1 Introduction: Lessons from The Outdoor Classroom Karen Cole1 and Cynthia Bennington2,* When we approached Southeastern Naturalist about this special issue, we were in our third year of a Longleaf Pine ecosystem restoration on a small corner of a university campus—a natural history museum director and a plant ecologist struggling to find the time, funding, volunteers, and campus support to create what we called a teaching landscape. We were looking for ideas, models, and case histories with a basic question in mind: How do we make field naturalists of us all? We began with 2 objectives for this issue: (1) to bring together a broad collection of examples of teaching natural history in situ that would inform and inspire those working in areas whose main or tangential focus is education; and (2) to illustrate the diversity of ways in which natural history education, conservation, and restoration might engage a citizenry that is less and less connected to the natural world. As we had hoped, this collection represents a range of institutions with missions to educate, and the outcomes include an array of engagements, from class assignments, field experiments, curricular plans, and service-learning programs to conservation and restoration projects. The articles are arranged in 3 groups, by the target audience and scope of the educational programming. K–12 Outreach The first 3 articles describe outdoor programs and long-term projects engaging young scientists with environmental fieldwork. The program described in “Educational Applications of Small-Mammal Skeletal Remains Found in Discarded Bottles” features a roadside litter clean-up with analysis of mortality risk to small mammals, combining a commitment to stewardship with “immersive hands-on real-work learning”. “Connecting Teenagers to Coastal Sciences Through Research and Education: Shark Fest Program” describes a long-standing program engaging middle and high school students in tagging and monitoring sharks, which culminates in a community festival. “The Schaus Swallowtail Habitat Enhancement Project: An Applied Service Learning Project Continuum from Biscayne National Park to Miami-Dade County Public Schools” summarizes a county-wide restoration project with field work opportunities linked to a curriculum guide for local schools. Undergraduate Research and Service-Learning Projects The articles in this section provide models for training undergraduates, from all disciplines, as natural scientists and environmental advocates. “Natural 1Gillespie Museum, Stetson University, DeLand, FL 32723. 2Biology Department, Campus Box 8264, Stetson University, DeLand, FL 32723. *Corresponding author - cbenning@ stetson.edu. The Outdoor Classroom 2017 Southeastern Naturalist 16(Special Issue10):1–3 Southeastern Naturalist K. Cole and C. Bennington 2017 2 Vol. 16 Special Issue 10 History Collections: Teaching About Biodiversity Across Time, Space, and Digital Platforms” provides a case study for using natural history collections and newly emerging digital databases to address biodiversity. Similarly, “An Inquiry-based Approach to Engaging Undergraduate Students in On-campus Conservation Research Using Camera Traps” describes a program which makes use of undergraduates’ digital fluency to engage them in conservation biology on campus. “Team Salamander and its Evolution as the Longest-Running Group-Studies Initiative at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga” explores how collaboration and experiential learning contribute to a sustainable program. Ongoing Conservation/restoration Projects The final 4 articles offer insights from new and established restoration projects. First, “The FIU Nature Preserve: Achieving Biological Conservation Through Diversification of Stakeholders” demonstrates how service-learning projects increased use and visibility of a campus restoration. The next 2 articles provide case studies for using service learning and undergraduate class projects and research to advance ecosystem restoration. “Rocky River Wetland Usage for Education and Recreation: Early Planning and Implementation in Anderson County, South Carolina” details how university faculty and undergraduate surveys of wildlife have increased volunteer involvement in all stages of development of a forest and wetland site as a natural resource area, from site-clearing to fund-raising. Similarly, “From the Ground Up: Natural History Education in an Urban Campus Restoration” offers a brief account of the ongoing development of a 0.4-ha (1-acre) urban forest with educational and environmental benefits. Finally, “Meeting Society’s Needs for Education and Discovery: A Survey of Eight Field Stations and Marine Laboratories in the Southeastern United States” surveys the programs of 8 southeastern institutions which, following National Research Council recommendations, have created site-specific educational programs. In this collection, in situ is broadly conceived, with sites ranging from abandoned bottles on a roadside, to natural history collections, to marine labs and field stations as well as to the corners of campus, or, more broadly, county lands and campus forests. While the topics for inquiry ranged widely, each project started with something of interest—butterflies, wildflowers, salamanders, sharks, digital cameras, skeletal remains in old bottles—and built a lesson, program, service project, festival or conservation/restoration plan around it. Citizen science is often key to successful programs, whether it involves data generation or field experiences in tagging, identification, monitoring, or interpretation. Not only do these articles acknowledge the importance of hands-on activities, but they confirm that program engagement and learning outcomes at all levels begin with the sense of inclusion in the scientific community. Partnerships are critical, across disciplines, between campus and communities, with advocacy groups and, of course, funding agencies. Much work remains in reaching out to diverse and underrepresented groups. Southeastern Naturalist 3 K. Cole and C. Bennington 2017 Vol. 16, Special Issue 10 The natural history experiences described here seemed more often than not an extra burden for the contributors—an addition to undergraduate teaching assignments and research expectations; a voluntary service learning component for the staff of a field station or marine lab on the weekends, or in the summer; and often an extra-curricular add-on for teachers or program coordinators. If natural history education is to retain its importance or see an “upswing”, as Reed Noss points out, these projects must be, on the one hand, simple enough to sustain and, on the other, valued as equal in importance to more specialized research or research that is deemed more directly beneficial to humans. We are indebted to the editorial board of Southeastern Naturalist for providing this forum, one form of reward to those who have created innovations in natural history education; and to Reed Noss for penning a Foreword to this special issue which reminds us what’s at stake.