Survey of Outdoor Education Literature  (PE 440 )

Ron Watters, Professor of Outdoor Education

Survey of Outdoor Education Literature  (PE 440)

Study Guide for Mid-course Test

Note: The mid-course test will include authors up to and including John Muir (pages 3-88 in the Anthology).  Mary Kingsley, Jack London and Robert Service will NOT be included.  However, if you were absent on Thursday (11/5), you will need to take the quiz on Kingsley along with the mid-course test.


  • Know the names of each of the generations up to the Missionary Generation..  You don't need to know exact birth dates, but have a general idea of when they were born.  In particular, know the characteristics of the generations.  (See the following hand-outs:  Generations in American History and Outdoor Generation Profiles)
  • Know the differences between the generational types:  Idealistic, Reactive, Civic, and Adaptive.
  • Know the difference between the social movements: Secular Crisis and Spiritual Awakening. 
  • Know names of the landscape artists (and the one photographer).  Many of these artists painted in the Hudson School of painting.  Review their paintings.  The paintings are on the website at:  http://www.isu.edu/~wattron/Literature/ArtIntro.html.  Also, know the difference between the landscape painting terms:  beauty, picturesque, and sublime. 
  • Know the difference between these religious terms: regenerate, unregenerate, theism, deism, pantheism, Calvinism. 
  • Know the following romantics (those who embraced ideas from the Romantic Movement):  William Bryd, William Bartram, Alexis de Tocqueville
  • We read from Journal of a Trapper.  Here's quick review of our readings:  In the first reading, Osborne Russell traveled up the Bear River to the present day town of Soda Spring.  From there, he went on to Fort Hall.  In the second reading, Russell rode toward Big Southern Butte but ran into waterless lava fields.  He retreated north to the Birch Creek area and met Indians hunting buffalo.  After a rest, he started off again, eventually finding his way to the Snake River and following it back to Fort Hall. 
  • Know these important western explorers from the post Civil War period: Clarence King, Ferdinand Hayden and John Wesley Powell.
  • Know the difference between a metaphor and a literary allusion. 
  • Look over your corrected quizzes.  You'll see similar questions on the test.
  • Review the three stages of a transcendentalist's life. 
  • Know the canyon where Powell lost his boat (called the "No Name").  Also in which canyon was traveling relatively easy?
  • Know dates of the Golden Age of Mountaineering. 
  • Review the readings.  Have a good idea of what happens in each reading.  Know the names of the authors and their works.  Get a feel for how the author writes.  For example:

Who is the author of the following quote:  "I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of a man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor."

And the answer would be?   


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