A three-day summer program for gifted junior high school students to develop leadership skills consisted of consideration of specific skills (self confidence, personal responsibility, communication, and team building) and use of these skills in an outdoor challenge course. (DB)

Calls for further research evaluating corporate adventure training (CAT) programs. Reviews activities and benefits associated with CAT, summarizes studies conducted on the efficacy of CAT programs, describes appropriate research designs for investigating how and why CAT programs work, and addresses barriers to producing meaningful research. (LP)

An 11-day English back-packing expedition in the Sierra Nevada mountains (Spain) included 4 staff members and 7 youth offenders. The program discouraged criminal behavior and increased the self-esteem of the youth offenders through development of teamwork and a sense of responsibility and commitment to the expedition. (LP)

A strategy for transferring learning from adventure experiences to daily life situations incorporates the use of isomorphs and metaphors. Explains how to develop isomorphic frames and select metaphoric experiences that can be used in adventure programming, especially with clients in therapy. (LP)

Stresses the need for documenting the application and outcomes of specific adventure activities with specific client groups and documenting critical therapeutic/clinical incidents in adventure therapy programs. Overviews current trends in documentation of therapeutic adventure programs and provides recommendations from the medical and mental…

Discusses Alan Hales's model of safety management in the context of caving. When two sets of hazards, human and environmental, are present together, risk occurs. Objective risk is uncontrollable and should be avoided in educational settings; subjective risk is controllable. Presents positive and negative strategies for engaging or avoiding…

Addresses issues related to administration of adventure programs, including liability, hiring well-trained staff, conducting safe activities, supervising safe adventure programs, maintaining appropriate facilities and equipment, keeping accurate records, posting information about potentially unsafe sites and activities, carrying adequate insurance…

This article introduces supportive therapies for students with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD). Strategies to help children cope with emotions are described. Bibliotherapy approaches and various expressive arts approaches to helping these children are discussed, and the role of leisure awareness and adventure recreation as therapies is…

Residential, challenging, learning experiences can provide a powerful and essential education in environmental values and interpersonal relationships. Presents a basic-needs planning guide for residential adventure programs that considers the need for water, air, food, clothing, accommodation, waste disposal, health, energy, resources, love of…

Describes duties and responsibilities of outdoor instructors under British criminal and civil law. Discusses elements of negligence under civil law including damage, duty of care, standard of care, in loco parentis, students' duty of care, foreseeability, and employer's legal duty. Presents risk management in terms of primary, secondary, and…

Problem solving in adventure programs contains physical, social, philosophical, and transcendent (insightful) elements. Through transcendent experiences students reach a high level of performance, tolerance, and understanding. Instructors often attempt to facilitate transcendent experiences through such activities as the Native American…

Discusses the lack of theoretical principles underpinning experiential education. Outlines a flow model of experiential learning applicable to adventure education, involving the learner, reality context, new and applied skills, responsibility, and critical reflection. Suggests that even small increases in theoretical understanding will help…

Suggests ways to enhance the processing of adventure-based experiences by making participants aware of their responses when they reach the edge of their own comfort zone. Participants can use this information to generalize the learning experience to home, school, and office situations. (LP)

Asocial behaviors were significantly reduced among 36 adjudicated adolescents who participated in a 30-day therapeutic wilderness program focusing on interpersonal problem solving and peer group dynamics. Behavior change was related to instructor experience and expectations and to participant interpersonal problem-solving skills. Contains 19…

Outlines a four-stage developmental process (exhilaration, rejection, integration, and transformation) through which college students learn to apply experiential education theories to their practices as staff interns in an adventure education program for children. Discusses implications for intern supervision and the design of internship programs.…