Educational Research | Pedagogical Advancement
School Partnerships
Advancing Education through Research & Action
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.
School Partnership Details
The Need for an Integrated, Transdisciplinary Education – The Headwaters Approach
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 either outdoor gym class or instead only a marginal activity to be engaged in once a year outside of the regular school schedule. Instead, we integrate academic and nature-based education. By viewing education with a transdisciplinary approach, we integrate the lessons and values of academic education into wilderness experiences and, crucially, bringing the lessons and values of the wilderness into the academic curriculum.
Headwaters and School Partnerships
We partner with schools in developing their integrated academic and nature-based educational competencies. Working 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.
Our Expertise
Headwaters has expertise in two main areas:
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1) Developing and facilitating engaging, philosophically meaningful and pedagogically intentional transdisciplinary nature-based programs. These range from in-class workshops merging philosophy with experiential ecology, to heritage travel winter camping trips merging wilderness voyages and eco-social history. Our flagship programs are integrated, student-led courses which combine academic work, student-driven inquiry into real-world issues, a student-planned extended wilderness canoe trip, and the student-facilitated organization of a community event to share (and celebrate) their learning. We work with schools to develop and facilitate programs which are well-suited to their unique academic goals and culture, and are well-integrated within the students' education, rather than being a separate "week at camp" outdoor experience.
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2) Conducting and disseminating research in the fields of educational philosophy and pedagogy, particularly in regard to environmental, outdoor, experiential, and nature-based education. All of the programs that we run are based on the existing literature as well as research we have conducted ourselves. We provide opportunities for teacher- and student-conducted research during all of our programs, working to move forward the field of education through participatory action research in an ongoing, reflective, and cyclical way.
A Complete Partnership
Forming meaningful relationships is, we believe, the most important work for any individual or organization involved in the field of education. After all, nothing can be done alone. Headwaters is always looking to form mutually beneficial relationships with the schools we partner with.
We are able to partner on either program development and facilitation, or on research and dissemination/professional development. However, our most holistic partnerships come when we tie the two together into our three-pillar model of Development, Practice (Implementation), and Dissemination. Under this framework, we work with schools to:
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Develop and integrate programs which are unique to their needs and to their school, melding academic and nature-based education.
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Put these programs into Practice through the organization, facilitation, and delivery of the programs for the school's students, in partnership with the school and its teachers.
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And Disseminate any findings, research results, philosophies, and pedagogies which were discovered in the delivery of the program, with the goal of helping to improve the educational work and expertise of the partner school, building their internal capacity and educational excellence.
This Development, Practice (Implementation), Dissemination model is cyclical, with the results of Dissemination always informing the Development and Practice of future programs.