with the results of Dissemination informing the Development and Practice of future programs.

Partners in Educational Development

School Partnerships

Impactful Research | Exemplary Programs

We partner with schools, to create, facilitate, and research educational philosophies and pedagogies, working in partnership to develop excellence in future-oriented, transdisciplinary teaching by integrating academic and nature-based education. Operating in the realms of both action research and program implementation, we use a cyclical model of Development, Practice (Implementation), and Dissemination, enabling schools and their teachers to be at the forefront of educational theory and practice.

The Headwaters Institute works in the realms of initiation, implementation, and follow-through. Viewing research and practice as linked, we partner with schools to develop unique programs, facilitate those programs, and then learn from the results to continually improve and iterate, remaining responsive to today yet forward looking to tomorrow.

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Impactful Programs, Lovingly Crafted

Headwaters is at the forefront of developing programs which build environmental consciousness and ecological care into educational systems. Offering programs for students as well as professional learning for educators, we create and practice the forms of education needed in our world today. A Headwaters experience is lasting: education for the present time, aimed at the long-term.

With expertise in environmental philosophy, nature-based education, and meaningful wilderness voyages, we partner with a wide variety of educators and organizations to develop and facilitate unique programs that push the boundaries of the ordinary. Growing from our core values, our approach is research-based, yet provides the space for the wild flowering of spontaneous moments and directions – the self-willed muck that learning is made of. At Headwaters, our promise is to ensure you will find a new perspective, an engaged experience, and a supportive community.

Our offerings below are starting points, designed to be modified, played with, and continually re-imagined to fit differing needs. Beyond the listed possibilities, we work with educators and organizations to craft custom programs and exceptional experiences.

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