Factors Influencing Social-Learning Experience in Nearby Pocket Parks On Campus Ground

Nearby pockets on campus grounds have become necessary learning sustainable settings to improve the academic experience by promoting outdoor social and learning activities. However, many universities still focus mainly on formal indoor learning and lack outdoor education that meets modern academic outcomes. Therefore, the current study aimed to identify the factors affecting students' social-learning experience in nearby pocket parks on campus ground, focusing on the tropical regions. The current study employed a questionnaire survey conducted in three Malaysian universities to collect data from 408 participants. The results showed various types of influencing factors that affect the social-learning experience in nearby pockets on campus ground, including landscape elements and activities, environmental factors, and access to these spaces. The results also indicated that students' demographics, including gender, education status, and university, influenced the outdoor social-learning experience. The current study contributed information to the development of on-campus sustainable settings for integrating nearby pockets in social interaction and learning activities in order to improve the academic social-learning experience.

How does a primary school organize outdoor swimming and water safety lessons?

The main purpose of this study was to explore how a primary school organized a week with outdoor education, and especially what characterized the outdoor swimming and water safety (SWS)-lessons. The SWS-lessons were part of the physical education (PE) program. Two teachers and one headmaster from a primary school participated in the study. Four days of video observation of SWS-lessons were used in photo-elicitation interviews with teachers and the headmaster. The findings revealed that the headmaster highly prioritized the outdoor education practice in this school and that the teachers’ colleagues showed great eagerness to cooperate and prioritize these lessons. The week’s organization was characterized by collaborating management, and the outdoor SWS-lessons were characterized by experiential learning, challenge by choice, and risk awareness. The outdoor education practice corresponded well with the Norwegian curriculum goals about learning to be safe in, on, and around water.

Learning leadership in outdoor education: Effects of feedback

There is paucity of knowledge regarding learning outcomes from outdoor leadership training courses. The aim of this pilot study was to examine progress in perceived leadership skills after a six-month outdoor education course, and to examine the effect of systematic feedback from fellow students. Seventeen students were randomized into intervention and control groups and participated in six outdoor excursions during which they took leader roles. The intervention consisted of systematic use of feedback from fellow students. To assess the progress in students’ perceived outdoor leadership skills, the students answered a questionnaire covering four categories of leadership both before and after the course. Significant progress in perceived outdoor leadership was found for all students after the six-month course. Systematic feedback from fellow students did not seem to enhance students’ perceived outdoor leadership skills. The reasons could be that the feedback was not given in the actual situations or that the student feedback was not valued. Feedback from teachers and from nature (self-experience) were found to be important for strengthening perceived leadership skills.

The Impact of Outdoor Education Camp Program in Building Resilience among University Students

Resilience is gained through life experiences that local university students lack from a classroom environment. This study investigated the effect of outdoor education camp programs on the levels of resilience among Physical Education students from two selected universities in Malaysia. A questionnaire was utilized as the primary research tool in this study to assess the participants' perceptions and knowledge acquisition as well as their level of resilience toward the outdoor education camp programs. A total of 162 undergraduate students were studied using a pre-test and post-test approach and a modified version of the Connor-Davidson in a 25 items self-report scale. Analysis of paired t-test showed differences in factors involved in resilience variables, personal competence, instincts and tolerance of negative behavior, positive acceptance of change, control, and spiritual influence. The findings indicated a positive effect towards resilience upon completion of the 14-day outdoor education camp program. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was carried out to evaluate if participation in the outdoor education program influenced participants' perceived level of resilience. Overall, there were statistically significant increases in resilience levels from the pre-test to the post-test stage. These results lead to the need for in-depth research into the assessment of internal factors in an outdoor camp program to provide valuable information on the effect of the intervention and implications towards enhancing resilience of the participants in low to high-risk activities. Keywords: Outdoor education, Personal Development, Program Evaluation, Physical Education, Resilience

Diversity in Outdoor Education: Discrepancies in SEL Across a School Overnight Program

Background: Outdoor education plays a significant role in social emotional development; however, research on the benefits of outdoor education has focused on white student populations. Purpose: This pilot-study examines social emotional learning (SEL) growth, measured by instructor ratings, across a multicultural group of students who participated in an immersive outdoor education program. Methodology/Approach: 69 fifth-grade students from a public ( n = 50) and private school ( n = 21) located in western Washington state were included in the study. Instructors’ ratings were examined. Findings/Conclusions: Results indicated across all participants in the subsample, instructors’ ratings of students’ SEL skills significantly increased over the course of the program. Specifically, instructors perceived white students to improve more during the program than students of color. Implications: There will be more possibilities for outdoor immersive education experiences if there is increased focus on creating equitable experiences for students.

Environing as Embodied Experience—A Study of Outdoor Education as Part of Physical Education

The development of a re-understanding or re-investigation of body pedagogy is currently prominent in the field of physical education (PE) and sport pedagogy. This goes for the learning of movement capability and health but also in relation to outdoor education (OE). The latter a criticized area for having a one-size-fits-all approach to curriculum, with less attention to what to learn in OE, including aspects of everyday practices of being outdoors. The aim of this study was to explore students aged 15 years, and their meaning making of being outdoors expressed in written stories about a favorite place. Two school year eight classes in a Swedish compulsory school situated in an area with high diversity participated. Through this theory-generated empirical study, written stories were explored as one way of evaluating students' meaning making of outdoor places. By using practical epistemology analysis (PEA) to examine experience operationalized through aesthetic judgements attention is paid to the relation between the student and the situation (their favorite place). The analysis make it possible to discern a sense and meaning making of “being” outdoors as an embodied experience, as a relational whole of the self, others and the environment. Descriptions of aesthetic experiences were analyzed leading to dimensions of environing described as “calm and privacy,” “community and togetherness” and “feelings and senses.” A favorite place was by all students described as a very local and nearby place accessible in everyday life. The analysis generated understandings of feelings of “fulfillment” and different embodied experiences of what an encounter with an outdoor place or being outdoors could mean. Furthermore, how personal and diverse the meaning making place tends to be and how experience and habits contribute to the students' creation of microenvironments. Dimensions of environing become part of an embodied process. The analysis of the written stories calls for an alternative understanding of what OE can or should consist of. The findings encourage teachers and researchers to consider alternative understandings and practices of OE that highlight and educate students' overall embodied (individual) experiences and learning in OE and PE.