This study of an outdoor-based leadership course for teenagers shows how open-ended, difficult group tasks can enable participants to develop "dispositions for learning," which promote "responsible leadership." The latter is defined as responding ethically and uniquely to encounters with difference. Uses of educational…

When people say that children grow up faster today, they are confusing appearance with reality. Children may be avid consumers of adult culture. They may adopt adult mannerisms and styles. They certainly get to grips with new technology far more easily than grown-ups. But when it comes to everyday freedoms--like walking to school alone, or meeting…

Recent empirical research on outdoor education programs describes adjustment symptoms that instructors suffer from after the programs have come to an end. Post-course effects are also documented for students, but those are normally scientifically coded in measured changes in "skills" or "learning effects." In this paper, the…

Interviews with 12 New Zealand outdoor instructors found that they viewed risk as an opportunity to gain something of value, as opposed to losing something of value. Repositioning risk in this manner could allow the debate around adventure education to move away from being dominated by risk management, allowing consideration of adventure…

Criticizes the New Zealand approach to outdoor leadership, which relies on teaching risk assessment and management from manuals and checklists and which asserts that risk-management skills are transferable between risky sports. Suggests that sound outdoor practice involves more than "legal duty of care," and recommends reliance on…

Decision making by outdoor adventure educators revolves around balancing risk and competence. A model of outdoor adventure decision making is presented that draws on naturalistic decision-making processes and emphasizes the importance of situational recognition and prior experience. Leaders draw key information from the natural environment,…

This paper outlines a model for assessing and managing psychological depth in outdoor and experiential group work, and presents two case studies of the complexity of such management in real life. The model contains eight levels of emotional risk and presents four criteria for assessing the level to which a particular event or discussion may lead…

Drawing from research on fear of failure and anecdotes from personal experience with the first women's expedition to ski to the South Pole, this discussion centers on how fear of failure affects women. Fear of failure leads to procrastination and performance well below one's ability. Women generally express more fear of failure than do men, partly…