Adventure Education: Impact on Team Building, Trust and Cooperation (MEPD article)
Abstract
Physical education class has started. The students are moving and competing in
the day?s planned activity. Students are learning the specifics of the activity/sport and are
improving their fitness levels. Sounds like everything is going fine, right? Well, not
exactly! Some students are reluctant to participate out of fear that they are not good
enough or will fail. Others may not be capable of performing at the same level as their
peers, may have a poor self-esteem, or may learn better through affective learning as
compared to intellectual learning. There is an abundance of factors that play into a class
running smoothly and the students gaining from the class experience. These are some of
the challenges faced by physical education teachers. Throughout my 18 years of teaching
physical education and coaching, I have encountered all of these challenges and more, as
well as the rewards that accompany teaching. Entering this school year, I reflected on
past teaching experiences and my personal beliefs and philosophies for the classroom,
asking myself how I might improve. I was hoping to find activities that were less
competitive, more cooperative, and more fitting to the needs of all my students, thus
decreasing the daily challenges each of them faces, yet giving them something that would
benefit them throughout their life, in addition to being fit. Solas (1992) suggests that
teachers and students have particular views of the teaching and learning process, which
inform and shape what transpires when they are engaged in the process. Exploring how
educational theories relate to the teacher and students? behaviors within a typical
classroom helps us to understand our teaching, and make it more context-specific and
realistic.
Subject
Adventure education -- Psychological aspects
Teamwork (Sports)