Mitten, D. Cheung, L., Yan, W., Withrow-Clark, R. (2017). Adventure education. In: Russ, A. and Krasny, M. (Eds.), Urban environmental education review. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. 24. Adventure education Denise Mitten Lewis Ting On Cheung Wanglin Yan Robert Withrow-Clark Highlights • Urban adventure education acts as a catalyst for urban environmental learning. • Urban adventure education contributes to urban sustainability through helping participants experience positive relationships with self, other people, places, and the natural world in cities. • Urban natural spaces have underused potential for urban adventure education. • Similar to environmental education, adventure education uses experiential methods to convey messages. • By working together, urban adventure and environmental education can strengthen outcomes for both. Introduction In the purest sense, outdoor education has been practiced since humans first evolved and elders taught children how to gather food, secure shelter, and avoid dangers. We walked miles a day searching for food, constructed shelters, and formed social groups with other humans. Embedded in outdoor activities and entangled with the natural world, we continuously learned. Present-day humans, especially in developed countries and cities, are more sedentary across their lifespan. This lack of activity accounts for an estimated 6 to 10% of all deaths from major non-contagious diseases and 9% of premature deaths worldwide. This is as many deaths as those attributed to smoking, uniformly regarded as a major non- contagious disease risk factor. Bringing outdoor activities into urban environments through adventure education helps people improve their health by encouraging them to be physically active while spending time in nature. Time in nature leads to health benefits through contact with the natural elements, participation in physical activity including recreation and stewardship, and social interactions (Ewert, Mitten and Overholt, 2014). This chapter explores the benefits of adventure education and of pairing adventure and environmental education in urban environments. Through participation in outdoor activities, people learn about their surroundings and places they might not otherwise visit. These group experiences increase social ties and may increase pro-environmental behaviors, which contribute to ecosystem health and human well-being, or urban sustainability. What is adventure education? Prior to the 1970s the term outdoor education included teaching about technical skills, such as camp craft, canoeing, and rock climbing, as well as teaching environmental knowledge. About that time people started differentiating between outdoor, adventure, and environmental education, creating the different fields we have today. The label adventure education came into wide usage in the 1980s, and was shaped by indigenous people guiding explorations of western explorers, the North American camping movement, and the Outward Bound movement initiated by Kurt Hahn. Initially, the goal of Outward Bound was to strengthen the will of young men so that they could prevail against adversity during World War II, where Great Britain was encountering staggering losses at sea. This goal was achieved, in part, by proving