Can one learn to lead on the flying trapeze? That's the question prompted by the exotic variations on the theme of experiential learning. By taking employees or executives (or both) out of their work element and putting them through an experience together, training professionals try to create learning that is more meaningful than PowerPoint…

Kurt Hahn is one of the most important school reformers of the 20th century worldwide and yet he is largely unknown and underestimated. This fact is amazing since Hahn, who incidentally began his career as a politician, was not only the founder and headmaster of famous boarding schools in Germany and Scotland, but also the initiator and organizer…

Although the author loves winter camping and holds the Inuit culture in great regard, thinking about material culture in a northern landscape referred to as barren constitutes a daunting lesson. She wondered, when a landscape is barren is it possible at all for someone to find material, make useful items and survive? So it was she joined the Mara…

Adventure education organizations use co-instruction as the dominant mode of staffing programs, largely for issues related to risk mitigation. Although the American adventure education field has paired co-instructors to run multiday wilderness courses as the default arrangement almost since its inception, theory, research, and subsequent training…

This study compares outdoor adventure-based leader development programs with a traditional non-outdoor program to test predictions about differential effects on leader development outcomes. Participants were drawn from the population of U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen involved in experiential leader development programs as a component of their…

This study focused on the mediating effect of two adventure programs emphasizing relationship establishment between youth on the relationship between family styles and levels of intrinsic motivation. Family style is defined as the levels of caring and discipline family members give to their children. Because of its connection to interest,…

This study assessed the effect of an experiential, adventure-based program on levels of resilience in fifth-grade Latino students. A mixed methods, quasi-experimental design was used to measure the impact of the Santa Fe Mountain Center's Anti-Bullying Initiative on internal assets commonly associated with resilient individuals. Results indicated…

This article shares a reframing of lifelong learning beyond a formal career. Like many of his peers, after 40 years in postsecondary education, the author has moved beyond his most recent full-time work teaching in an adult education graduate program to emeritus faculty status. In this article, he shares his experience moving into the next phase…

The purpose of this study was to gauge preservice physical education teachers' perspectives during one physical activity pedagogy course, teaching outdoor and adventure education. Teacher belief, occupational socialization and experiential learning theories overlaid this work. Over three years 57 students (37 males; 20 females) participated in the…

When groups form, they develop their own culture from the shared meaning created from their interactions. Humor is part of every social group, and when repeatedly referenced, it forms a joking culture. The joking culture of small groups influences group processes by smoothing group interaction, forming a collective identity, separating the group…

Self-directed, inquiry-based learning opportunities focused on transdisciplinary real-world problem solving have been shown to foster creativity in learners. What tools might we provide classroom teachers to scaffold them and their students through this creative process? This study examines an online informal learning environment and the role the…

A session that has a theme of outcomes of experiential programs in varied contexts is both exciting and pressing. The three studies in Session IV all addressed relevant issues to experiential programming and all the authors were faced with the empirical challenge of demonstrating how and/or if their programs achieve what they say they are going to…

Adventure in school culture may seem quite a contradiction. In this paper I will present arguments on the idea that outdoor adventure learning contributes to formal education and is compatible with school practice and goals. This paper is based on research conducted for my thesis. The doctoral degree was completed at Oulu University, Finland, in…

Participation in experiential education is said to enhance people's appreciation for diversity. This article reports on a study that found significant changes in participants' attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors following a non-formal diversity education program using adventure-based and community-service activities. Additionally, hypothesized…

This article describes two studies examining the effects of an experiential and adventure-based program (Outward Bound) on returning military veterans. The assumption underlying these studies is the belief that adventure-based programs can serve as a beneficial mediator in the reintegration of returning military veterans into society. The two…