Allowing students a sense of autonomy has long been considered an important pedagogical tool. This paper synthesizes the current literature on student autonomy from the education, youth development, and outdoor adventure fields and explores its value through an analysis of data from the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). The results…

The fields of environmental education, outdoor education, adventure education, and experiential education are linked by shared goals, objectives, and characteristics. National standards connect these fields to secondary education. In this preliminary study, the authors describe how aspects of the 4 fields are used by environmental educators in…

The purpose of this article is to review current models for curriculum and pedagogy used in elementary school physical education programs. Historically, physical educators have developed and used a multiactivity curriculum in order to educate students through physical movement. More recently, a variety of alternative curricular models have been…

Over the years researchers have attempted to gather information on outdoor orientation programs. Past researchers used different sampling techniques to locate programs, but all concluded more outdoor orientation programs probably existed than they were able to find. In the fall of 2005, a research group for the present study set out to create a…

The Wilderness Education Association (WEA) helps people enjoy and protect the nation's most precious resource: the wilderness areas. The WEA has been training and certifying outdoor leaders around the world for nearly 30 years, teaching students safely and effectively to lead groups in the outdoors without harming the environment. This document…

Because of their advantages over natural rock climbing, artificial climbing walls are contributing to the growing number of climbers nationwide. The artificial walls are safer, are portable, can be built anywhere, and allow the creation of routes of the desired difficulty. (SV)

A study of outdoor adventure risk management education was conducted in the fall of 2003 following the devastating avalanche season of winter 2002-2003, which took close to 50 lives in North America. The study was guided by the desire to better understand effective risk management training of outdoor adventure leaders in postsecondary…

In this paper, Aaron Doering describes an adventure learning project that connected students to explorers and researchers participating in a trans-Arctic dogsled expedition. Adventure learning (AL) uses a hybrid online educational environment to provide students with opportunities to explore real-world issues through authentic learning…

While adventure activities seem a natural fit for middle elementary, teachers often overlook the importance of cooperative or team building activities with younger students (K-2). This could be due to a lack of knowledge or the misconception that one needs a climbing wall or other low level initiatives to offer such a program. When designing…

The comfort zone model is widespread within adventure education literature. It is based on the belief that when placed in a stressful situation people will respond by overcoming their fear and therefore grow as individuals. This model is often presented to participants prior to activities with a highly perceived sense of risk and challenge which…

Graduating with a Bachelor of Physical and Health Education (BPHE) degree with a specialty in Outdoor Adventure Leadership (ADVL) is a unique reality in Canada offered by Sudbury's Laurentian University. Developed over 20 years ago, the ADVL program has been one of Laurentian's six landmark Human Kinetics programs. From a scholastic perspective…

Designed for primary and junior students, the Drama Hike is a real walk into the woods: smelling, feeling and seeing Nature. It is also an imaginative search for ancient civilizations, in this case the "Hully Gullies." The purpose of the trip is to discover what these people might have looked like, their social habits, religion, sports and so on.…

This paper presents research on participant learning processes in challenge course workshops using the framework known as Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). CHAT views learning as a shared, social process rather than as an individual event. Participants' experiencing and learning was mediated by the physical and social conditions of the…

School-age children's self-reported risk compensation (greater risk-taking when wearing safety gear compared to when not doing so) was investigated using 6 common play situations. Children responded to hypothetical scenarios by rating intended risk-taking when wearing safety gear and not doing so, and by providing explanations for their behavior.…

Describes the phenomenon of risk taking in and through recreational activities, reviewing the use of adventure in recreation; summarizing salient research findings on adventure education within the past decade (perceived risk and individual involvement); and offering remarks related to what researchers know and do not know about the deliberate use…