Abstract Some of the inherent characteristics of moving water paddling experiences complicate their potential contribution to critical outdoor education. Although safe participation necessitates some emphasis on skill development, moving water paddling experiences can still be used to educate participants for environmentally sustainable living if they are designed, framed, and facilitated accordingly. This paper explains how moving water paddling can be redefined as a way of exploring specific riverine environments, knowing nature, and developing human-nature relationships. In so doing, some general signposts to effective critical outdoor education are suggested. Introduction Critical outdoor education is distinguished from outdoor recreation and adventure education by-its deliberate focus on educating participants for environmentally sustainable living (Martin 1999). Devall (1990, in Higgins 1996) laments the fact that outdoor recreation no longer focuses on rediscovering our connection with land - and spirit. According to Higgins (1996, p.37), "modern outdoor recreation is increasingly image conscious, gear intensive, regulated, and environmentally harmful". By way of contrast, the primary focus of outdoor education should be on "understanding people's relationship -with the outdoors" (Board of Studies Handbook, 1994, p.5). As Martin explains, Critical outdoor education goes back to the bush, not just to recreate and have fun, but to look back with a critical perspective a t the contexts left behind, particularly to those sets of beliefs which help shape human nature relationships. (Martin 1999, p.465) Students of critical outdoor education must be encouraged to examine current and past attitudes towards the environment which will involve confronting "attitudes and values derived from longer-standing, exploitative traditions" (Frawley 1994, p.75). Critical outdoor education attempts to escape the nature-culture dualism that dominates in western society'by instead depicting the world as a unified system. As explained by Colwell (1997, p.8) such an approach "relocates and subordinates the transmission of facts to a secondary role and elevates the importance of formulating questions and provoking investigation and critical interpretation". The purpose of this paper is to consider the role that paddling activities on moving water may have in critical outdoor education. Leaders or teachers who seek to use moving water paddling in critical outdoor education programs face a dilemma. Safe participation in moving water paddling requires the leaders to equip participants with a range of skills and a minimum level of judgement. However/this focus on skills can become all consuming and may become counterproductive to the practice of thoughtful critical outdoor education. Images of moving water paddling commonly presented in the media are also unhelpful. Recreational moving water paddling experiences are often presented as "adrenalin pumping adventures" where participants pit their skills and wits in a battle against nature. A recent editorial on whitewater rafting on the Gwydir River described the experience as "an excellent weekend of fun, excitement and adventure spent challenging both the forces of nature and the nature of our undies" (Waters,, 1999, p.52). Such images do not render invalid the potential contribution of moving water paddling to critical outdoor education but they highlight the need for teachers to think carefully about the images they convey in their practice. Moving water paddling has gained acceptance as a potentially useful tool for facilitating personal, team and leadership development. In addition to these outcomes this paper aims to explore how moving water paddling experiences can also impact participants' relationships with nature. The suggestions contained within are the result of the authors' personal struggles and resolutions on the place of moving water paddling in critical outdoor education. …