Heather Prince

Outdoor play and learning in early childhood from different cultural perspectives

This themed edition of the Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning focuses on outdoor play and learning in early childhood through a lens of cultural differences and similarities. Five articles are included in this special issue and are preceded by a discussion of the contemporary challenges in this area of research. During the last century, there has been an overwhelming change in the nature of children’s play in western countries (Brussoni, Olsen, Pike & Sleet, 2012). Play is an ambiguous concept concerning children’s “own” activity: a voluntary, intrinsically motivated experience where the activity itself is more important than the outcome (Bateson, 2005; Sutton-Smith, 1997). Play can include activities that are voluntarily engaged in, without adult intervention, characterized by fun, intense activity, spontaneity, freedom and self-initiative (Wiltz & Fein, 2006) but it can also encompass structured play with varying degrees of adult guidance.

Steering a course towards eudaimonia: the effects of sail training on well-being and character

ABSTRACT Sail training voyages have been shown to enhance self-constructs and inter-personal and intra-personal skills. It is suggested through this case-study approach with twelve 14 year-old crew participants that such an experience contributes towards well-being and character development in emerging adulthood. An audit of voyage-based experiences generated an inventory of 58 authentic activities and participants completed questionnaires immediately post-voyage (T1) and six months later (T2) to rate the significance of each activity. The highest rated activities reflected Maslow’s lower order of needs with a two-thirds correspondence at T1 and T2. Helming (or steering the vessel) was ranked as the most significant activity by participants in both time periods, although participants had questioned their ability to do this before the voyage. Helming is suggested to activate cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains in an authentic adventure education experience that contributes to hedonic well-being and may provide a course towards eudaimonia.

Outdoor experiences and sustainability

ABSTRACT Positive outdoor teaching and learning experiences and sound pedagogical approaches undoubtedly have contributed towards an understanding of environmental sustainability but it is not always clear how, and to what extent, education can translate into action. This article argues, with reference to social learning theory, that role modelling, mentoring and sustainable practice, by outdoor educators and using outdoor experiences, can contribute to pro-environmental action by offering an array of possibilities to engender pro-environmental behaviour. Pro-environmental behaviour is situated on the spectrum towards the realisation of a sustainable ‘lifestyle’, which implies a stronger and more committed intent, but might constitute too radical a shift with implied structural change. Using Cooper’s theoretical framework of ‘awareness, empowerment and commitment’, the place of role modelling through long-term mentoring in real, lived, outdoor environments that embrace pro-environmental behaviour is illustrated but further empirical research is required to substantiate the evidence base.

Call for papers for themed edition of the Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning: outdoor play and learning in early childhood from different cultural perspectives

Call for papers for themed edition of the Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning : Outdoor play and learning in early childhood from different cultural perspectives

Text messaging as a near synchronous method of remote support in outdoor adventurous settings

Abstract In transient outdoor adventurous settings such as expeditions, mobile communication is often used in a safety framework or for support. Text messaging (or SMS: Short Message Service) as a near synchronous method is explored in this non-representational micro-research in a cycling expedition context. This interactive approach is supplemented by telephone conversations and post-experience interviews. The dualistic methodological positioning within a phenomenological and ethnographic approach is situated in an expanding trans-disciplinary mobilities discourse. Text messaging is a valid tool for recording meaning and reflexivity of real, lived experiences in this setting and has application for remote supervisors of outdoor adventures.

Children learning outside the classroom: frombirth to eleven

The contributing authors to this book focus on the definition of ‘outside’ as the ‘outdoors’ and ‘environments beyond the classroom’. Although this might be considered to be narrower than the U.K.’s Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto (2006) definition, it is perhaps more useful for international readership. The book draws together theory and practice with an emphasis on engagement with outdoor spaces and the importance of learning beyond the classroom for all children from the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS: birth to five years) to the end of Primary education (eleven years). The terminology of the text does relate to the English National Curriculum and it could have been scoped further to include the Welsh and Northern Irish curricula and the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence, especially given the opportunities for outdoor learning therein. International readers will need to note the ages of the children to which the various sections apply to translate and transmute practice. However, although the market is awash with texts about play in early childhood, this text fulfils a useful niche about outdoor learning and thus, should be of considerable interest to readers of JAEOL who are practitioners or researchers in this phase.