Background/Purpose Adventure Based Learning (ABL) is highly structured physical activities with periods of reflection (i.e., debrief) that help promote personal and social development. ABL has been used in physical education to help students develop intra- and interpersonal relationships (Sutherland, Ressler, & Stuhr, 2009), yet there is little evidence regarding documentation of student outcomes in ABL. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which middle school students were able to develop/demonstrate interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships within and outside physical education.
Method Consistent with the institutions Institutional Review Board each participant gave informed consent to participate in this qualitative study. The Sunday Afternoon Drive Model (Stuhr, Sutherland, Ressler, & Lorson, 2011) was utilized as the framework to guide the study. A 20-session ABL unit of instruction was taught to 160 students by two facilitators. Multiple sources of data were collected through observations (videotape), interviews, documents (journals/drawings), and photo voice. Open and axial coding (Corbin & Strauss, 2008), and constant comparison method (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 Both facilitators were able to collect evidence indicating student demonstration of the desired interpersonal and intrapersonal behavior within and outside physical education, as was taught/practiced during the ABL unit.
Conclusions Recommendations for PETE include: implementing the Sunday Afternoon Drive Model as a valid framework for ABL, and teaching pre-service teachers how to create affective assessment to specifically capture ABL student outcomes.