A phenomenographic study of factors leading to variation in the experience of a school-based wilderness experiential programme (original) (raw)
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Physical activity levels are alarmingly low and new strategies must be adopted to prevent this trend. This study focuses on examining the impact of an outdoor adventure education programme on adolescents. The participants were 75 adolescent students aged 12-14. The programme lasted two school years. Students participated in extracurricular schoolyard outdoor activities and outdoor adventure activities conducted during the two one-day and one four-day trips in both school years. A qualitative methodology was used with data collected using semi-structured interviews. At the end of each school year, 12 students were interviewed. Data analysis revealed that the programme promoted basic psychological needs. More specifically, adolescents reported that schoolyard activities and outdoor adventure activities promoted their satisfaction with autonomy, competence and relatedness. Interestingly, the programme gave girls the autonomy to choose activities that promoted their competence and interaction with peers in a better way than a typical PE lesson. Modifying existing curricula with innovative practices or planning new ones could improve the general quality of life.
Leisure Sciences, 2007
Recreation program evaluation efforts historically have focused primarily on the identification of program-specific outcomes rather than focusing on the influence of specific mechanisms of change. The purpose of this study was to begin to examine programs offered by the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) to develop an etiological model of participant development. Hierarchical modeling results identified participant antecedents and malleable program characteristics that predict participant development measured by a set of six targeted outcomes: communication, leadership, small group behavior, judgment in the outdoors, outdoor skills, and environmental awareness. Participants' perceptions of personal empowerment and previous expedition experience were both related to increases in all targeted outcomes. Five other predictor variables were significant in certain models. 1 2 J. Sibthorp et al.
Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education, 2022
What does it mean to grow up? Why is it important? How does one measure it, and what factors make it so difficult to realize? This paper explores how one's experience in an outdoor adventure education program may be observed, understood, and potentially maximized through the lens of Robert Kegan's constructive-developmental theory. This paper shares the theoretical foundation of constructive-developmental theory and related literature relevant to understanding how a program participant makes meaning of their outdoor adventure experience. The constructivedevelopmental perspective can help inform understanding of participant experiences of change and may direct practices underpinning outdoor adventure programming. Kegan's theory may provide cogent understandings of change, how it is facilitated and measured, and insight as to why some youth thrive and others struggle in outdoor adventure programs.
Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning
Despite the recognized positive effects attributed to outdoor adventure education programs, few studies have examined the mechanisms involved therein, particularly with regard to factors that influence group process. The purpose of this qualitative research was to examine an outdoor adventure education program utilizing Yalom's helping factors in relationship to established groupwork intervention stages. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 23 individuals who participated in an 18-day outdoor adventure expedition. Findings shared include the conditions and group stages that helping factors emerge and suggest the relevance of offering adventure-based programs in nature settings for effective groupwork.
Journal of Adventure Education & Outdoor Learning, 2013
This study examined participants' perceptions of learning, critical elements, and lasting impacts of their wilderness expeditions. Fifty-seven students, who completed a for-credit wilderness canoe expedition between 1993 and 2007 at the Augustana Campus, University of Alberta, participated in the investigation. Perceived learning most commonly related to nature and place appreciation, outdoor skills, group living, and self-awareness. Critical elements for learning were the experiential approach, group living, and nature and place immersion. In terms of lasting impacts of the expedition, perceived learning had changed since the expedition for 88% of students, especially in the areas of self-awareness, group living, and greater appreciation of the experience, due to reflection and the passage of time. Furthermore, the expedition had a lasting impact on students' personal and professional lives, especially related to life experience, nature appreciation, confidence, and skill development. The findings support the notion that wilderness educational expeditions can provide significant and long-lasting learning (uniquely in the area of nature and place appreciation). Finally, because of the nature of educational expeditions, they lend themselves to the implementation of sound experiential pedagogical practices that promote active, engaged, and relevant learning.
Research in Outdoor Education, 2019
Outdoor adventure education programs are strategically positioned to provide a multitude of positive social outcomes for youth. The social connections adolescents develop with their peers are critically important for positive youth development. This study sought to understand how sense of belonging develops within a wilderness-based outdoor adventure education program while using a dynamical systems theory (DST) framework and analysis. The findings showed that group-based components, such as process conflict influenced the rate of change while instructor support increased the level of sense of belonging students felt. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Research in outdoor education and more specifically on wilderness expeditions has almost exclusively focused on short-term benefits (<5yrs) despite their findings suggesting these are "life-changing" experiences. This study examined long-term outcomes (40 years later) of three (month-long) adventurous school expeditions to mainland Europe, by staff and pupils from a high school (11-to 16-year-olds) in Scotland in the 1970s. The investigation was initiated by a call for life stories from 45 participants, followed by 10 interviews at a school reunion. The interviews revealed a transference of learning qualities attributed to the expedition, indicating a long-term impact on participants' personal and/or professional lives, with individuals still drawing upon their expedition experiences some 40 years later. Significant themes emerging were planning and preparation, confidence, and feelings of gratefulness, which led to participants wanting to undertake service that contributes back into society for young peoples' benefit. This study adds to the knowledge of long-range educational outcomes from school expeditions. https://doi.org/10.18666/JOREL-2020-V13-I3-10674
The experience of 8 teenage participants of a 12-day adventure trip was investigated through participant observation and semi-structured post-trip interviews. The teens conceptualized “nature” as a place “out there,” a reality fundamentally different and removed from their home realities of “civilization.” Nature, for the teens, was undisturbed, natural, unfamiliar, without people or human material development, relaxing, not busy, and with a sense of freedom. The teens strongly suggested that there is no nature at home. It appears that with this construction of nature the teens’ motivation to take care of the home environment was diminished.