I have attached a PDF of my lit review on Adventure Learning. I am sure that there will be modifications, additions, and generally re-mashing of the product before my masters has been completed.
I have had a wonderful time learning with my fellow #tiegrad cohort this term. At times it has been a struggle to keep up with all the wonderful personal adventures everyone has had along with attempting to grow my PLN. I have met a few people via twitter that I have followed and interacted with on a limited basis, but I have come to realize that the community of learners within the #tiegrad program is so rich, diverse, and prolific that I find myself following them more than trying to find new individuals at this point in my PLN journey. The course this term has allowed me to “Shed my Shell” and become more comfortable sharing ideas online. I know there is more to come and I look forward to continued growth in my learning sharing.
As for my learning project this term, I was able to complete a beer brewing process all the way from the initial grain mash in to bottle conditioning the beer. It only has a few more days to go before it is ready to consume and I am excited to see how it turned out. I learned quite a bit about the brewing process over the term, from the different temperatures required to extract sugars from the grains and allow for optimal conditions for yeast to be active to the different reasons you introduce hops at varied times in the boil process. The beer brewed this term is from a recipe called May the 4th be with you and is a C3PAle that will be very aromatic, moderately hoppy, and on the low side of alcohol content (4.9%). I look forward to the first taste.
The creativity of the various #tiegrad learning artifacts has been very inspirational. I feel most comfortable behind the camera and as a result have created a video artifact that demonstrates some of my learning this term as well as a summary of my learning project. I hope you enjoy it.
The other day our Master’s cohort was lucky enough to have a presentation from Audrey Watters. She challenged our group to think of the need for diversity in the technology field in terms of who is creating the tools we use because technology is created to solve problems that we encounter (or perceive to be) in daily life. As a result of the lack of women and minorities within the technology filed, there is a limited breadth and depth to the reasons technology is created which results in limitations towards the type of technology that is created. This idea of limitation in thinking (and doing) led me to question how the education community tends to be focused on how education works with blinders on at times and rarely looks laterally to other professions to access ideas. I recently read an article in the Verdict (2012) that provided lawyers with a summary of how to use social media within their practice. Normally I would not look to a lawyer publication for ideas, but this caught my attention. A few quotes resonated with me.
- “Create Value”. [the author] urge[d] others to… follow [this] one golden rule. Chris Wejr posted a similar tweet a while back that urged others to provide meaningful content online. This is an important point. Using your social media to provide meaningful content that others find value in is a benefit to your entire PLN. Your social media does not need to be strictly professional in the sense that it should also be an avenue to present personal insights into your life (vacations, activities, and hobbies), but cutting out frivolous comments about the shape of your breakfast pancake might be a step in the right direction.
- “…online comments have a long lasting, potentially permanent footprint [due to] the inherently public nature of social media platforms…” While many might think this statement is obvious, some still do not recognize the significance of their actions online and this includes the students (and at times teachers) in our schools. Providing students with activities that promote understanding of this idea and fostering positive interactions online is important.
Another area of investigation outside the education field can come from business. The statement in education that is used frequently is that failure can be a necessary step towards understanding and it should not be thought of negatively. Attempting a challenging task, failing, then trying again is an important educational cycle. In business it could be argued that the synonym may very well be risk taking. The idea of risk taking and resulting reward has been studied in business previously. Individuals who have higher desires to achieve are more willing to take risks and these individuals were also more educated than those less likely to undertake risk-taking behaviours (Chen, Su, and Wu, 2012). Translating this to educational settings it has been noted that gifted students are more likely to retry after failure of a perceived challenging task than average students (Bogie and Buckhalt, 1987). This suggests that it is important to support students through tasks in various ways (Scaffolding, etc.) in order to improve students perception that the task, although challenging and failure may occur, is ultimately attainable. Students need to feel that they are capable of achieving an outcome and this confidence should lead to more frequent risk taking behaviours.
Bringing this direction of thought back to our discussion with Audrey, it is important to provide an educational environment that is not gender restrictive in terms of our pre-conceived notions towards technology. This goes for students and staff. It is important to remove stereotypes from our teaching practices that have traditionally placed an emphasis on technology users being a high percentage male, not female. The way we present courses has to be cognizant that we do not perpetuate the gender inequity currently seen in the technology sector.
References:
Bogie, C. E., & Buckhalt, J. A. (1987). Reactions to failure and success among gifted, average, and EMR students. Gifted Child Quarterly, 31(2), 70-74.
Chen, S., Su, X., & Wu, S. (2012). Need for achievement, education, and entrepreneurial risk-taking behavior. Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal, 40(8), 1311-1318.
“I love what I do.” This statement is made time and time again by individuals in respect to their professions. It is an important component of life health. Enjoying your work aids in mental health. Enjoyment can also result in the demonstration of enthusiasm for what we do. It is this overt enthusiasm for our subject matter and our jobs that is important in teaching. Students are very observant and when enthusiasm is demonstrated in your teaching practice they notice. A question our staff is asking is how to decrease the apathy that students are showing towards school. In an article by Murray Mitchell entitled Teacher Enthusiasm: Seeking Student Learning and Avoiding Apathy (2013), he forms a link between the enthusiasm demonstrated by the teacher and the excitement that results in the learning process by students within physical education classes. I find that when I am sick or tired and am unable to participate in classes (at all or on a limited basis) the energy in the class is significantly lower. Students who are less motivated to engage in the activity will use the opportunity to withdraw from the class. Individuals that are traditionally highly motivated to engage in the sport will be less excited to play. My enthusiasm has a direct consequence on the engagement of the learner.
Our school administration goes through a process of asking all teachers what they would like to teach. Although not every teacher ends up with exactly what they request, this process allows for the majority of our staff to teach courses they enjoy. The enjoyment of the subject matter is important. Equally important is the ability to demonstrate that enthusiasm to the students. Mitchell (2013) provides an assessment tool for enthusiasm in his paper that can be used to self-evaluate or be used by students to provide instructors with feedback regarding the perceived enthusiasm of instructors.
It may be hard at times to model enthusiasm due to a number of outside influences. One key aspect of demonstrating that Murray (2013) discussed was the importance of preparation. Teachers can show that they are excited about the topic or subject matter simply by demonstrating that they are prepared for the lesson. PE teachers who have equipment ready and in working order for the day show a higher level of readiness than those who ask class what they want to do and pull out equipment that may be in disrepair. Modelling effective preparation and continually striving to demonstrate an enthusiasm for your subject matter will lead to a decrease in student apathy and an increase in enjoyment by your students.
Mitchell, M. (2013). Teacher Enthusiasm: Seeking Student Learning and Avoiding Apathy. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 84(6), 19-24.
The following film summarizes my thoughts on Community, Challenge and Joy.
We were fortunate to have Dean Shareski present to our UVic TIE graduate cohort this past week. There were a number of themes presented during the evening and I wanted to touch on a few of them here.
Community
I am part of many different communities, both online and off. I feel as though the strongest connections I have are with communities I interact with face to face. I love the biking community I am a part of. I can meet someone for the first time on a ride and we have an instant connection based on our sport. I also have a large school community. The teachers, students, support staff and administration all add to the community that makes our school a dynamic and exciting place to be every day. I learn from everyone in our school on a daily basis. Students have shown me how to throw a frisbee better, introduced me to nuances of photoshop, and asked questions in class I can’t answer that pushes me to learn more. The communities and interactions within them challenge me do do more, to be more, and to question more. I love being in the woods and seeing others complete a line on their bike for the first time. It inspires me to ride harder lines and accomplish more on my bike. Communities are vital for learning, a point Dean made many times in our class. When I interact online I am beginning to become more connected with the people I meet, but I admit I struggle to gain as much meaning from my online interactions as I do from my F2F communities. I find many of my interactions occur in isolation (asynchronous) and the banter becomes delayed causing me to loose interest in a particular topic faster than when I am chatting live (video conference or F2F).
Concept of Hard vs Challenging
A discussion began around the concept of high school courses being hard (difficult) and that teachers were heard at a conference discussion the fact that they were impressed with the fact that their courses were hard. Many other terms were lumped into hard (including challenging and rigour). I am not a proponent of making a course hard for the sake of hard, but I don’t agree that the terms hard and challenging are the same, or that challenging is a bad thing. Learners need to be challenged. The challenge will not be the same for all learners. One learner may find balancing on a bike challenging and their focus is to move the bike down a quiet street under their own power without touching the ground. Other may find riding a 5 inch wide log 20 feet above the ground challenging. I think we need challenges in our life. A learning project that is easy can disengage the learner quickly much like one that is far to challenging to complete. This is the same way game designers create games. A game needs to be challenging enough to make the player return and try again, not too challenging to frustrate and not too easy to complete without any effort. This is the same way we run our mountain school programs. There are hiking opportunities for all levels of fitness and we steer students into a hike that will challenge them, keep them interested, and allow them to achieve the outcome at the end of the day. Students who choose hikes that are too easy tend to be distracted and in turn distract others and become a safety issue. At the other end of the spectrum students on a hike that is way to challenging become a safety issue for the group due to their struggles to continue.
Sharing
I co-taught an intro to outdoor filming course over the weekend and in one discussion a participant said that they would love to come and see what our school is doing. They are a member of the local community, have no children in the school presently, but want to see what is going on. It is important to share what is occurring in our schools. This sharing should not be focused solely on other teaching professionals, but distributed to a wider audience. I think sharing nights for the community and using media to share out what we are doing is important. I have done a very poor job of this so far in my teaching profession and need to be better at it. We discussed the fear around sharing. Teachers may be afraid that what they are doing does not warrant sharing. Others hold on to their practices and do not share because they feel the work they put into their lessons is theirs alone.
Joy
I left this topic to the end, not because it is least important, but because it is the take away from the night that I want to leave you with. Joy is so important. I say the joy this weekend in the participants learning new skills, wanting more, and laughing with each. Joy is such an important part of life. I exude joy every turn down a backcountry ski bowl and every jump or berm on my bike. It is that joy that we need to foster in our students. We need to cultivate a community where that is the rule, not the exception. I try to present my joy of the topics I teach in the hopes that my students will see that passion and engage. I would love to hear what others think about how to promote the concept of joy within the classroom.
There is a craft home brewing store in Chilliwack called True North Brewing Supply that i picked my recipe from. The name and the beer type spoke to me – May the 4th be with you – C3-PA. I went down a few weeks ago and picked up all the ingredients for our brew and headed into North Vancouver last weekend to begin my first brew. There are a number of steps involved in brewing and I have summarized them below as well as added a video at the end to provide a visual summary of the process. This specific recipe calls for a dry hop and secondary fermentation process after 7 days. This is not included yet as it has not happened. I will generate a complete video that will include this as well as the bottling process later.
1. Water Boil – Water needs be boiled and Gypsum is added to adjust the pH of your water. The amount of Gypsum will vary depending on your initial water quality. The temperature of water will vary slightly depending on the recipe. Our recipe called for a temperature of 161.1 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Mash In – This step involves adding your grains to your boiled water. This process releases the sugars from the grains in order to provide food to your yeast later on. The mash in step takes 60 mins.
3. Sparge – This step involves adding a higher heat to your mash in order to expel all the sugars from your mash. There are two techniques commonly used (Fly sparging and Batch sparging). We used the fly sparging technique. Once you have drained off your final volume needed into the boil pot you are ready for the next step. You have now collected what is referred to as wort.
4. Boil – This step consists of heating your wort to the boil break (proteins will denature and your wort begins to boil) then timing your boil for 60mins. At specific time points you add your hops to the boil. Our recipe called for 4 different hops to be added at various times. The hops add various elements to your finished beer (first hops are bittering, second are for flavour, and third are your aroma hops) You also add Irish Moss at a specific time (our recipe called for it at 10min left in the boil process) in order to settle out suspended particles at the end of the brew process.
5. Wort Cooling – This process needs to happen as quickly as possible. Some brewers use an ice bath, but for efficiency there are copper coil wort coolers and this is the way we cooled our beer. Once the wort is down to 20 degrees celsius we can then transfer.
6. Carboy Transfer – the carboy is the final point for the wort and the vessel used for the fermentation process.
7. Specific Gravity – Before yeast is added, specific gravity of the wort needs to be established. Once the fermentation process is complete specific gravity is again taken. The difference in the two are put into an equation in order to determine the alcohol content of your beer.
8. Yeast – This process is simply adding your specific yeast you are using to your carboy containing wort. All yeasts will have different properties so each recipe will call for a different type of yeast to be used.
9. Seal – You now seal your carboy and add an airlock in order to allow for release of gasses without contamination of your wort. Our recipe calls for a 2 stage fermentation process where we add dry hops to the mixture at the 7 day mark. A subsequent post will include this process as well as bottling and a complete video of the entire process.
We were lucky enough to have Alan Levine (@cogdog) as a guest presenter in our EDCI569 course this past week. The focus of his presentation was on digital storytelling. I was definitely inspired to introduce some of the concepts he presented with my digital media class as I think it is the best fit given my current teaching load. I needed some space and time after the presentation to think about a reflective write and had a chance to get out on the snow (what’s left of it) and begin to think. I found myself trying to decide what storytelling is and decided I needed to research this first before reflecting on the process of digital storytelling.
Here are a few definitions of storytelling I found.
1. From the National Storytelling Network (http://www.storynet.org/resources/whatisstorytelling.html)
A. Storytelling is interactive.
B. Storytelling uses words.
C. Storytelling uses actions such as vocalization, physical movement and/or gesture.
D. Storytelling presents a story.
E. Storytelling encourages the active imagination of the listeners.
2. From Zidane.com (http://www.zideate.com/definition/162/storytelling)
“…illustrating an otherwise difficult concept, to drive home a point or to encourage consumer loyalty through entertainment or emotional connection.”
Historically, storytelling utilized verbal communication in order to present the message, but there are other forms of storytelling that have taken place. Although totem poles may not tell a story in the truest sense of the word, they are used by indigenous cultures to document stories and histories of community, family or clan members (Huang, 2009). Poles certainly fulfill some of the aspects of storytelling as they encourage imagination and present a story. Radio, although not interactive (audience and storyteller), the other components of storytelling remain intact.
“The medium is the message” – Marshall McLuhan
The Marhall McLuhan quote does seem to usher in a new phase in the storytelling saga with the idea that the content of the story becomes secondary to the medium that presents it. With the advent of visual medium (tv, internet), many suggested that the medium transitioned storytelling towards pure entertainment. Arjun Adamson (2011) states that “Great storytelling is ultimately about capturing elegant context to the complexity and nuances of life”. Using Adamson’s summation of storytelling we can argue that any medium may create a strong story and that ultimately digital content may create a more compelling storytelling environment for the audience. Tingöy, et. al. (2006) explain that digital stories provide deep dimension to characters and insights by incorporating music, images and voice together. Helping students become media literate is also a benefit of digital storytelling (Tingöy, et. al., 2006). In our new digital age, what constitutes storytelling vs uploading moments in time. I would argue that storytelling must be thoughtful insights into our lives. Simply uploading a vine video does not necessarily tell a story, but if that upload has been developed to explain some greater meaning in our world in a contemplative manner then it would be defined as storytelling.
Alan Levine presented us with some concrete examples of what Digital Storytelling can be. I would classify some as re-telling and others as storytelling. The following are three examples that he has used, but many more can be found on http://ds106.us.
After reading a story, come up with 4 symbols that represent that story. Individuals that have read the story should be able to recognize the story based on the symbols you have used.
1. Using http://petchaflickr.net
The concept of petchaflickr is based on the petcha kucha presentation style that utilizes 20 seconds to present each of 20 slides. Petchaflickr is used to generate random images from a key word search of flickr.com (number of slides and slide interval can be manipulated) that you create a story from. The storyteller(s) have no knowledge of what images come up.
3. Silent Film
Take a film trailer and convert it into a silent film. The process makes the creator determine what components of the film can convey the meaning of the film without using any verbal narration.
Digital storytelling has altered the way we perceive the telling of stories, but the use of this medium has generated great educational tools. There are a number of easily accessible tools we can use. Our focus this week is to present a tool to our class. We need to demonstrate the pedagogical use of the tool. I have decided to use instagram and iMovie for iPhone to create a framework for digital storytelling. Use the @oblongsquare handle to view my digital story entitled Godfather pt1 in 15s. The framework is quite simple. Take a story you have read and break it down into 5 distinct sections. It took me about 10mins to do this stage. Determine an image or video 3 seconds in length that will represent each section. This took me a little longer, around 20 mins. Use your iPhone to take images or video for each section. I completed this in about 20 mins. Combine these photos and videos into a 15 second short in iMovie and export it. Upload the video to instagram and share it with the world!
Reference List
Adamson, A. (2011). What is great storytelling? Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/conversations/6249/what_is_great_storytelling.html
Huang, A. (2009). Totem Poles. Retrieved from http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/culture/totem-poles.html
Tingöy, Ö., Günefler, A., Öngün, E., Demirag, A., & Köroglu, O. (2006). Using storytelling in education. In 4th International Symposium of Interactive Media Design Proceedings (pp. 28-30).
Retrieved from: http://newmedia.yeditepe.edu.tr/pdfs/isimd_06/24.pdf
The focus of this paper is to provide a framework for educators to implement the AL@ approach to Adventure Learning (AL). The authors used a number of plot programs to devel;op the AL@ approach. AL is unique in adventure education because it is “grounded on theory, practice, and research with continuous development and refinement.” (Veletsianos & Kleanthous, 2009). AL has been refined over the years from a 7 principle framework originally designed by Doering (2007) as a result of the GoNorth! program to one that also includes 2 principles via the learning technology collaborative in 2010 to allow for greater ease of implementation by educators. AL@ blends the principles of AL with a place-based model of education that highlights the connection and relationship to place. AL@ also decreases the barriers, as seen by the authors, of AL by using inexpensive technology to implement the program.
There were three pilot programs incorporated into the study paper. All pilot projects engaged students in authentic science in the field, a component of AL that has previously been the domain of experts only. The following take aways were provided from each pilot project:
First Pilot: troubleshooting technology in the field was the primary focus.
Second Pilot: Increased guidance for collaboration between students, teachers and content experts.
Third Pilot: AL@ approach was used within weekly environmental education programs for students.
The third pilot program had grade 5 and 6 students involved in media gathering, analyzing, reflecting upon, and uploading on a daily basis. This allowed students to become experts of their own experiences and when shared within a larger narrative resulted in a greater sense of purpose. The result of the three pilot programs was a series of lesson take aways that are summarized below.
Curriculum Development
Communication between teachers and program administration at the ground level of idea generation is very important. It was noted that teachers engages with the same online environment in different ways. Some used iPads and had students view trail reports (to be discussed later) individually while others viewed the content as a group. The authors concluded that creating concrete time constraints were important and that linking curriculum to localized exploration was also a key part of the success of the programs.
Education Basecamp
The thought of the basecamp was both person based and philosophy based. A physical entity needed to interact with the expedition team for content delivery, collaboration and problem solving so program content could be delivered uninterrupted. The philosophy behind the basecamp was a way of organizing experiences happening both in the classroom and in the field so that interactions could be efficient and this played a critical role in the engagement of audiences.
Technology
The most challenging component of the technology aspect is to build in collaborative and interactive components to the site. For the pilot programs wordpress was used as it was low cost and robust. The importance of determining what content media service was supported by the local educational institute was stated in the paper. Other media tools used for the programs were also chosen for their low cost and ease of use.
Photos – Lightroom (adobe.com)
Video – Handbrake for compression (handbrake.fr)
Video Host – Vimeo (vimeo.com)
A key point that was made was the need for consent of release documents as a result of photography uploads.
Authentic Narratives
A template was created called the trail report that captured the day’s experiences from the participants perspective. This tool was a useful reflective tool, provided individualization, and acted as a procedural tool as well. It was also provided teachers with a formative assessment tool and reinforced a culture of inquiry with the students.
Next Steps
The key next step for the authors was to provide professional development for teachers to implement the AL@ program design. This Pro-D would help teachers
1. Develop web tools and media collection technology for the program
2. Provide hands on experiences with every aspect of the framework
3. Show linkages between the curriculum and the AL@ principles
Miller, B. G., Hougham, R. J., & Eitel, K. B. (2013). The practical enactment of Adventure Learning: Where will you AL@?. TechTrends, 57(4), 28-33.
Veletsianos, G., & Kleanthous, I. (2009). A review of adventure learning. The International Review Of Research In Open And Distributed Learning, 10(6), 84-105.
Reflections and Thoughts
I think this is a great practical design for implementing Adventure Learning principles. It allows for teachers to utilize outdoor spaces in the immediate area in order to provide students the necessary space to undertake inquiry based learning. The focus on making it inexpensive and easy for teachers to use is also an important aspect of the framework. When reading this paper, I envisioned creating a google community that could share the learning by students. A dedicated website could be created easily to store the initial videos and curriculum linkages that students would go to before entering their local wild spaces to undertake their particular place-based inquiry projects.
During our EDCI569 course with @courosa this term we have been given the opportunity to build/enhance our personal learning network. I have been a twitter user for a few years, but have not done a very good job of using it effectively in professional development until very recently. The community I interact with the most is my fellow #tiegrad cohort I am currently completing my MEd with. I have only branched out in a limited way from tweets that I read from these individuals, but the meaningful connections that must be made to create a useful PLN have not occurred. A tweet that crossed my phone a while ago from @ChrisWejr had me thinking about how I use twitter and stated (to my fuzzy recollection) that individuals need to provide meaningful contributions to the twitter universe. It began my thinking about how I interact with the twitter medium. I use it to post links to blog entries and reposting interesting links or comments from others. I tend to lurk around a few chat groups (#outdoored, #bcedchat), but have found the format to date difficult to engage with in a way that I find meaningful. I recently found a post from Debbie Morrison on how to create a robust and meaningful PLN and her suggestions revolved around engaging with MOOC’s and interacting with a limited number of people within that environment. I see this as a good way to begin engaging with others that are (hopefully) in a similar frame of mind regarding educational practices. I think this is also a good way of tackling a daunting twitter chat where many contributors can leave me feeling overwhelmed. I do like to go back and scan the chat after it has happened because I have troubles with the wealth of information shared in the moment. Maybe this is a result of viewing this on my phone and I need to become better at using a proper app to apply filters to the conversations (if that is possible?). I like the suggestion by Debbie, in her post, to engage in Blog commenting. I find the less dynamic nature of blogs easier to handle. By that I guess I mean the asynchronous nature that allows me to read, digest and respond to the post without feeling pressure to initiate conversation in the moment within the very limited character number that twitter allows. I will continue to venture on and improve my skills in creating my PLN. My goal is to connect with one person this week that has used the #outdoored feed and has posted something that is in line with my thoughts regarding education and the outdoor environment.
Moos and Honkomp (2011) utilized the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to better understand the relationship between motivation and Adventure Learning (AL). SDT is based on 3 universal needs (Competence, Relatedness, and Autonomy) and when these needs are met individuals function and grow optimally (Deci & Ryan, 2008).
Moos and Honkomp (2011) argue that AL satisfies all three needs as follows:
Autonomy: encouragement of problem solving via facilitation of independent thought and promotion of student initiative.
Competence: mastery and control of environment
Relatedness: collaboration within environment satisfies belonging
Researchers proposed to answer the following questions:
- To what extend does adventure learning enhance learning in the area of social studies?
- To what extent does adventure learning enhance motivation as it relates to learning?
- To what extent does the SDT explain students’ perceptions of adventure learning?
Researchers used the AL environment www.Go4thesummit.com. The content was produced by a teacher from the middle school at which the grade 7 and 8 subjects attended. A total of 198 students participated, with a gender distribution of 61% female and 39% male. The study used a mixed-method approach with Quantitative measures from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) and a pre/post test multiple choice measure. 5 Motivation Subscales from the MSLQ were used (Intrinsic and extrinsic goal orientation, task-value, self-efficacy and control beliefs). Qualitative measures were derived from interviews of 3 grade 7 (2F, 1M) and 8 grade 8 (4F, 4M) students who volunteered for the interviews. The structure of the interview questions were guided by the MSLQ constructs and a concept-indicator model saw used to analyze the data.
3 sessions with the students were performed by the researchers. In the first session they were told that the teacher was going to Africa to hike Mt. Kilimanjaro and they would be receiving updates from him. A MSLQ was performed and a knowledge pretest was given to students. In the second session interviews were performed regarding the feelings around the AL experience. In the third session a second MSLQ was performed and a post-test was given.
Quantitative data showed high initial motivation, but a statistically significant increase was seen after AL in all motivation subclass of the MSLQ. Post-test scores also showed improvement. Qualitative data suggested two themes, the role of technology in the class and that student motivation in AL is best described by the SDT.
Theme 1 – students felt tech increased their understanding of the lesson and that AL was more effective than textbooks.
Theme 2 – Students were more engaged as they new the teacher (Relatedness), they showed feeling of success (Competence) and they wanted to learn and go to Africa (Intrinsic Motivation)
The qualitative data was used to link AL to learning through an increase in motivation.
The challenges with AL as noted by the researchers are as follows:
- Not all students actively engage in inquiry-based learning
- AL is costly to implement
- Small body of research in AL makes link with motivation difficult
- Hard to separate the novelty factor of AL from the actual learning environment
There were a number of limitations discussed by the researchers in regards to this study:
- Students volunteered to be interviewed
- There was a poor gender distribution and only 1 school participated
- The pre-test and post-test were identical
- Socially desirable answers to interview questions may have resulted as the teacher that created the AL was still at the school.
Moos, D.C., and Honkomp, B. (2011) Adventure learning: Motivating students in a minnesota middle school. Journal of research on technology in education. 43(3), 231-252
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2008). Self-determination theory: A macrotheory of human motivation, development, and health. Canadian Psychology, 49(3), 182-185.
Reflections and Thoughts
I think the design of the AL environment in this study provides a unique was of designing subsequent AL designs. The familiarity of the instructor in the AL environment is a positive attribute. It has some issues with research design as noted above, but if motivation is increased via relatedness then a familiarity of the instructor would be good.
I would have like to see a different post-test in order to improve the validity of the study. The ability for the students to complete the AL program and have some insight into what to read or do from the pre-test does put into question the reliability of the outcomes.
The study has made me focus my MEd project into one of creating a local AL website that will link Science 8 curriculum with outdoor adventures in the Cascade mountains. If the study is correct in the interpretation of motivation then place-based relatedness should also improve motivation of students.
Treeline to Shoreline 