Background/Purpose Adventure Based Learning (ABL) has the potential to help teachers promote prosocial learning environments in physical education (Stuhr & Baringer, 2005). A student-centered debrief is essential in helping students make sense of intra- and interpersonal relationships (Sutherland, Ressler, & Stuhr, 2009); social emotional learning or SEL (Hoffman, 2009) within ABL. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a newly developed ABL framework and the perceptions/misconceptions held by PETE students regarding SEL.
Method This study utilized ABL courses taught by faculty in two different PETE programs. Consistent with the institutions Institutional Review Board (IRB) each participant gave informed consent to participate, which included videotaping, interviews, and journal entries. Courses ranged from 7-10 weeks and introduced ABL, SEL, the debrief, and the actual facilitation of ABL. Data were collected through observations, semi-structured interviews, and journal entries with 65 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 Developing in-depth debriefing techniques can increase facilitation effectiveness; however, many students did not see the relevancy of using SEL within ABL. Students had difficulty aligning ABL outcomes with physical education standards.
Conclusions Recommendations for PETE include: implementing the Sunday Afternoon Drive framework to produce proper debriefs, and allotting time to discuss with students the relevancy of using SEL within ABL and how SEL can help teachers meet standards.