The purpose of this study is to clarify the effects of learning through natural experience upon self expression of children, focusing on the environmental education program by activity.The subjects were107pupils (grade 5th) who participated in the environmental education program by activity at a school curriculum.The measurement of learning through natural experience was conducted after each outdoor activity. Moreover, the self expression of children questionnaire referred to the assertion scale for youth by Tamase et al (2001) was administrated before, after and two months after all outdoor activities.Main findings were as follows:
1) It became clear that the contents of learning through natural experience were a content of learning from nature and a content of learning from experiential learning. Moreover, the correlation was accepted between two contents of learning through natural experience in each outdoor activity.
2) The value of self expression of children significantly increased (p<0.01) after all outdoor activities, and maintained it two months after all outdoor activities.Learning two contents of learning through natural experience enables self expression of children to maintain.
The result suggested that learning the contents of learning from nature and from experiential learning effected a change of self expression of children.

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Vocational school students (VS student) who have little experience in camping or open-air nature school are working as auxiliary instructors in nature schools managed by Amagasaki municipal primary schools. Nature schools not only have various educational effects on the attending primary school pupils but also will have educational effects on the auxiliary instructors who have little experience in camping or nature school. To investigate the educational effects of participating in nature schools as instructors, we conducted a survey using questionnaires and daily journals written by the VS students before and after the experience of nature school, It was found that before the experience of nature school, most VS students had anxiety for the guidance to children, but after the experience of nature school, they learned enjoyments in camping and the importance of leadership through the activities in the nature school.A hierarchical factor analysis applied to the covariance matrix for 8 image data about assistance of camping revealed that there existed first-, second- and third-order factors.The changes in their image before and after the experience of nature school were analyzed on the basis of the pass coefficients among these factors.From the results of these analyses, it was suggested that before the experience of nature school, the VS students thought that it was important to deepen a natural experience, but after the experience of nature school, they came to think that it was important to draw ability of a child through improvement of ability of the staff.

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The purpose of this research is to illuminate the characteristics of the information that map reading beginner get by map reading, and to research the relationship between that information and getting lost.We asked 25 university students to participate. We gave a map, a compass, and a video camera to each of the students, and asked them to walk a specified route. We had them video what they saw as they walked.The information that they recorded with their video cameras was defined as“on-site information.” Before their walks, we asked the students to write down all the information that they received from their maps. This information was defined as “pre-walk information. ”By watching the students'videos, we investigated whether the students did or did not get lost.From the data we received, we classified our information into six types.As our statistical method, we used a cross table and logistic regression analysis to clarify the relation between the information and getting lost. Our research shows that the quantity of pre-walk information acquired is less important than acquiring pre-walk information about the characteristics of the course.Moreover, we have shown that in order to avoid getting lost, it is important to acquire on-site directional information and a great deal of other information as well.

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This research aims to examine whether introducing a nation-wide system of certification and training program on experiential education contributes to enhancing social well-being in rural agricultural areas. Focusing on a nonprofit organization managing the nation-wide training system, namely the Council for Outdoor and Nature Experiences (CONE), the study conducted a questionnaire survey on the outdoor and nature experiences among 600 randomly selected people who attended one of the training courses offered by CONE, which was compared with the response of 250 random samples from regular agricultural households. As a result, for many of the participants, such experiential education enables them a better understanding of and increases the level of affinity with the place where each resides, which then proved that such experiential education contributes to promoting the social well-being of rural agricultural communities. An especially remarkable result was observed in those working in primary industries, such as agriculture and forest production.Therefore, the study points out that the implementation of the nation-wide system or establishment of a local-level certification and training system on experiential education has great possibilities in enhancing social well-being among rural agricultural communities.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the origin of outdoor education in Japan.
Generally speaking, what we think of as organized camping first took shape and was implemented in the 1920's. However, outdoor education in Japan had its roots in back to Shugendo dur ng the Heian era. The following conclusions were obtained.
1. Mountaineering was a main activity of Japanese outdoor education in the early days.
2. Shugendo was not only the origin of mountaineering in Japan but also part of the basic culture of our country.
3. The custom of Seijin Tozan (“initiation into adulthood”) directly influenced the origin of Gakkou Tozan (“school mountaineering”) in the early years of the Meiji era.
4. The purposes of Gakkou Tozan (“school mountaineering”) in those days were to strengthen the mind and body of students, and help them learn about natural history.
5. The concepts and practice of Shugendo were similar to those of adventure education and environmental education that researchers today consider elements of outdoor education.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the reasons and backgrounds behind the use of the term“outdoor education”, first used in Japan by Ukai, author of“Nihon-arupusu to Rinkan-gakkou” (“The Japanese Alps and Forest School”) published in 1923. The book was written about forest schools in Western countries and Japan, and included a practical account of the forest school at Seijou Junior High School.
The following conclusions were obtained.
1. The term“outdoor education”was used to refer to the various educational programs of schools conducted outdoors or in natural environments. It was used since there existed no suitable term at the time that was able to express both the traditional outdoor activities in Japan, such as Gakkou Tozan (school mountaineering) and Rinkai-Gakkou (seaside school), and similar activities in foreign countries.
2. The forest school at Seijou Junior High School was started in 1917 by Masataro Sawayanagi who was the principal of that school and a leading figure of Taishou Shin-kyouiku (The New Education of Taisho Era), and it was the place of his educational philosophy was put to practical use.
3. The programs of the Seijou Forest School were conducted under the same principal thesis of outdoor education that was described by L.B.Sharp, who used the term“outdoor education”for the first time in the world.

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