To feel the sun, the rain, the wind in your hair, to see wild animals, etc. are new experiences for many people in this urban society. Nature activities provide many sensory experiences, but they can also be a place where quality learning takes place.
The rapid increase in the number of adventure programmes that use outdoor challenge as an integral and crucial part of their educational method makes it worth questioning their effectiveness. A similar approach is being taken at the Faculty of Sport, where a camp based on a comparable method of work is being run as part of the outdoor activities course. The aim of this work was to investigate the differences before and after the field exercises, covering the assessment of aspects such as motivation levels, self-confidence, flexibility, fear, adrenaline, etc.
The study involved 52 students of the Faculty of Sport, generation 2022/23.A closed-ended questionnaire was used to analyse the impact of the camp. Differences before and after the camp were tested using Wilcoxon test. Our main finding is that the camp did not lead to statistically significant changes in self-reported levels of motivation, self-confidence, resilience, overcoming fear, etc. The results show that the PE students already showed high levels of these traits before the camp, suggesting a possible ceiling effect. It is important to note that the camp effectively maintained and reinforced the positive traits already present in the participants – high motivation for outdoor activities, a sense of self-efficacy and a positive attitude towards challenges. It acted as a stabilising factor, further reinforcing their already formed attitudes towards outdoor and experiential learning. In addition, students expressed strong support for the integration of outdoor learning into the curriculum and a high willingness to apply such approaches in their future teaching practice. The camp did not significantly change these attitudes, but rather reinforced them, as beliefs about the importance of outdoor activities were already strongly favourable.
The findings suggest that the camp was important mainly as a model of good practice and as an incentive for the professional use of outdoor activities, rather than as a means to achieve distinctive personal change.
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