The debrief is an integral and essential aspect of Adventure Based Learning (ABL). The debrief fosters participant understanding and helps them make sense of their unique ABL experiences. While the debrief should be student-centered and transfer learning to other areas of the students' life, recent research has indicated that facilitating an effective debrief is not an easy process for Teacher Candidates to learn (Sutherland, Ressler, & Stuhr, 2009). The Experiential Learning Cycle (Kolb, 19984) is often used as a model for conducting a debrief. However, this model does not provide sufficient guidance for novice ABL facilitators in leading a meaningful debrief. The purpose of this study was to develop a debrief model for novice facilitators.
Method
This study utilized ABL courses taught by experienced facilitators in three different PETE programs within the USA. Consistent with the institutions Institutional Review Board (IRB) each participant gave informed consent to participate in the study, which included videotaping of lessons, and face-to-face interviews. The courses ranged from 8-10 weeks in length and were structured to introduce experiential learning and ABL, the importance of sequencing in ABL, role of the facilitator, the importance of processing (brief and debrief), experience of activities, and facilitation of activities. Experiential learning as proposed by Jarvis (2004) guided this interpretive qualitative study. Data were collected through: 50 observations, and face-to-face semi-structured interviews with four experienced facilitators and 30 undergraduate students. Line by line coding and constant comparison (Strauss & Corbin, 1984) were used to analyze the data. Trustworthiness was established through prolonged engagement, member checking, peer debriefing, and negative case analysis.
Analysis/Results
The model that was developed as a result of this study utilized the metaphor of a Sunday afternoon drive. The facilitator begins the drive with ideas for the final destination, but without a set route of how to arrive there. A roadmap (i.e. lesson plan) exists for the start of the drive (i.e., debrief), but the facilitator follows the various rhythms, feelings, power, and aesthetics of the road (i.e., the ABL group) as they negotiate the journey. The model is both systematic and cyclical in nature. The components of the model include: brief, experience, initial debrief formation/activity, exploring comments/concepts, normalizing and probing issues, generalize, and transfer.
Conclusions
Recommendations for PETE include: (a) developing in-depth content knowledge in ABL and debriefing techniques, (b) providing examples of a meaningful debrief, and (c) opportunities to both critique and lead the debrief process.