Aligning Perceptual Preference with Instructional Method in a Recreational Environment

Aligning instructional modality with students’ perceptual preference (PP) or learning style is trending in educational research. However, there is little data to support this claim when instruction is geared toward a recreational activity, such as fly casting. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the effects of implementing matched or unmatched instructional methods with student PP. There was no difference in casting performance between groups matched with their learning preferences versus those who were not matched. The data support Hanson’s theory stating instruction should be dictated based on the content structure, not the learner’s PP. The researchers recommend a systematic, multifaceted approach to teaching novel motor skills such as fly casting. Further, this approach could be utilized for similar motions in sport and recreation. Subscribe to JOREL

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.

Trust, Workload, Outdoor Adventure Leadership, and Organizational Safety Climate

The outdoor adventure leadership (OAL) field has an extensive body of work centered on individual safety performance, but much less at the organization level of analysis and assessment of organizational safety. Safety climate is a well-established construct and when measured can be indicative of employees’ perceptions of organizational safety and predictive of safety performance. This study employed a safety climate scale and surveyed 506 employees across ten United States OAL not-for-profit organizations. Dimensions of safety as a recognized value, and leadership and management for safety typically scored the highest across organizations. The Dimensions of safety as learning oriented, and safety as integrated into operations, typically scored the lowest. Trust in the organization and OAL delivery pressure, workload, and stress emerged as important indicators of safety climate at the organizational level. Directions for future research based upon this safety climate tool are identified.

The Effects of Natural Landscapes on Inspiration: An Exploratory Study

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the relationship between natural landscapes and inspiration through the lens of topophilia—the affinity people have for certain places or landscape features. Participants were students on a traveling college field course called American Ecosystems. The 2015 course (n=15, 26 days) visited 19 U.S. National Parks, Monuments, and Grasslands. The 2017 course (n=15, 18 days) visited 14 locations. On both courses, students studied the flora, fauna, ecology, climate, geology, landforms, and environmental issues associated with each location. Four factors emerged that encouraged inspiration: 1) vertical landscape features, 2) direct and varied experience of place, 3) overcoming personal challenges provided by the landscapes, 4) novel experiences. Students ranked landscapes as more inspirational if they spent more time there, had opportunity to see and learn about them from a greater number of vantage points, and had more direct and varied experiences within them. Subscribe to JOREL

Outdoor Campus Recreation, Well-Being, and the Intersectionality of Constraints

The experiences university students have during outdoor recreation opportunities have holistic benefits, yet there is a sizeable discrepancy in the representation of marginalized students in outdoor campus recreation. The structural, interpersonal, and intrapersonal constraints that marginalized students experience are often cited as a reason for this reduced participation. It is possible that viewing these constraints individually is an oversimplification. In the same way that a student has an intersection of identities, so too can constraints intersect to compound and multiply barriers to participation. If we wish to have a more just university community, in which all students can experience the benefits of outdoor recreation, we must think critically about the intersectionality of constraints that hinder these students from fully participating and take action to address them. Subscribe to JOREL

Fatal Accidents in Outdoor Recreation and Nature-Based Tourism in Norway: A Discourse Analysis

The purpose of this research is to investigate how the Norwegian outdoor-safety discourse develop between 2005 – 2015. Second, I examine the creation of meaning and understanding about risk and safety in the outdoors. The research affirms that important elements of opinion formation are discursively negotiated. The main line in the negotiations revolves around how to relate to ‘the mountain common sense line’, based on the code of conduct of ‘touring at your own risk’. The legal discourse, the energy industry safety discourse and the professional struggle draw towards less individual responsibility for own safety, and more towards institutional responsibility for people’s safety, more public regulation and more physical facilitations to reduce risk. On the other hand, lax regulatory legislation, the administrative apparatus, ‘the layman tradition’ and the friluftsliv discourse draws on individual responsibility for one’s own safety, limited institutional responsibility and public regulation, and moderate physical facilitations aimed at keeping people safe.

Applying the Ecological Model to Explore the Influential Factors in Children’s Outdoor Recreation Participation

Childhood is a key developmental period for important physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development. It can serve as a foundation for behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes that carry into adulthood. In terms of outdoor recreation, existing literature denotes many childhood benefits and finds that children who participate in outdoor activities are likely to continue participation into adulthood. This paper uses an ecological perspective to broaden the exploration of childhood factors that contribute to youth participation in outdoor recreation, including interpersonal, community, and societal factors. Of particular importance are parental and family factors, suggesting that outdoor recreation professionals focus on family programming to foster sustainable participation. Adopting an ecological perspective also emphasizes the importance of creating community partnerships, supportive environments, and inclusive programming for diverse children and adults.

Navigating Tensions Associated with Smartphone Use in Outdoor Recreation Settings

Smartphones are increasingly appearing in outdoor recreation settings despite controversy surrounding their appropriateness. This study examined the perceptions of eight instructors of an outdoor leadership development program regarding appropriate and inappropriate smartphone use, tensions and boundaries that arise during outdoor activities, and how those tensions are navigated. Results indicate that instructors often welcomed smartphones for photography, navigation, and limited communication. In addition to travel and down time, instructors allowed those who participated in program activities to use smartphones during main activities so long as it did not interfere with program goals, distract others, or present safety concerns, even in high-risk and back-country areas. When uses were deemed inappropriate, reminders of established policies, increased communication, and social policing by other group members often resolved concerns.

A Pre-Post Analysis of Participant Learning and Growth Using a New Outward Bound Outcomes Instrument

This study examined differences in participants’ perceptions of their Character Development, Leadership, and Environmental Service prior to and immediately following participation in a North Carolina Outward Bound School (NCOBS) course using the NCOBS Course Impression Survey (NCOBCIS). The three-fold purpose of this study was to confirm the a priori factor structure of the NCOBSCIS, assess true change in participants’ scores following completion of an NCOBS course, and to investigate questions that emerged in the quantitative data that could be better explained by qualitative analysis. Quantitative results indicated improvements in Character Development and Environmental Service. This study furthers our understanding of the NCOBSCIS using a true pre-post design, provides further evidence of the validity and reliability of the NCOBSCIS and its factor structure, and the qualitative inquiry enhances our understanding of the potential influence of program participation.

How the Year of a Thousand Unknowns Could Transform Camp

COVID-19 made many summer camp professionals cancel their 2020 programs. Summer camp professionals who cancelled, or significantly modified their programs, still have something to do: they have an opportunity to change. In the applied research environment, this new body of information will be fascinating to examine as it could potentially help all camps embrace the value of certain strategies, messaging and crisis management concepts to improve relationships and broaden the value of the camp experience.