Over the course of our lifetime, we spend a lot of time in a classroom. Research by the center of public education states that “Every state has its own time requirements for schools…however, time requirements typically do not vary dramatically from state to state. Most require between 175 and 180 days of school and/or between 900 and 1,000 hours of instructional time per year, depending on the grade level.” (Jim Hull, 2011) Based on this information we know that a lot of time is spent with teachers, which leads us to believe that teachers can have a substantial impact on their students learning opportunities, and the skills that students can learn in their classrooms.
The importance of teaching these skills to growing children can be incredibly difficult and emotionally taxing for an educator. The execution relies heavily on the relationship built between student and teacher. Classroom curriculums that give the students more control through structured activities and time for reflection allow the students to feel valued, and transfer of learning is more likely to occur. They will develop trust, personal and social skills, and build relationships with their teachers and classroom as a whole, creating more of a community sense and an ideal learning environment. Commitment to care As stated by Sthur, Sutherland, and Ward (2011) “Commitment to care for students is the central role of the teacher. Care must be purposeful and planned in the classroom and students must perceive the teacher as someone who cares about them.” (p. 6) They tested this statement using two physical education teachers at elementary schools.
One class was represented by 9 students and the other was represented by 24 students. In this experiment they wanted to “examine teachers’ and students’ perception of care and how a caring classroom was established.” (p. 9) The results of the study performed by Sthur, Sutherland, and Ward concluded that “care was a desirable experience and was reciprocated by both teachers and students within a Physical Education classroom.” (p. 25) I found it interesting that even though each teacher had a different teaching approach, care was a priority. We can assume that most teachers do care about their students, but there are many different approaches educators can take to create and support a caring environment in their classroom and promote this important student-teacher relationship. “ABL” approach One approach is outlined in another article by Stuhr, et al (2017) and it states “Teachers who are looking to develop social and emotional learning with their students can use a curriculum model called Adventure Based Learning (ABL).”
In the research supporting this statement they tested 28 students in a fifth-grade elementary physical education class at a school to determine, “how and in what way social emotional learning was experienced by the students in ABL and were the students able to see the value of the curriculum, develop the skills, and transfer the interpersonal, and interpersonal relationship skills embedded in the ABL unit.” (p. 4) They executed this by individual interviews of the students, small group interviews, written individual journals, and a photovoice journal. Their results indicated that adventure-based learning was successful in teaching social and emotional skills to the students involved in the study. I found it interesting that they were able to highlight the role that physical education plays for students in schools, and how important physical education can be for them to develop interpersonal skills, and interpersonal relationship skills.
ABL Outline Adventure-Based Learning can be summarized in the article written by Stuhr, et al (2016) which outlines the ABC’s of Adventure-Based Leaning. “This article provides us with an alphabetical list of practical adventure-based activities, tips, definitions of related information, and resources for physical educators who would like to learn more about this type of curriculum.” (p. 3) While each of these ideas and concepts are important in adventure-based learning, one that I felt was foundational was “J” – journaling. As indicated in the article “journals require students to take a picture and write about how it relates to [a skill], and how it could be used in other areas of their life.” I think for young children this is teaching them to exercise mindfulness and reflection. It requires them to think and be aware of a what is being taught, then reflect on what they gained, or learned from it. I feel that teaching students this skill at a young age can be beneficial and valuable for them throughout their lifetime.
Mindfulness Kabat-Zinn (2003) explains mindfulness to be “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of an experience moment by moment.” (p. 145) Based on this definition you can see how journaling would be beneficial for students to practice being mindful. As stated by Stuhr and Thomas (2017) “Mindfulness holds an incredible value as a key in helping reduce undesirable social and emotional behavior within the teaching-learning model of education.” (p.1) I liked that in this article they simplified mindfulness into another ABC format. Stuhr and Thomas (2017) explain that, “the building blocks or essential cornerstones of mindfulness are attention, balance and compassion.” (p. 3) The purpose of this article was to provide some insight on the importance of mindfulness and methods that teachers can use to promote mindfulness in their classroom It also draws awareness to the use of mindfulness as a tool for learning.
The researchers encourage its use in a classroom as it “has been found to promote social and emotional learning benefits such as reducing levels of anxiety and stress, emotional control, patience, increased in focus and attention and overall productivity in students.” (Stuhr and Thomas, 2017) ABL Report Card Students’ perception of relationship skills during an adventure-based learning unit within physical education was analyzed by Stuhr, et al (2015). In their study a 15-session adventure-based learning unit was taught to 94 middle school students. They collected their data through journals that were written weekly by the students. They also participated in 21 small group interviews, and 6 individual interviews. What they found was that the students themselves, after an initial “connecting phase”, were able to identify the benefits of ABL. “Students perceived the ABL unit as having a positive benefit on the group.” (p. 35)
Of the 94 students that were involved in the study, there was only 2 that did not feel connected to ABL. “One limitation of the study was the lack of data on why these students felt a disconnect with ABL.” (p. 36) Based on the results we can conclude that ABL is an tried and true curriculum that, when taught efficiently, can be beneficial to grade school students. Stuhr, et al (2015) state that “the data collected illustrate the importance of the debrief sessions in the ABL curriculum to enhance social emotional learning. The debrief sessions are thought to be a key feature in the instruction of ABL to help students process their thoughts and transfer learning.” (p. 36) Time to Reflect As previously mentioned, one important aspect of adventure-based learning is journaling, as it allows the students to process what they experienced or learned and reflect on those thoughts or feelings.
The phase in ABL that will help students reflect on learning and help them transfer that learning into other areas of life is called the debrief. In a research study by Sutherland et al (2011) the importance of the debrief is tested on 11 teacher candidates to “explore…how teacher candidates in one Physical Education Teacher Education program learned to incorporate a meaningful debrief in a five-day ABL unit.” (p. 5) What they found was that “the teacher candidates demonstrated that the primary experience of both participating in and teaching an ABL unit resulted in reflective cognitive learning.” (p. 19) Conclusion In conclusion we can see that adventure-based learning is a curriculum model that helps walk its participants through a series of steps that will help them to develop interpersonal and intrapersonal skills, in addition to the many other skills taught within each activity. We can also stress the importance of the debrief step in the curriculum model that helps the students to comprehend their experience through guided facilitation.
The research provided supports the statement that classroom curriculums that give the students more control through structured activities and time for reflection allow the students to feel valued, and transfer of learning is more likely to occur. They will develop trust, personal and social skills, and build relationships with their teachers and classroom as a whole, creating more of a community sense and an ideal learning environment.
