Experiential approaches to learning underpin teaching and learning strategies in outdoor adventure education (OAE). Recent critiques of experiential learning have problematised the individualistic and overly cognitive focus of this approach which creates binaries between experience-reflection and the learner-situation. This paper summarises these…

Voluntary employee turnover is a major factor affecting adventure education (AE) organizations (Garret, 2003). Voluntary turnover often is dysfunctional for both employees and organizations (Birmingham, 1989; Podsakoff, LePine, & LePine, 2007). Turnover can result in increased employee and organizational costs (e.g., McKinney, Bartlett, &…

This study explores differences between Outward Bound (OB) and National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) participant perspectives on programmatic factors and their relation to outcomes. Although OB and NOLS are assumed to be similar in many ways, as each program offers wilderness expeditions for students in backcountry environments, the mission…

In this piece, we put forth a Deweyian framework for youth development activities in outdoor and adventure education programs, and we show how such a framework may be exemplified by activities in sail training and sailing instruction. The paper begins with a discussion of the theoretical features of Deweyian educational experiences and makes…

"Experiential" professional development (EPD), influenced by Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound design, was integrated in the classrooms of secondary Spanish teachers to create opportunities for them to learn to use communicative language teaching (CLT) through experience. Teachers collaborated with colleagues, students, and a…

About 20 years ago, a number of Yukon schools took a different approach to outdoor education and outdoor pursuits. During the 1970s and 1980s, most Yukon high schools and junior high schools offered a course called Outdoor Education. These courses fit into the conventional blocks in a school timetable. Outdoor activities longer than these blocks…

Many experiential educators assume that participation in outdoor recreation creates an awareness and commitment to the environment through direct experience. This research summary looks to whether the research supports such an assumption. Specifically it reviews the key literature on this topic, examines the various classifications of outdoor…

Evidence-based practice is an approach that narrowly classifies research results by utilising a hierarchy of evidence. This process renders much available knowledge and experience redundant within its value structure. Currently a dominating ideology across medical and health fields, evidence-based practice is now being promoted in adventure…

This paper uses autoethnography to reassess the concept "experience" and the lack of theoretical frameworks within experiential education for delimiting experience within the practices and research around experiential, adventure, and outdoor education. Although a pivotal and essential part of practice, theoretical understandings of experience have…

Experiential programs have become a core part of extra-/co-curricular activities in secondary schools in Hong Kong. Programs usually aim at enhancing youngsters' personal development, which incorporates self-understanding, self-other relationship, and self-social involvement (cf. Hahn, 1908-1913). Students are expected to acquire a stronger belief…

This article explores findings from a two-year study of the Expeditionary Learning (EL) professional development program for teachers. Using case study qualitative methods, we present findings about how EL meets the challenge of preparing teachers to teach in innovative ways. We investigate how EL structures experiential professional development…

Transfer of learning from adventure programs remains of critical interest to adventure education professionals. Although some research has investigated what transfers, notably less has focused on mechanisms that might influence transfer. This paper explores the mechanisms of transfer reported by a stratified random sample of National Outdoor…

Throughout time and across cultures, the relationship between Homosapiens and the natural environment has played a central role in identifying and defining aspects of the realm of spirituality, wherein humans seek to make sense of the universe and find meaning in their own existence. Within outdoor recreation and experiential education (OREE)…

Adventure therapy (AT) and the use of activities and outdoor experiences for educational and therapeutic purposes have a long and rich history. In recent years, the popularity and use of adventure programs in schools, clinical treatment facilities, and various other settings has increased. This increased use of AT in a therapeutic context has…

This study reports the results of a meta-analysis of 44 studies that examined the impacts of participation in challenge (ropes) course activities. Overall, a medium standardized mean difference effect size was found (d = 0.43). Effect sizes were calculated for various study characteristics, including demographics and outcome. Higher effects were…