Outdoor Educators’ Influence on the Self-Growth Process of Participants: A Case Study of Educators at the Buddy Kids Adventure Challenge Program

Hiroya Endo,Kenryu Aoyagi,Koichiro Oka

doi:10.4236/ape.2017.73027

Abstract

The nature experience is important for the growth of children. However, the opportunities of children’s nature experience are decreasing today because of a lack of various programs and right outdoor educator. To resolve these issues, providing valuable outdoor educators’ training is important, although there are few studies about outdoor educators in Japan and the influence of outdoor educators’ intervention on participants has not been clarified. In order to consider more effective educators’ learning contents, it is necessary to understand actually how the involvement of the educators influences the growth of the children. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to explore the influence of educators’ intervention in outdoor activity programs on children’s growth. Our study included interviews for 12 educators of the Buddy Kids Adventure Challenge Program (BKACP). The data obtained through semi-structured interviews was analyzed using Modified Grounded Theory Approach (M-GTA). The analysis resulted in the generation of 69 concepts and 31 categories demonstrated. This analysis revealed the influence of outdoor educators’ intervention on participants. The overall process was confirmed that outdooreducators’ intervention made the participants rely on one’s feeling, which promoted self-growth of participants who had deep experiences. In conclusion, the intervention of skilled outdoor educators who know rules of nature guarantees the children’s independence in a highly flexible program, and furthermore, it is thought that positive emotions (known as flow) on overcoming adversity promote self-growth. It would be attractive for outdoor educators to use flow theory as a learning tool.

Highlights

Experiential activity in Japan was promoted to cultivate a zest for living among the youth, as specified in “About the Way of Education of Japan in 21 Century, First Edition” (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and TechnologyJapan, 1996)
This means that there is a lack of resources like appropriate leaders, educators, and activity programs, which lead to a lack of essential leadership and high-quality experiences for the youth
We discovered that skilled outdoor educators who know the rules of nature well and let participants rely on their senses and experience adversity prompt self-growth among the participants

Summary

Introduction

Experiential activity in Japan was promoted to cultivate a zest for living among the youth, as specified in “About the Way of Education of Japan in 21 Century, First Edition” (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and TechnologyJapan, 1996). According to the report titled “Towards the development of autonomous youth who will be responsible for the generation” (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology-Japan, 2013), “educational resources such as appropriate educators and activity program are not sufficient”, and “it is necessary to supply high quality experience and skillful educators for youth”. This means that there is a lack of resources like appropriate leaders, educators, and activity programs, which lead to a lack of essential leadership and high-quality experiences for the youth. Since outdoor educators are the drivers of these experiences and influence them, it is appropriate to consider them the subjects of this present research

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Conclusion