Through immersive, multi-day outdoor experiences, Wilderness Inquiry youth programs engage young people to build positive relationships, connect to nature and community, and thrive outside.
Over the years, we’ve honed our approach to evaluating youth programs to be relevant and actionable, so we can understand and measure the unique ways a young person grows and learns when engaging with nature — from exploring open spaces, to collaborating with their peers on a nature challenge, to being encouraged by Outdoor Leaders while hiking.
A Focus on Social-Emotional Learning
For the past two years, we’ve partnered with Hello Insight to track and evaluate our youth programs. Hello Insight helps youth development organizations prove impact and improve programs with pre-built surveys and predictive analytics that measure growth in social-emotional learning (SEL). This collaborative partnership has allowed us to focus on research-based best practices that nurture young people to reach their fullest potential.
Research shows that youth with strong SEL skills are more college- and career-ready, experience better mental health and social functioning, and report a greater sense of overall well-being. Gains in SEL set youth on a journey to understand and cultivate their interests and talents in many aspects of life — laying a foundation for long-term success.
Research also shows that there are myriad benefits from connecting in nature and learning in the outdoors.
The Power of the Outdoors
Beginning in 2022, Wilderness Inquiry piloted a research-based evaluation tool created by Hello Insight to measure SEL capacities of youth participants before and after our Outdoor Credit Recovery program and multi-day camping trips. The data showed that these outdoor programs contributed to significant growth in SEL amongst middle and high schoolers.
In 2023, results among youth participants in multi-day camping adventures and Outdoor Credit Recovery showed:
- 100% of students surveyed made statistically significant gains in one or more Core SEL areas, including: Self-Management, Contribution, Positive Identity, Academic Self-Efficacy, and Social Skills
- 97% of students surveyed made statistically significant gains in Outdoor SEL areas, including: Well-Being in the Outdoors, Connections to the Outdoors, and Support for the Environment
I don’t think I have ever met with another organization that had 80% and above on all three Outdoor SEL capacities.” — MARY WALLACE, HELLO INSIGHT
Overall, scores and impact showed that Wilderness Inquiry programs scored in the 90th percentile nationally — meaning young people in our programs developed SEL skills at a greater rate than 75% of their peers attending high-quality programs nationwide.
What’s more? Our youth participants reported 93% overall program satisfaction.
We are committed to ensuring that our outdoor recreation and education programs provide positive, measurable, and meaningful results for our participants — positively impacting the lives of those who explore with us.
2023 Survey Notes:
- Survey sample size = 61 students (33 multi-day camping participants and 28 Outdoor Credit Recovery participants).
- Students surveyed participated in either an extended camping adventure or our Outdoor Credit Recovery program.
- Response rates among youth who were surveyed was 18% for multi-day camping adventures and 100% for Outdoor Credit Recovery.
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