Background: The State University of New York (SUNY), the nation's largest comprehensive public university system, recently proposed making experiential learning activities available to all students enrolled in an academic program. Each campus was tasked with examining the feasibility of including experiential learning activities as a degree…

Violence prevention is a key focus for many intervention programs, yet little is known about how or why certain programs are able to successfully produce effective prevention efforts. The purpose of this study was to identify the essential elements of the Play for Peace (PFP) program, how it creates change in participants, and how it is…

This article builds upon existing place-based research through the application of a socio-spatial perspective to make sense of how students' experiences in/of place shape, and are shaped by, the production of experiential learning space. Rather than focusing on the individual as the unit of analysis, this article is concerned with understanding…

In this research study, we hear the voices of middle school students, preservice teachers, and practicing middle school teachers in support of school-based experiential outdoor education. The benefits of engaging youth in memorably relevant learning, immersing them in physically active, field-based education, and providing them with authentic,…

This paper suggests a model of embodied environmental education grounded in participant interviews, fieldwork, scholarly literature, and the author's own embodied relationship with the natural world. In this article, embodiment refers to a process that stems from Indigenous Knowledges and theatre. Although Indigenous Knowledges and theatre…

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…

This paper describes a field trip by senior undergraduate anthropology students to a local winery, where they participated in a wine-tasting class with winery staff. In response to explicit hints from a wine-tasting facilitator, and more subtle cues from the cultural capital embedded in their surroundings and the winery staff, the students…

Participants' performances of outdoor skills and leadership are interpreted for environmental learning using Ingold's (2000) notion of an "education of attention": the fine-tuning of their perception. The actual tasks and activities of adventure travel have until recently gone largely unquestioned; but the relationship between skills and…

Colleges and universities across the United States are struggling with student retention and attrition (Derby & Smith, 2004; Jacobs & Archie, 2008; Tinto, 1993). As a result, theoretically supported interventions designed to encourage retention and persistence are needed. The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to intentionally create…

This paper discusses the role of the person-centered dimension of facilitator education, which emphasises the attitudes, personal qualities, and/or presence of a facilitator. An overview of person-centered facilitator education, as described in the literature, is provided to enable the interpretation of the findings of a study that explored the…

Reviews alternatives to program evaluation. Suggested qualitative methods are interviews; participant observation; and journal analysis. Meaningful designs for evaluation are case studies; participatory and collaborative evaluation; and mixed methods. Uses for evaluation are utilization-focused evaluation; explicating and developing program…

This study explores the impacts of backpacking as a therapeutic process for troubled adolescent women participating in wilderness therapy. A qualitative case study approach was used to investigate the experience of six adolescent women and three female wilderness instructors at an established wilderness therapy program. Data were collected through…