OCA Research | Who We Are | Research Papers

Research Projects

Current Projects

We are presently engaged in and exploring partnership and support opportunities for research with kindred organizations in Canada and internationally.

  • Ontario Healthy Camps Study 2010 The Ontario Healthy Camps Study (OHCS) is now in the initial planning stage in conjunction with the study's author, Dr. Dawn Comstock of the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Ohio State University. We are looking to collect data at OCA member camps during the 2010 season. This is an Ontario-wide version of the ACA's Healthy Camp Study, currently in the 3rd year of a five year study. The OHCS project is currently seeking funding. Dr. Mark Bernstein of the Toronto Western Research Institute is assisting our efforts in an advisory capacity. For information on the ACA study go to: ACA Healthy Camps Website

  • Ontario Camps Cultural Outreach This project will undertake research, development, and delivery of strategies and camp programs which will better address the needs and desires of Ontario's diverse ethnic communities. A revised grant proposal for this project, originally submitted in 2008 will be re-submitted to the Ontario Trillium Foundation in July 2009.

    • Affiliated Projects

    Canadian Summer Camp Research Project, Canadian Camping Association/Association des Camps du Canada and the University of Waterloo

    The Ontario Camping Association as a member of the Canadian Camping Association/Association des Camps du Canada (CCA/ACC) is a stakes-holder in the following research project, along with provincial camp associations across the country:

    Initiated in 2007, this research is a five year project funded by the CCA/ACC and the University of Waterloo. The project director is Dr. Troy Glover, Associate Professor, Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies. The project team includes Dr. Stephen Fine, Director Hollows Camp & Research Chair for the OCA; Jeff Bradshaw, Senior Director Camp Wenonah & President of the CCA/ACC; and John Jorgenson, Associate Director Camp Tawingo & Officer of the International Camping Fellowship.

    The Canadian Summer Camp Research Project will survey camp directors, current campers, and camp alumni from camps throughout Canada. The study is designed to evaluate individual camp programs and determine the short, intermediate and long-term outcomes of the summer camp experience on youth development. For more information go to: Healthy Communities/Waterloo University


    Contextual Learning: Residential Camp Experience, Mongolia

    In 2005, Dr. Stephen Fine completed his Ontario camp study, Contextual Learning within the Residential Outdoor Experience. The results of the study indicated that significant learning takes place through residential camp experience, what is learned is beneficial to personal and social development, and can transfer to later life contexts. To further test his findings a comparison study in conjunction with the Mongolian Camping Association was undertaken at the International Children's Centre "Nairamdal" to see if learning experiences and outcomes are similar or different for campers and camp alumni on opposite sides of the world. Nairamdal Director, TUVSHIN Tulshig, and Foreign Relations Office, BYAMBA Chultem, are individual members of the OCA. This research answers questions with regard to how and what learning occurs within the personal, social and physical domains holistic to residential camp experiences worldwide.


    Reconnecting Children through Outdoor Education, Council of Outdoor Educators of Ontario

    The Council of Outdoor Educators of Ontario (COEO) acts as a professional body for outdoor educators throughout the province. In 2007, COEO published Reconnecting Children Through Outdoor Education: A Research Summary. This 80-page document addresses the value of outdoor education in terms of education for environment, character, wellbeing, and local community-based curriculum. COEO is committed to collaborating with other organizations such as the OCA in these undertakings. For more information, go to: www.coeo.org/news.htm.


    Ontario Camp Research Papers

    Social Justice Summer Camp: Critical Pedagogy in Action - by Jim Slee, M.Ed. This study found that campers experienced an increased awareness of what social justice is and how to address issues of social justice both locally and globally through leadership training at camp. This research highlights that summer camp can assist in the development of agency, citizenship and hope and work toward creating a society of greater justice, greater freedom, and greater dignity.

    Totem Poles, Tepees, and Token Traditions: 'Playing Indian' at Ontario Summer Camps,1920-1955 - Sharon Wall

    Place as educator, concepts of nature: children, summer camp and environmental education - Gavan P.L. Watson

    Camping Programs for Children with Cancer and their Families -
    Alexandra L.C. Martiniuk

    Dependency and Distress at Summer Camp- Laura Fichman,
    Richard Koestner, and David C. Zuroff

    Contextual Learning Within the Residential Outdoor Experience: A Case Study of a Summer Camp Community in Ontario - Stephen Fine, Ph.D.

    A Multi-Method Imipact Evaluation of a Thereapeutic Summer Camp Program - Joseph H. Michalski, Ph.D., Faye Mishna, Ph.D., C.S.W., Catherine Worthington, M.Sc., Ph.D., and Richard Cummings, Ph.D.

    The Effects of Camp on Health-Related Quality of Life in Children With Chronic Illnesses: A Review of the Literature - Iris Epstein, MN, RN; Jennifer Stinson, MSc, RN, CPNP; Bonnie Stevens, PhD, RN