In searching for literature about the various manifestations and best practices of the broad notion of experiential learning, the notions of experiential education and adventure education emerged. The Journal of Experiential Education (JEE) is a peer-reviewed, scholarly journal, which publishes articles in a diverse range of in subject areas including, but not limited to, environmental education, service learning, outdoor adventure programming, therapeutic applications, research and theory, the creative arts, and much more. Related to adventure education is mindful place-based education, which Deringer (2017, p. 334) says is about experiencing “place more deeply through incorporating the practice of mindfulness”. Mindfulness entails non-judgmental focusing of one's awareness on the present moment.
Pouty (2007, p. 4) defines adventure education “as direct, active, and engaging learning experiences that involve the whole person and have consequences”, and cites (p. 12) the Kraft and Sakofs (1988) definition for experiential education; which in addition to the first sentence includes: “Students make discoveries and experiment with knowledge themselves instead of hearing or reading about the experiences, thus developing new skills, new attitudes, and new theories or ways of thinking.” Pouty (2007, p. 5) points out that only “20 percent of the population can learn well in a setting where reading and writing are the dominant pedagogy and skill sets” and argues further in favour of adventure education as ideal means towards instilling the following essential competencies required by contemporary workplaces:
- Collaborative teamwork (leveraging the skills of multiple others is a necessity to learn and produce)
- Creative problem solving and product development
- Communication with passion and skill to influence others
- A sense of ethics and corporate responsibility for greater community
Panicucci (2007, p. 44) outlines the importance of adhering to the adventure wave, a metaphor for the three essential components illustrated below, namely (a) the briefing—framing thereof or an introduction thereto; (b) the doing—immersing in the actual experience or event, the crest or climax; and (c) debriefing—reflection time after the wave passed.
The benefits of a simulated learning experience can be optimised by directly frontloading during briefing. Gass and Stevens (2007, p. 105) explain that “Frontloading refers to specifically highlighting the learning that is to take place before, or in front of” it happening. The briefing would include clarifying the objectives; motivating what might be derivable from the anticipated experience; indicating what behaviours and actions would enhance or contribute (function) to bigger success; but also what may hinder (dysfunction) accomplishments. Indirect frontloading is more subtle, the making of suggestions, giving of tips, or offering alternatives/options. In some instances direct frontloading could be detrimental in that participants become obsessed with task completion, rather than deriving the learning benefits.
The debriefing part of the adventure wave can be enhanced by funnelling, in which a group is guided through a serious of six stags or filters (Gass & Stevens, 2007: pp. 112-114). Imagine a funnel with the narrow end pointing downward, as illustrated (from p. 113) below. The experience is ‘poured’ into the wide end, and then filtered through a series of six sequenced questions. The six steps are an expanded version of Borton’s (1970) ‘three basic [human] information processing [(HIP)] functions’, namely “experience (Sensing), sense-making (Transforming) and engagement with the world (Acting)” says Rolfe (2014, p. 488). Self-knowledge, Borton (1970, p. 93) argued, “is as difficult to obtain as it is powerful, and usually has been won by relatively few people” and advanced the ‘What’ (increasing awareness), ‘So What’ (evaluating intention), and ‘Now What” (experimenting with new behaviour) as process education model and means to the end of self-knowledge. These debriefing filters, steps or stages could be facilitated either in a face-to-face setting or on-line through a learning management system. The six steps, stages or filters are:
- What? — Filters #0 entails review, and #1 recall and remember
- Filter #0 refocuses the attention on the subject of interest, clarifying exactly what the topic of the debriefing is
- Filter #1 entails participants describing what they experienced, recalling the detail and supplementing each other’s recollections/stories
- So What? — Filters #2 affect and effect, and #3 summation
- Filter #2 addresses emotions and causes; how participants felt and impact of the event on them personally
- Filter #3 moving of the reflection focus to what has been learned from participation, which ideally should mirror the learning objectives
- Now What? — Filters #4 application, and #5 commitment
- Filter #4 entails facilitation of learning transfer, or the making of connections to real life applications
- Filter #5 cements the value derived from participation by facilitating commitment
Borton, T. (1970). Applying the process approach, chapter 8, pp. 93-105. In Reach Touch and Teach: Student Concerns and Process Education. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Deringer, S.A. (2017). Mindful Place-Based Education: Mapping the Literature. Journal of Experiential Education, Vol. 40(4) 333–348. Electronically accessible from https://doi.org/10.1177/1053825917716694
Gass, M.A. & Stevens, C.A. (2007). Facilitating the adventure process, pp. 101-123. In Pouty, D.; Panicucci, J. & Collinson, R. (Eds). (2007). Adventure education: theory and applications. Campaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Journal of Experiential Education (JEE). Electronically accessible at http://journals.sagepub.com/home/jee
Pouty, D. (2007). Introduction to adventure education, pp. 3-17. In Pouty, D.; Panicucci, J. & Collinson, R. (Eds). (2007). Adventure education: theory and applications. Campaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Pouty, D.; Panicucci, J. & Collinson, R. (Eds). (2007). Adventure education: theory and applications. Campaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Panicucci, J. (2007). Cornerstones of adventure education, pp. 33-48. In Pouty, D.; Panicucci, J. & Collinson, R. (Eds). (2007). Adventure education: theory and applications. Campaign, IL: Human Kinetics.