What Makes Adventure Learning Work?
• Hands-on activities engage participants.
• Taking Risks - moving out of the individual’s comfort zone of perceived boundaries leads to innovative problem solving skills.
• Key learnings are easily transferred back to the real world.
• Adventure is accessible to people of all ages and physical abilities.
• Well designed activities require group members to:
♦ Define the problem
♦ Visualize outcomes
♦ Share ideas
♦ Analyze merits and drawbacks of ideas
♦ Make trial attempts
♦ Deal with personal style differences
♦ Cooperate to reach a solution
The Experiential Learning Cycle - It's Essential
It has been estimated that while we remember only 20% of what we hear and 50% of what we see, that we retain fully 80% of what we do. The bedrock of all Adventure based programs is the Experiential Learning Cycle (ELC). During this cycle, activities flow from hands-on initiatives to a processing that engages the mind, and often the emotions as well. Using an Adventure approach for exploring change and team issues involves engaging participants in a process that includes ongoing, pointed debriefs. These debriefs reveal key learnings that can then be transferred to the next activity—and back to the workplace or school. Brain research strongly suggests that when people are thus interested and engaged, they shift into a state of “relaxed alertness“ (Caine & Caine, 1991), the optimal state of mind for meaningful learning. To explore more of the Experiential Learning Cycle and to see a graphic representation click the link below.