Adventure

 Based  Learning  in  

Physical  Educa6on  

Dr.  Sue  Sutherland  

Ohio  State  University  

Physical Education  
Ohio  State  
Ohio State University

Physical Education  
Ohio  State  

Physical Education  
Ohio  State  

Physical Education  
Ohio  State  

Physical Education  
Ohio  State  

Physical Education  
My  Research  Interests  
Student  
PETE  Doctoral  
Centered  
Educa6on  in  USA  
Pedagogy  

Adventure  
Based   Faculty    
Learning  

Emo6onality   Student    

Physical Education  
My  Research  Interests  
PT’s  

Debrief  
ABL   Teacher  

Transfer  

Physical Education  
 Hot  Topic  
•  Secondary  Physical  Educa6on  in  the  USA  is  
dominated  by  the  mul6-­‐ac6vity  curriculum.  

•  Cri6cized  for:  
–  Embarrassing,  boring,  irrelevant,  and  lacking  
relevance  for  students  (Carlson,  1995;  Cothran  &  Ennis,  
2000;  Ennis  et  al,  1997)  
–  Inequitable  opportuni6es  for  all  (Ennis,  1999;  Evans,  
1993)  
–  program  quality  (Locke,  1992)  
–  Isola6ng  and  degrading  for  students  of  lower  skill  
levels  (Flintoff  &  Scra\on,  2001;  Bramham,  2003)  

Physical Education  
 Hot  Topic  
•  Numerous  reasons  for  this  dominance  such  as:    
–  teachers  have  not  learned  to  teach  using  
alterna6ve  models,    
–  many  of  the  models  require  a  different  kind  of  
content  knowledge  and  pedagogical  content  
knowledge  than  teachers  currently  have,  
–   or  student  reac6on  to  the  models  results  in  
teachers  rever6ng  back  to  the  status  quo.  

Physical Education  
 Hot  Topic  
•  Important  to  understand  more  about  the  
implementa6on  of  alterna6ve  curricular  
models  to  begin  to  address  the  problems  
associated  with  the  mul6-­‐ac6vity  
curriculum  model.  

Physical Education  
 Hot  Topic  
•  The  purpose  of  this  study  was  to  explore  
the  reac6ons  of  Pre-­‐service  Teachers  
(PTs)  and  the  PCK  enacted  by  PTs  learning  
to  teach  ABL  in  urban  middle  schools.  
 

Physical Education  
 Adventure  Based  Learning  
•  Adventure  Based  Learning  falls  
under  the  umbrella  of  
Experien6al  Educa6on  
 

•  Experien6al  educa6on  is  a  

philosophy  and  methodology  in  
which  educators  purposefully  
engage  with  learners  in  direct  
experience  and  focused  
reflec6on  
 

•  In  other  words  experien6al  

educa6on  is  doing  with  reflec6on  
Physical Education  
Experien6al  Learning  Cycle  (Kolb,  1984)  

Experiencing  

Applying  
Reflec-ng  

Generalizing  

Physical Education  
 Adventure  Based  Learning  
o The  deliberate  use  of  sequenced  
adventure  ac6vi6es  –  par6cularly  
games,  ini6a6ve  ac6vi6es,  and  
problem  solving  ac6vi6es  –  for  the  
personal  and  social  development  of  
the  par6cipants  (Cosgriff,  2000)  
o Adventure  Based  Learning  encourages  
fun  and  challenging  ways  to  
experience  a  series  of  life  skills  that  
de-­‐emphasize  a  win-­‐at-­‐all-­‐cost  
mentality.  
Physical Education  
 What  is  Adventure  Based  Learning  
•  Learning  environment  that  is  physically  and  
emo6onally  safe  for  ALL.  
•  Processing/Debriefing  is  as  important  as  the  
ac6vi6es.  
•  Two  rela6onships  are  important  in  experien6al  
educa6on:  
–  Interpersonal  (i.e.,  how  people  get  along  in  a  
group).  
–  Intrapersonal  (i.e.,  how  an  individual  gets  along  
with  him/her  self  -­‐  the  idea  of  self-­‐percep6on).  
  Physical Education  
 Adventure  Based  Learning  
Intrapersonal   Interpersonal  
•  Increased  confidence   •  Enhanced  coopera6on  
•  Willingness  to  take  risks   •  More  effec6ve  
•  Improved  self-­‐concept   communica6on  skills  
•  Greater  trust  in  others  
•  Enhanced  leadership  skills  
•  Sharing  of  decision  
•  Greater  reflec6ve   making  
thinking  skills   •  Conflict  resolu6on  skills  
•  Posi6ve  experiences   •  Improved  problem-­‐
solving  skills  
•  Enhanced  leaderships  
skills  
Physical Education  
 Importance  of  ABL  in  PE  
•  Helps  support  a  posi6ve  and  safe  
classroom  community.  
 

•  Enables  a  diverse  group  of  

individuals  to  work  together  
toward  common  goals.  
 

•  Allows  Teachers  to  connect  with  

students’  feelings,  students’  
abili6es,  and  to  share  common  
life  experiences.  

Physical Education  
 
 Planning  and  Implemen6ng  ABL  
•  Key  points  to  successful  implementa6on  
– Appropriate  sequencing  of  ac6vi6es  
– Facilita6on  of  the  ac6vi6es  
– Processing  of  the  ac6vi6es  (debriefing)  
 
 

Physical Education  
 Sequence  
•  The  ac6vi6es  selected  
should  move  a  group  
through  the  sequence  of  
community  building:  
– Communica6on  
– Coopera6on  
– Trust  
– Problem  solving  
– Challenge    
 
  Physical Education  
 Sequence  

•  Knowing  when  to  move  a  group  onto  the  

next  phase  of  the  sequence  
 
•  Cannot  place  an  ar6ficial  6me  limit  on  
this  process  
 
 

Physical Education  
 Facilita6on  
•  Role  of  facilitator  is  crucial  to  the  success  of  
unit  
•  Create  an  emo6onally  and  physically  safe  
environment  
•  Don’t  solve  the  problem      
– group  processes  are  important  here  
•  Refocus  group  if  necessary    
•  Stage  the  ac6vity  -­‐  frontloading  
 
Physical Education  
 Debriefing  
•  Most  crucial  aspect  of  the  unit  if  it  is  called  
experien6al  educa6on  
•  Ac6vity  that  is  structured  to  encourage  
individuals  to  plan,  reflect,  describe,  analyze,  
and  communicate  about  experiences.  
•  Can  occur  any  6me  before,  during  or  aher  the  
ac6vi6es  
•  Processing  is  the  vehicle  with  which  to  
accomplish  transfer  of  learning  to  everyday  
life  
 
Physical Education  
 Debriefing  
•  The  debrief  process  is  where  the  group  reflects  on  
what  (What?)  happened  during  the  ac6vity,  what  it  
meant  to  the  group  members  (So  What?),  and  what  
each  group  member  can  take  from  the  experience  
that  will  impact  their  lives  beyond  par6cipa6on  in  
the  ac6vity  (Now  What?).  
 

Physical Education  
 Literature  
•  Research  has  focused  primarily  on  the  
outcomes  of  adventure  educa6on  or  ABL  
(Brown,  2006;  Dyson  1995)  and  has  just  
begun  to  explore  the  pedagogy  of  
adventure  educa6on  (Dillon,  Tannehill,  &  
O’Sullivan,  2009;  Sutherland,  Ressler,  &  
Stuhr,  2011).  

Physical Education  
 Literature  
•  Dyson  (1995)  found  that  the  student  
goals  for  ABL  in  two  elementary  schools  
included  ‘coopera6ng  with  others,  
challenging  themselves,  taking  risks,  
having  fun,  and  learning  motor  
skills’  (Dyson,  1995,  p.  397).  

Physical Education  
 Literature  
•  Dillon  et  al.  (2009)  found  that  PTs  
experienced  some  difficulty  when  
teaching  ABL.  The  PTs  incorporated  some  
of  the  ABL  ac6vi6es  they  experienced  in  
their  PETE  program  but  did  not  include  
the  key  aspects  of  ABL  such  as  full  value  
contract,  challenge  by  choice,  and  
debriefing.  

Physical Education  
 Literature  
•  Misalignment  of  the  choice  of  teaching  
strategies  and  the  intended  outcomes  of  
the  ABL  unit  were  recognized  by  the  PTs  
but  was  not  a  concern  as  long  as  the  
students  were  ac6ve  in  the  class.  Leading  
student-­‐centered  debriefs  proved  to  be  
difficult  for  the  PTs.  

Physical Education  
 Literature  
•  Sutherland  et  al.  (2011)  explored  the  
journey  of  11  PTs  incorpora6ng  a  
meaningful  debrief  in  a  middle  school  ABL  
unit.  The  findings  indicated  that  the  PTs  
had  a  good  technical  understanding  of  the  
debrief  process  but  had  difficulty  
facilita6ng  a  meaningful  student-­‐centered  
debrief.  

Physical Education  
 Theore6cal  Frameworks  
•  Occupa6onal  Socializa6on  and  Pedagogical  
Content  Knowledge  provided  the  lens  for  this  
research.  
•  Occupa6onal  socializa6on  has  been  defined  as  
including  ‘all  of  the  kinds  of  socializa6on  that  
ini6ally  influence  a  person  to  enter  the  field  of  
physical  educa6on  and  later  are  responsible  for  
their  percep6ons  and  ac6ons  as  
teachers’  (Lawson,  1988,  p.  265).  

Physical Education  
 Theore6cal  Frameworks  
•  Occupa6onal  socializa6on  has  been  used  to  
understand  how  PTs  learn  to  teach  physical  
educa6on  (Schempp  &  Graber,  1992;  Curtner-­‐Smith  &  Sofo,  
2004;  McMahon  &  MacPhail,  2007;  Stran  &  Curtner-­‐Smith,  
2009).  
•  Accultura6on  is  the  beliefs  and  values  about  
physical  educa6on  which  are  influenced  by  the  
PTs  prior  experience  in  sport,  physical  educa6on  
and  coaching  and  by  significant  others  

Physical Education  
 Theore6cal  Frameworks  
•  The  influence  of  Physical  Educa6on  Teacher  
Educa6on  (PETE)  programs  on  PTs  is  referred  to  
as  professional  socializa6on  and  has  limited    
impact  on  PTs’  beliefs  about  physical  educa6on  
developed  during  the  accultura6on  stage  
(Curtner-­‐Smith,  1999;  Curtner-­‐Smith  et  al.,  2008).  

Physical Education  
 Theore6cal  Frameworks  
•  Shulman  (1986)  defined  PCK  as  the  various  
methods  teachers  u6lize  to  transform  content  
and  convey  it  to  their  students,  resul6ng  in  
students’  understanding.    
•  PCK  not  only  integrates  content  with  pedagogy,  
but  also  involves  the  teachers’  knowledge  of  the  
learners  (Shulman,  1986).    

Physical Education  
 Research  Ques6ons  
•  How  did  the  PTs  make  meaning  of  their  
experience  teaching  ABL  in  urban  middle  
schools?  
•  What  was  the  student  reac6on  to  par6cipa6on  
in  ABL?  
•  How  did  the  PTs  enact  what  they  had  learned  
about  ABL  when  teaching  middle  school  
students?  

Physical Education  
 Research  Method  
•  Qualita6ve  inquiry  was  used  in  this  research  
study.  
•  Intrinsic  Case  Study  (Stake,  2008)  
–  Case  itself  is  of  primary  interest  
–  Group  of  UG  PETE  students  implemen6ng  ABL  in  
urban  middle  schools  

Physical Education  
 Seong  
•  The  PTs  were  enrolled  in  a  five-­‐week  internship  
in  one  of  three  urban  middle  schools.    
•  6-­‐8  PTs  at  each  school  site.  
•  Each  PT  taught  two  seven-­‐day  ABL  units.  
•  The  PTs  taught  small  groups  of  students  (8-­‐12)  
to  allow  them  to  focus  on  content  and  
facilita6on  skills  (PCK)  associated  with  ABL.    

Physical Education  
 Par6cipants  
•  The  PTs  (5  males  and  8  females)  ranged  in  age  
from  21-­‐26  years  and  all  self-­‐iden6fied  as  white.    
•  Ten  of  the  13  PTs  had  completed  the  ABL  course  
at  Ohio  State.    
•  One  PT  was  taking  the  ABL  course  at  the  same  
6me  as  the  field  experience.  
•  Two  PTs  had  taken  a  course  in  adventure  
educa6on  at  other  universi6es  but  the  courses  
did  not  emphasize  how  to  teach  ABL.    
Physical Education  
 Ethical  Considera6ons  
•  Involvement  in  teaching  and  research  –  power  
dynamics  
•  Minimize  power  differen6al  and  studentship  
(Graber,  1991)  following  steps  taken  
–  Interviews  not  conducted  un6l  assignments  for  
course  completed  
–  Did  not  assign  grade  for  field  experience  
–  Data  was  not  transcribed  or  analyzed  un6l  aher  
course  completed  and  grades  assigned  

Physical Education  
 Data  Collec6on  
•  Three  data  collec6on  methods  used:  
– Interviews  
•  2  Face  to  face,  using  semi-­‐structured  interview  guide,  
lasted  between  25-­‐40  minutes,  was  audio  taped  with  
permission,  and  transcribed  verba6m.    
– Daily  Reflec6ons  –  Cri6cal  Friends  
•  engage  small  groups  of    PTs  (3-­‐4)  in  a  cri6cal  reflec6on  on  
a  series  of  ques6ons  related  to  their  experience  teaching    
•  PT  lead  
•  completed  Cri6cal  Friends  sheets  –  used  as  data  

Physical Education  
 Data  Collec6on  
•  S6mulated  Recall  Reflec6on  of  teaching  ABL  
–  videotape  of  one  ABL  lesson  to  reflect  on  the  
strengths  and  weaknesses  of  the  lessons.  
–  2-­‐3  page  reflec6on  paper  focusing  on  how  the  ABL  
ac6vi6es  were  framed,  quality  of  the  PTs  facilita6on,  
quality  of  the  debrief,  and  student  response  to  the  
ac6vi6es  and  debrief.  
 

Physical Education  
 Data  Analysis  
•  Line  by  line  coding  (Corbin  &  Strauss,  2008)  and  
constant  comparison  (Pa\on,  2002).    
•  Data  were  scru6nized  and  compared  line  by  line  
and  codes  were  assigned  to  each  piece  of  data.  
•  Codebook  used  to  organize  the  codes  and  lead  
to  the  forma6on  of  ini6al  themes.    
•  As  the  themes  were  developed  each  piece  of  
data  was  constantly  compared  to  other  data  to  
confirm  or  disconfirm  the  finding.  
Physical Education  
 Trustworthiness  
•  Four  methods  used  
•  Data  Triangula6on  –  inves6gator  and  data  
sources  
•  Member  Checking  
•  Peer  Debriefing  
•  Nega6ve  Case  Analysis  
 

Physical Education  
 Findings  –  Reac6on  to  ABL  
•  Two  themes:  
– This  is  harder  than  I  
remember  
– Student  reac6on:  It’s  not  
what  I  expected  

Physical Education  
 This  is  harder  than  I  remember  
•  PT  reac6on    varied  between  those  who  were  
excited  to  teach  ABL  and  those  who  were  not  
confident  
•  Belief  in  their  content  knowledge  in  ABL  had  a  
strong  influence  on  their  reac6on  
•  Most  PTs  experienced  disjuncture  in  rela6on  to  
feeling  being  prepared  to  teach  ABL  and  how  
the  unit  was  progressing  during  the  first  few  
days.  

Physical Education  
 This  is  harder  than  I  remember  
•  Mismatch  between  mul6-­‐ac6vity  approach  
students  used  to  and  student-­‐centered  
approach  of  ABL.  

Physical Education  
 Student  Reac6on  
•  They  are  ruthless!  It  was  really  tough  going,  
they  were  just  terrible  to  each  other.  They  said  
discouraging  words  to  each  other  and  to  me.  
Some  kids  did  not  want  to  par6cipate  and  
would  disrupt  the  group  (Adam,  ABL  Reflec6on)  
•  It  had  never  really  occurred  to  me  that  it  wasn’t  
going  to  work,  and  that  these  kids  weren’t  going  
to  buy  into  it.  Cause  every  experience  that  I  
have  ever  had  has  been  so  good  (Amber,  I1)  

Physical Education  
 Student  Reac6on  
•  I’ve  already  had  to  take  one  kid  out  of  my  group  
and  move  him  to  another  because  they  would  
just  fight  and  scream  at  each  other  the  en6re  
6me  and  it  wasn’t  going  to  work  (Amber,  I1)  
•  Even  in  the  face  of  blatant  student  resistance  
Amber  wanted  to,  ‘reach  these  kids.  I  am  more  
mo6vated  because  I  want  to  come  in  and  think  
okay  we’re  going  to  have  a  great  lesson  this  
6me.  I  was  determined  not  to  let  this  group  
beat  me’  (I1).  
Physical Education  
 Student  Reac6on  
•  The  first  couple  of  days  we  had  just  yelling  at  
each  other,  trying  to  get  them  to  pay  a\en6on.  
But  now  in  a  group  they’ll  be  like,  ‘Okay  well  I  
have  an  idea’  and  they’d  sit  and  listen,  then  
they  all  try  it  and  if  it  doesn’t  work  then,  ‘okay  
well  how  about  we  try  this  instead.’  (Amber,  I2)  
•  The  areas  of  student  growth  included  
communica6on,  coopera6on,  support,  
encouragement  of  others,  teamwork,  coming  
together  as  a  group  and  leadership.  
Physical Education  
 Discussion  
•  PTs  experienced  a  struggle  of  values  in  teaching  
a  student-­‐centered  unit  which  was  in  contrast  
to  the  experience  and  values  of  the  middle  
school  students.    
Students  were  a  strong  socializing  agent  for  the  
majority  of  the  PTs  and  the    
student  resistance  they    
encountered  was  not  expected.    

Physical Education  
 Discussion  
•  Having  support  from  peers  and  University  
Supervisors  was  important  in  the  face  of  the  
student  resistance  
•  The  professional  socializa6on  gained  during  
PETE  programs  can  challenge  the  majorityof  the  
PTs  ‘appren6ceship  of  observa6on’  (Lor6e,  
1975)  and  prior  beliefs  about  physical  educa6on  
(Schempp  &  Graber,  1992).    

Physical Education  
 Findings  –  PCK  in  ABL  
•  Four  themes:  
– trus6ng  the  sequence,    
– knowing  your  students,    
– facilitate  don’t  dictate,    
– processing  the  experience.    

Physical Education  
 Trus6ng  the  sequence  
•  I  think  that  it  [sequence]  is  highly  
important…  watching  other  groups  that  
didn’t  follow  the  unit  exactly…ran  into  
instances  later  on  where  they  would  have  
name  calling  or  put  downs’    (Alan,  I2)  

Physical Education  
 Knowing  your  students  
•  My  first  group  has  problems  
coopera6ng  and  can’t  work  
together.  My  second  group  
has  come  along  great  in  
working  together...The  first  
group  will  have  to  stay  with  
the  coopera6on  games  
longer,  the  second  group  
seems  ready  for  trust  
ac6vi6es’  (David,CF  D4).    
Physical Education  
 Facilitate  don’t  teach  
•  I  gave  them  just  enough  informa6on  to  
understand  what  their  task  was  and  I  let  them  
figure  it  out  as  a  team  without  my  input.  If  I  felt  
they  were  having  problems,  I  would  give  a  few  
verbal  cues  (Amanda,  ABL).    
•  At  6mes  I  should  have  given  the  students  more  
freedom  and  less  structure  …  The  sense  to  know  
when  to  sit  back  and  let  the  students  go  is  a  
learned  skill’  (Ryan,  ABL).    

Physical Education  
 Processing  the  experience  
•  I  was  some6mes  too  vague  with  my  ques6ons,  
and  they  [students]  were  not  sure  how  to  
respond.  When  I  was  able  to  crack  through  with  
a  ques6on  they  understood,  I  was  able  to  
receive  excellent  answers’  (Colin,  ABL).    

Physical Education  
 Discussion  
•  As  the  unit  progressed  the  PTs  became  more  
aware  about  who  the  learners  were  and  how  
that  factored  into  planning  and  teaching  ABL.    
•  Similar  to  previous  research  (McCaughtry  and  
Rovegno,  2003;  Rovegno,  1995),  the  PTs  in  this  study  
experienced  growth  over  the  course  of  teaching  
the  ABL  unit  in  understanding  the  importance  of  
their  knowledge  of  the  students.    

Physical Education  
 Discussion  
•  The  PTs  shihed  from  
thinking  that  the  same  
unit  and  lesson  plans  
could  be  followed  for  
each  group  to  realizing  
that  they  would  need  to  
individualize  the  lessons  
based  on  the  uniqueness  
of  each  group.  
 
Physical Education  
 Implica6ons  
•  To  be\er  equip  PTs:  
–  they  have  the  opportunity  to  “live  the  
curriculum”  (Collier,  Oslin,  and  Mitchell,  2001)  in  their  PETE  
program  
–  gain  in-­‐depth  knowledge  of  the  specific  content  of  
the  model,    
–  have  the  opportunity  to  observe  an  expert  teach  the  
model  to  students,    
–  provide  PTs  with  an  opportunity  such  as  cri2cal  
friends  to  purposefully  reflect  on  their  teaching  and  
learn  from  their  cohort.    
Physical Education  
 Conference  Outlets  
•  American  Alliance  for  Health,  Physical  
Educa6on,  Recrea6on  and  Dance  
•  American  Educa6onal  Research  Associa6on  
•  Associa6on  of  Experien6al  Educa6on  
•  AIESEP  

Physical Education  
 Publica6on  Outlets  
•  Sport,  Educa6on  and  Society  
•  Physical  Educa6on  and  Sport  Pedagogy  
•  Journal  of  Teaching  in  Physical  Educa6on  
•  Research  Quarterly  in  Sport  and  Exercise  
•  Journal  of  Experien6al  Educa6on  
•  Journal  of  Outdoor  Educa6on  and  Recrea6on  
Leadership  

Physical Education  
 Where  Next?  
•  Using  ABL  to  combat  bullying  
•  How  do  student’s  make  meaning  of  their  ABL  
experience?    
•  How  do  students  transfer  this  meaning  to  other  
areas  of  life?  
 

Physical Education