What we find outdoors: discovering nuclear tourism through educational pathways

Outdoor education can take place in a variety of contexts, and its realisation in specific spaces can contribute to the development of educational tourism in regions that have not traditionally been classified as tourist attractions. The study revealed that leveraging outdoor education with formal and non- formal education programmes not only promotes the tourist attraction of the visited sites and places, but also creates new jobs and boosts development of museums and other cultural institutions. The decommissioning processes of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant have a direct impact on the social, economic, and cultural development of the Ignalina region and the city of Visaginas; therefore, the development of educational tourism has high potential here. Contextual and region- focused specific curriculum can stimulate the development of nuclear tourism in the region, taking into account the geographical location of Visaginas and the specific environment formed by the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. Utilising educational potential of nuclear tourism has great potential to attract learners from all over Lithuania and the neighbouring countries, mainly Latvia, Belarus and Poland. Outdoor education has a variety of ways to be implemented by utilising different pedagogical scenarios such as landscape analysis, school journeys, action research, outdoor adventure activities, cultural journalism or field studies. Outdoor education also contributes to the development of new forms of educational structures such as outdoor schools and kindergartens, forestry schools, STEM centres and others