Impact of outdoor adventure education on Kenyan youth, in peace building

Abstract

In all forms of education, we have a wealth of opportunities for becoming agents of peace. This study sets to find out to what extent outdoor adventure education can foster self-efficacy and inter-group relations and reduce ethnic identity, which are closely related to peace building in the Wildlife Club of Kenya (WCK) youth. A quasi-experimental time-series research design analysed variables at successive time periods with measures taken prior to and after the treatment. WCK (N = 32) youth were taken through a pretest before taking part in a three-day outdoor education programme. Then they were given a first post-test after the 3-day programme and a second post-test after a 10-day programme. The perceptions of the respondents were assessed by the use of a questionnaire. T-test was used to test whether the mean scores of respondents’ perceptions differed significantly before and after the programmes. Hypotheses were tested at .05 level of significance and showed significant differences after the outdoor adventure programmes. The findings points out that outdoor adventure education can be utilized as a process of social integration since the outdoor context encourages social and interpersonal skills. This approach is potentially valuable as a way of enhancing peace through education.