A group of British graduate students in drama and movement therapy spent a weekend outdoors engaging in adventure, dramatic, and creative activities that focused on the symbolism of the Earth and increasing awareness of the self, the environment, and spirituality. (SV)

Describes an adventure program operated on the Qualla Boundary Cherokee reservation that serves Cherokee youth and outside groups interested in Cherokee culture. Aspects of Cherokee culture, such as talking circles and storytelling, are incorporated into the program. A sidebar recounts the story of a bear encounter that is used to begin many…

Anecdotes of adventure activities with children and staff at two Russian camps demonstrate that Russian people, historically dependent on strong leaders, are fascinated by experiential education because the core concepts of shared leadership and cooperation disrupt old models, ask them to look anew at their capabilities, and create a sense of…

The communication style of Asians is less "self exposing" than that of Americans, because Asian culture places more importance on the group than the individual. Integrating American-style adventure-education programs into Asian culture would require an understanding of adventure learning stripped of its cultural influences, understanding…

Describes the current situation of adventure education in Germany. Discusses sites in schools and youth clubs, important carriers of adventure education in Germany, popular methods and activities, the concept of "metaphorical learning" as a means of transferring learning to everyday life, publications, principles of experiential…

Habits and entrenched behavior patterns are difficult to change, particularly for problem children and adolescents. Youth programs in the Netherlands have had success with this population using outdoor adventure experiences. A model of facilitation of behavior change consists of assessment of basic needs, basic rules, experiential environment, the…

GoodSport is an after-school program for grades 3-6 that uses traditional and nontraditional sports, adventure activities, reading, writing, and group discussion to promote character development in the areas of teamwork, perseverance, responsibility, respect, and fair play. Two sample activities involving group discussion and problem solving are…

This article highlights Project Adventure, an adventure-based curriculum that teaches students social skills, teamwork, and conflict resolution. It describes how Project Adventure works, what effect it has on students with behavior disorders, and practical steps for teachers to follow as they introduce their students to this social-skills…

This digest briefly summarizes the parallel development of outdoor education and outdoor therapeutic programs for troubled and adjudicated youth, describes the rationale supporting outdoor approaches, and reports related research and evaluation findings. First attempts to use the outdoors as a healing environment were "tent therapy"…

This manual presents standards for adventure education programs seeking accreditation from the Association for Experiential Education. The manual is set up sequentially, focusing both on objective standards such as technical risk management aspects, and on subjective standards such as teaching approaches used in programs. Chapter titles provide…

This paper presents a model for implementation of behavior therapies in adventure programs that use Group Adventure Initiative Tasks (GAITs) to promote personal development. Behavior therapies include various techniques and processes based in learning and pedagogical theory and used to promote changes in behavioral responses to environmental…

This paper describes the experiential therapy program at the Bowling Green Adolescent Center (New Jersey). This model supports the view that the therapeutic process of addiction treatment is accelerated and enhanced by providing the patients with experiential interventions. Experiential therapy includes goal setting, hands-on participation,…

This ERIC Digest describes how experiential education can help in designing a curriculum that young people find significant. It also describes ways experiential education can help educators make the transition from a traditional program to an activity-based program. Experiential education differs from traditional education in that teachers first…

A study undertaken to examine the effects on students of participation in a limited experiential learning program yielded no definitive conclusions but suggested several directions for further study. Dartmouth College undergraduate students who enrolled in an intermediate psychology course in 1973 and 1974 had the opportunity to be selected to…

A model to explain the adventure experience and to relate adventure experience to adventure education uses risk and competence as diagram axes with experimentation/exploration, adventure, peak adventure, misadventure, and disaster/devastation completing the framework. The model assumes that peak adventure, the point at which personal competence…