Browsing by Subject "Adventure learning"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Adventure, Inquiry, and Technology as Driving Forces in Sustainability Education
    (2016-06) Henrickson, Jeni
    Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has increasingly taken on importance around the world, in part due to the growing awareness of environmental concerns such as climate change, and in part due to a challenge set forth by the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning. There is, as a result, a growing body of ESD literature (e.g., see Blum, Nazir, Breiting, Goh, & Pedretti, 2013; Chalkey, 2006; De Hann, Bormann, & Leicht, 2010; Eilam & Trop, 2011; Green & Somerville, 2014; Karatzoglou, 2013; Kemmis & Mutton, 2012; Reunamo & Pipere, 2011; Rieckmann, 2013; Walshe, 2008; Weaver, 2015), and many places in the developed world have begun to establish policies addressing ESD. Adventure has been incorporated into sustainability education in a variety of ways throughout history: through literature, outdoor and physical education, field-based exploration and research, and most recently, technology, which has, for example, allowed learners to journey virtually along with explorers and scientists on expeditions to the far-reaches of the world. Technology has also enhanced and expanded the types of adventures we can engage in today, such as through advances in equipment and tools that allow us to explore regions of the planet that were previously inaccessible, and to participate in events previously unimagined, via the personal computer, the Internet, and mobile devices. The three related studies that comprise this dissertation focus on the use of adventure learning as a driving force in inquiry-based sustainability education. These studies examine three different online adventure learning projects. Paper 1 shares research conducted on the role of adventure in the GoNorth! adventure learning series, and advances suggestions for how adventure might be employed in distance, online, and mobile learning in ways that promote experiential learning and sustainability education. Paper 2 examines to what extent an informal online learning environment such as WeExplore might provide a technology-fueled classroom tool for teachers that fosters inquiry and creativity while allowing learners to design authentic transdisciplinary experiences grounded in contemporary issues. Paper 3 shares data and narratives from six Earthducation field expeditions and examines how education might influence sustainability in differing contexts and geographical locations. Findings from the studies indicate adventure learning is a promising model that educators and designers can draw from in both formal and informal learning settings as a means to fuse inquiry, sustainability education, and technology in a pedagogically meaningful way that engages learners and teachers alike. The studies advance our understanding of how we might better design technology-enhanced learning environments that foster engagement and creativity while encouraging learner curiosity and wonder and cultivating inquiry and collaboration.
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    An engaging adventure : a study to assess the engagement and community-building potential of an online learning environment constructed using the adventure learning framework.
    (2010-11) Henrickson, Jeni Kathryn
    This paper investigates the experiences of elementary school children with My Great State, an online learning environment constructed using the adventure learning framework. Through surveys, interviews, direct observation, and focus groups, data was gathered as students explored the My Great State site, completed associated inquiry-based activities, and then collaboratively generated a blog about their community. The results indicate that the adventure learning framework is an effective tool for designing and developing an online learning environment that actively engages learners, stimulates a desire to learn, and encourages collaborative and creative problem solving. The study also revealed methods and tools teachers can incorporate in the classroom to help keep students on task and excited about learning.
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    Future learning landscapes: international agroecology education and outreach through online social networks and geographic information systems
    (2014-06) Runck, Bryan Christopher
    Chapter 1: Given that much of the learning about international agroecology would ideally occur outside the classroom, Adventure Learning (AL) and Systems Action Education (SAE) can offer synergistic approaches that synthesize these methodologies into a cohesive student learning experience. This paper reports on the evolution of a series of international agroecology courses offered from 2009 to 2011 that progressively integrated AL and SAE approaches in course design. The courses were taught by a University of Minnesota professor as he bicycled across Africa (2009 and 2010) and South America (2011), exploring various landscapes, crops, climatic regions and food systems with students back home via distance technologies. End-of-course survey responses indicated that students 1) did not find the course any more rigorous than similar level courses, 2) found the course much more unique (p < 0.01), and 3) increased their desire to travel abroad (p < 0.01). Our examination also revealed challenges and opportunities inherent with AL and SAE-merged classrooms. Overall, we found that AL and SAE approaches could be integrated to enhance agroecology education and can make courses inspiring, challenging, and rewarding. The result could have implications for schools that seek to prepare students to work in a global environment.Chapter 2: In response to calls to further synthesize Systems Action Education (SAE) and Adventure Learning (AL), a new action education framework is presented called the Extended Classroom Framework (ECF) for teaching systems of analysis of food systems. ECF integrates SAE and AL with the Circulatory System of Science (CSS) to describe how the experiential classroom interacts with society. In the fall of 2012, the ECF was utilized to design a hybrid course (e.g. half face-to-face, half online) at the undergraduate level that explored four different international agroecoregions through the perspective of on-the-ground collaborators. By utilizing online geographic information systems and an online social network, students digitally explored the agroecosystems as open-ended cases with the guidance of the local collaborator. A pre-test and post-test of the Intercultural Development Inventory and the New Ecological Paradigm survey were given to the students. Students also wrote four reflective journals throughout the semester that were coded and thematically analyzed. 85.5% of students showed significant positive shifts individually in the developed orientation (p < 0.05). Additionally, four out of seven students showed significant decreases in their intercultural orientation gap. Every student ended the course similarly or less culturally disengaged to a primary cultural group, with 85.7% of students in the resolved category, which compares with 57.1% at the beginning of the course. NEP Survey had a poor response rate, and was statistically insignificant. Student reflective journals illustrated growth in considering agroecosystems contextually and as coupled human-environmental systems. These results show that the ECF offers a viable framework for developing student capacities to engage wicked problems.