Researchware

Authors Laura Galen D'Amato and Marianne E. Krasny used HyperRESEARCH to analyze transcribed interviews from 23 participants for their article titled "Outdoor Adventure Education: Applying Transformative Learning Theory to Understanding Instrumental Learning and Personal Growth in Environmental Education" for the Journal of Environmental Education (Volume 42, Issue 4, 2011). According to the abstract, the focus of the article was to determine what participants of Outdoor Adventure Education (OAE) found significant about their course and to what course elements they attributed this significance.

Three types of learning in environmental education were focused on, emancipatory learning (which focuses on personal growth), instrumental learning (focusing on environmental behaviors) and the idea of the "resilient learner" (which focuses on personal growth or competencies associated with healthy development and life successes). The authors interviews 23 participants and asked them 1) what motivated them to go on the course, 2) what they found significant about their experience, 3) if and how they felt that the experience had changed them, 4) to what course elements they attributed those changes, and 5) if and how they felt their experience was shaped by the wilderness setting.

The results showed that the participants course was "meaningful and significant, which they attributed to four course elements: living in pristine nature, the separation between the course and their normal life, being part of the course community, and dealing with the intensity and challenges of the course."

For the full article go here