Describes an incident in which a group of 10th-grade students in a 1-week outdoor residential program in the Wye Valley (Great Britain) defied program rules, drank alcohol, and had a close call with a near-drowning. Discusses five strategies for dealing with such groups coalesced around a rebellious leader. (SV)

Outdoor adventure-based professionals must take on the challenge of integrating the experiential-learning philosophy and values-clarification component of adventure education into the entire school curriculum. As good role models and good risk takers, adventure-based educators are well suited to push for educational reforms that focus on the…

Outdoor education can play a vital role in developing the understanding, skills, and attitudes needed to encourage a more sustainable lifestyle for the coming century. Direct experiences with nature engage the whole person, develop a feeling of kinship with the Earth, encourage alternatives to mechanistic thinking and materialistic values, and…

Summarizes responses of outdoor education practitioners and students to questionnaires covering the relationship between perceived risk taking and the learning process; the extent to which teachers encourage risk taking; the importance of experiential education; and interactions among fear, coping, and self-concept that affect learning. Describes…

An Italian working for Outward Bound in Great Britain describes his exploration of an Outward Bound center in southern France, focusing on the residential facilities, program philosophy, French emphasis on psychology, range of available outdoor activities, and general program design. (SV)

Describes a British outdoor program in which 11- and 12-year-old students were placed in mixed groups containing several ethnic groups and hearing and deaf children. Includes children's comments on outdoor activities, their relationships with other children, and communication problems and their resolution. An adjacent page illustrates 12 British…

Provides 20 questions and answers concerning the process by which a British center of outdoor education, training, or recreation can become approved to award national vocational qualifications. Discusses institutional evaluation procedures, issues of educational competence, fees, and consortium arrangements for small centers. (SV)

Describes a fatal drowning accident in which unemployed young adults in a long-term outdoor program took out kayaks without permission or appropriate safety gear. Reflects on safety information that the author should have provided in prior canoeing sessions with this group. (SV)

Reviews theories of leadership development relevant to the design of outdoor adventure programs for corporate executives and managers. Summarizes likely objectives and methods of outdoor development programs and their theoretical basis. Presents a framework for program comparison that correlates leadership outcomes with learning methods at…

Summarizes theories of group development encompassing the stages of orientation, conflict, integration, achievement, and breakup. Relates group development stages to leadership styles and the leader's relative concern for dimensions of task and relationship. Applies the five-stage model of group development to the progress of groups involved in…

Contrasts the spontaneity and magic of remembered childhood adventures with artificial irrelevant professionalized adventure activities that result in the disempowerment of young people. Calls for a different style of outdoor leadership focused on coaching and facilitating young people as they apply their own strategies to high-risk areas of their…

Examines four frequent assumptions about the relationships between adventure education and experiential learning. Suggests that learning requires more than just doing, that adventure education practitioners must encourage participants to make sense out of their experiences through reflection, and that practitioners themselves must reflect on their…

Contends that young children have little experience in answering test questions and misunderstandings easily arise when they are subjected to tests. Reports on a study of the impact of testing expectations on 110 Dutch primary school students. Finds that clear explanations about the testing situation leads to better performance. (CFR)

Asserts that two conflicting versions of history were taught to Estonian children during Soviet rule. Maintains that, although the official version was taught at school, the unofficial one was discovered by each child with the help of parents or other adults. (CFR)

Discusses problems of maintaining higher education geography fieldwork in an era of increasing class size. Presents and describes 13 strategies for coping with these problems. Recommends that individual teachers and geography departments redesign their fieldwork programs in accordance with their priorities. (CFR)