Adventure and Games for Diabetes Prevention

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, diabetes prevention represents a critical need for the health education curriculum, given the rise of the disease and its precondition for today’s youth. An active understanding of diabetes encourages young people to take control of the nutritional and exercise factors that keep the disease in check. When teachers use experiential activities, or “adventure” education, students perform tasks that illustrate conceptual content and reinforce learning. Research has found that current modalities to be successful but lacking the physicality to meet the recommendations of the American Heart Association and the Society of Health and Physical Educators. Games such as Toll Road Boogie; Tom and Jerry, or Insulin and Sugar; Wacky Receptor; and Tusker Monster, or Fat Cell Tag help children meet the 60 min of physical activity that are required most days of the week. This article offers several examples of how to design and implement games and incentives into lessons that are both enjoyable and illustrative of diabetes prevention-based education for ages 8 to 18.

The Voices of Outdoor Adventure: An Examination of the Long-Term Meanings and Impacts of Adventure Experiences for New Zealand University Students

<p>The purpose of this study was to explore how past participants of a New Zealand-based university outdoor adventure programme have perceived the meanings and impacts of former adventure experiences over time. This study employed a phenomenological case-study design which used in-depth, semi-structured interviews with former participants of a New-Zealand university outdoor adventure programme called the Mountains-to-Sea expedition. Six participants, former physical education students who had gone on the expedition between four and five years ago, were chosen to gain retrospective insight. The results from this study generated detailed narratives which revealed that the perceived meanings and impacts of participants‟ experiences were generally positive but there were subtleties and nuances to these perceptions which changed over time. Individuals made meaning in finely distinctive ways and impacts tended to dissipate in perceived intensity over time, though there were some exceptions. The participants embodied a very unique culture which impacted their understanding of outdoor adventure education philosophy. These findings have far-reaching implications on the future of outdoor learning and warrant greater attention from practitioners and researchers. The results bolster an argument for more qualitative research into the long-term meaning and impact of adventure experiences, particularly for the New Zealand context.</p>

The Voices of Outdoor Adventure: An Examination of the Long-Term Meanings and Impacts of Adventure Experiences for New Zealand University Students

<p>The purpose of this study was to explore how past participants of a New Zealand-based university outdoor adventure programme have perceived the meanings and impacts of former adventure experiences over time. This study employed a phenomenological case-study design which used in-depth, semi-structured interviews with former participants of a New-Zealand university outdoor adventure programme called the Mountains-to-Sea expedition. Six participants, former physical education students who had gone on the expedition between four and five years ago, were chosen to gain retrospective insight. The results from this study generated detailed narratives which revealed that the perceived meanings and impacts of participants‟ experiences were generally positive but there were subtleties and nuances to these perceptions which changed over time. Individuals made meaning in finely distinctive ways and impacts tended to dissipate in perceived intensity over time, though there were some exceptions. The participants embodied a very unique culture which impacted their understanding of outdoor adventure education philosophy. These findings have far-reaching implications on the future of outdoor learning and warrant greater attention from practitioners and researchers. The results bolster an argument for more qualitative research into the long-term meaning and impact of adventure experiences, particularly for the New Zealand context.</p>

Extreme Sport: Understanding the Concept, Recognizing the Value

Extreme sport is one of the fastest-growing areas in sporting activity in this century. Extreme sport appears to be used interchangeably with high-risk sport in much of the research literature. Both high-risk sport and extreme sport are defined as any sport where one has to accept a possibility of severe injury or death as an inherent part of the activity. Extreme sports are rapidly becoming the physical activity of choice. Extreme sports have diffused around the world at a phenomenal rate and far faster than established sports. Commercially, extreme is the password for corporations and advertisers to access young population. Extreme sports increasingly attract participants from different social classes and age groups, as well as females and minority groups. The extreme sport comprises tourist activities, therapeutic activities, recreational activities, and sporting activities. They have become a sporting spectacle. Extreme sports are even discussed in marketing (niche market), management, and policy literature as legitimate niches that require their peculiar understanding or inappropriate activities that need to be banned. Adventure and risk-taking sports such as mountaineering, whitewater rafting, surfing, skiing, skydiving, downhill mountain biking, rock climbing, and BASE (Building, Antenna (or Aerial), Span (i.e., bridge), Earth (cliffs or other rock formations)) have increased in popularity in recent years. This study is an overview of previous studies carried out by eminent scholars of psychology and different disciplines. The objective of this study is to understand extreme sport in better way on one side and how extreme (or adventurous) sport has been theoretically conceptualized and re-conceptualized on the other. The researcher made an effort to disseminate the knowledge of extreme sports to the students, researchers, entrepreneurs, media personnel, and other concerned authorities, related organizations, and institutions. It is also believed that this study will help to promote adventure education, adventure tourism (niche tourism) and deep ecology. The participants strongly believe that the natural world acts as a facilitator to a deeper, more positive understanding of self and its place in the environment. Fear, emotion, stress, risk, uncertainty, motivation, wellness, wellbeing, personality traits and determination are the key elements of extreme sports.

Compassion through Asceticism: Contemplating the Caveats and Socio-Environmental Values Related to a Backcountry Fast

Given the socio-environmental crises we face, educators might advisably look for means to address them. Within US outdoor adventure education (OAE), the moral educational potential of the “backcountry fast” is one such curricular area. However, little is written on this field-based tradition. This absence is concerning since fasts raise questions of risk and social-ethical appropriateness (e.g. food-scarcity). After acknowledging these social-ethical caveats, this paper, which draws from philosophical and monastic sources, provides a moral rationale for the backcountry fast. An act of asceticism, fasting practices can cultivate discipline, promote self-revelation, and awaken empathetic compassion (a-suffering-with) through identification with the involuntary suffering of others (human, more-than-human, and the planet itself). Although fasting’s full value is realized in a justice-seeking practice, highlighting the limits of one-off OAE programming, the article affirms its continued use within OAE, and counsels that fasts be educationally framed regarding their purpose(s) and potential as a post-program discipline.

La hibridación de los modelos pedagógicos de aprendizaje cooperativo y educación aventura como estrategia didáctica para la mejora de la convivencia y la gestión de conflictos en el aula: una experiencia práctica desde las clases de educación física y tu

El presente estudio adopta un enfoque cualitativo para profundizar en la mejora de la convivencia y la gestión de conflictos desde el área de Educación Física y la tutoría. A partir de una evaluación diagnóstica, se diseñó una Unidad Didáctica innovadora en la que se hibridaron los modelos pedagógicos de Educación aventura y Aprendizaje cooperativo, introduciendo el contenido de educación emocional en una clase de 1º de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria. De forma paralela, se realizó un proceso de investigación basada en un estudio de caso en el que se recogieron las percepciones y valoraciones de la experiencia de innovación del alumnado, del docente especialista de la asignatura y se triangularon con el registro anecdótico observacional del investigador. Los resultados obtenidos evidencian una contribución positiva en la formación de un alumnado que mostraba carencias en la convivencia y la resolución de conflictos, observándose mejoras en su educación emocional. Además, la hibridación de modelos pedagógicos se ha mostrado como una buena contribución a la didáctica de la Educación Física, en la medida en la que permite la integración de contenidos transversales y propios de la asignatura de Educación Física. Abstract. The present study adopts a qualitative approach to deepen the enhance of coexistence and conflict management from the area of Physical Education and tutoring. Based on a diagnostic evaluation, an innovative Didactic Unit was designed in which the pedagogical models of Adventure Education and Cooperative Learning were hybridized, introducing the content of social and emotional learning in a 1st Obligatory Secondary Education curse. In parallel, a research process based on as a case study was carried out in which the perceptions and appreciations of the innovation experience of the students, the specialist teacher of the subject were collected and triangulated with the observational anecdotal record of the researcher. The results show a positive contribution in the behavioural training of a student body that showed deficiencies in coexistence and conflict resolution, observing improvements in their emotional education. In addition, the hybridization of pedagogical models has been shown as a good contribution to the didactics of Physical Education, insofar as it allows the integration of both, cross-sectional and own contents of the Physical Education subject.

An Analysis of Game Difficulty in ˋˋGame Panjol''

“Game Panjol” is an educational game that was developed by the researchers of this study. The educational theme discussed in this game is the diversity of ethnic groups and cultures in Indonesia for fourth grade elementary school students. This adventure game has a mission to save friends from different tribes and cultures. The purpose of this study was to determine the difficulty of this game. First the game difficulty was identified from the point of view of the game designers. Next, the game was tested with respondents and its difficulty was analysed from the players’ perspective. From the point of view of the game designer, this game is divided into 3 levels, which are easy, medium, and hard. The difficulty levels is based on the number and weight of obstacles in the game. From the point of view of the game player, the difficulty level is determined by the number of times their attempts are successful, how long it takes to finish, how many coins are earned, and how many friends are saved. For the 14 respondents, the success of the rescue mission at each level was 100%, while the collection of coins at easy, medium, and hard levels was 88.124%, 89.881%, and 80.382% respectively. Based on the comparison between the average number of trials and the maximum number of trials, each level is 20.476%, 28.151%, and 30.357%. Keywords: adventure, education, game

Adolescents’ Experiences of a Developmental Coaching and Outdoor Adventure Education Program: Using Constructive-Developmental Theory to Investigate Individual Differences in Adolescent Meaning-Making and Developmental Growth

Using interpretative phenomenological analysis and Robert Kegan’s constructive-developmental theory, this study investigated how developmental stage shaped the subjective experiences of 13 adolescents ( Mage = 15.92 years, 54% females) in a developmental coaching and outdoor adventure education program. Participants were drawn from socioeconomically disadvantaged schools in Sydney, Australia, and represented Asian, Middle Eastern, and European ethnicities. A single, semi-structured interview was conducted with participants postprogram, following protocols approved by an institutional ethics committee. Interview data were used to investigate participants’ meaning-making structures as evidence of constructive-developmental stage both at the time of interview and program participation. We found that, despite being similar ages at program commencement, participants displayed a range of constructive-developmental stages. The data demonstrate how participants at different stages of meaning-making experienced the same activities differently, including what they experienced as challenging and supportive. Furthermore, our findings suggest that there is a valuable role for developmental coaching in scaffolding program challenges to stimulate constructive-developmental growth. Constructive-developmental theory provides a novel framework for understanding the different ways in which adolescents make meaning of developmental programs. We hope the findings from this study will help those who design and implement these programs to appreciate constructive-developmental differences in their participants to better target interventions aimed at facilitating developmental growth.