Jayson Seaman

Qualitative researchers studying narrative identity face a complex array of methodological and interpretive choices, particularly as the limitations of individualistic frameworks become more appare...

Background : Rural youth face barriers to involvement in effective Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) learning experiences, leading to persistent underrepresentation in STEM fields. Purpose : This study examined the feasibility of using mobile devices to engage rural youth in informal STEM learning (ISL) during free-choice, outdoor recreational activities. We assessed outcomes of a 10-month intervention related to STEM interest, identity, and future planning. Method : Fifty-four youth ages 12 to 17 completed monthly STEM challenges delivered via a mobile platform, aligned with connected learning and free-choice learning principles. Surveys measured pre/post changes in STEM supports, STEM confidence, and environmental concern; qualitative reflections explored meaning-making and identity shifts. Findings : Youth across sociodemographic groups reported quantitative gains in STEM supports, confidence, and environmental concern. Qualitative responses to reflection prompts indicated greater recognition of STEM in outdoor contexts and increased interest in STEM-related futures. Implications : ISL designs using mobile technology and grounded in inquiry, autonomy, and local relevance can foster meaningful STEM identity development in rural communities.

The aim of this study was to understand the experiences of rural, first-generation college (RFGC) students in relation to dominant culturally normative expectations about postsecondary educational and workforce trajectories. The study adopted patterns of engagement with a master narrative as both a conceptual framework and unit of analysis, examining both biography and cultural ecologies as well as highlighting agency in the lives and choices of study participants. Evidence is drawn from 4 in-depth narrative interviews with each of 14 RFGC students, conducted both at school and students’ homes, from rural and small-town communities. Results show that a master narrative of College for All (CFA) is a widespread and dominant life course ideology that shapes the postsecondary experience of RFGC students. The study found three distinct patterns of engagement with this master narrative: faithful, hybrid, and utilitarian alignment. Moreover, these types of engagement seemed related to distinct patterns of agency-driven psychological wellbeing. The study contributes an anti-deficit understanding of RFGC students’ experiences and identity by focusing on the ways individuals negotiate and selectively align with dominant cultural narratives as well as the ways rural youth work to imagine new stories and possibilities.

This study examined the normative messages that inform youth postsecondary decision making in a predominantly rural state in the northeastern U.S., focusing on the institutionalization and circulation of identity master narratives. Using a multi-level, ecological approach to sampling, the study interviewed 33 key informants in positions of influence in educational, workforce, and quality of life domains. Narrative analysis yielded evidence of a predominant master narrative – College for All – that participants described as a prescriptive expectation that youth and families orient their postsecondary planning toward four-year, residential baccalaureate degree programs. Both general and domain-specific aspects of this master narrative are elaborated, as well as findings indicating that the College for All ideology appears to both obscure and stigmatize the development and institutionalization of alternative postsecondary pathways. Implications for rural communities, rural mobility, and future research on narratives informing postsecondary options for youth are discussed.

Background: Ongoing changes in academic publishing require periodic updates to research reporting standards in outdoor, experiential, environmental, and adventure education and recreation fields, to maintain quality and relevance. Purpose: This essay interprets recent statements by major educational and psychological associations and applies their guidelines for research reporting to the Journal of Outdoor Recreation, Education, and Leadership (JOREL), the Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education (JOEE), the Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning (JAEOL), and the Journal of Experiential Education (JEE). Methodology/Approach: This joint statement was written by editors of the JOREL, JOEE, JAEOL, and JEE to produce guidance for research reporting across these journal platforms. Findings/Conclusions: The associations’ recommendations for reporting qualitative and quantitative research should be considered as guidance for submitting future empirical manuscripts to the JOREL, JOEE, JAEOL, and JEE. Implications: Authors, reviewers, and readers should consult this essay for guidelines on reporting, reviewing, and reading research in the above journals.

Purpose: The introduction sets out the scope of the special issue and suggests areas for further research.Design/methodology/approach: This introductory article sets out the rationale and contents of the special issue of History of Education Review on “Outdoor Education in Historical Perspective”. It briefly summarizes the existing state of research and introduces the six articles that comprise the issue.Findings: The introduction identifies four particular themes that arise from the existing literature and from the diverse contributions to this special issue: transculturality; space and place; religion and spirituality; and personality/personalities.Originality/value: This special issue contains six original contributions to the study of the history of outdoor education, focussing on different locations in Europe and North America.

Purpose: The article discusses Outward Bound's participation in the human potential movement through its incorporation of T-group practices and the reform language of experiential education in the late 1960s and early 1970s.Design/methodology/approach: The article reports on original research conducted using materials from Dartmouth College and other Outward Bound collections from 1957 to 1976. It follows a case study approach to illustrate themes pertaining to Outward Bound's creation and evolution in the United States, and the establishment of experiential education more broadly.Findings: Building on prior research (Freeman, 2011; Millikan, 2006), the present article elaborates on the conditions under which Outward Bound abandoned muscular Christianity in favor of humanistic psychology. Experiential education provided both a set of practices and a reform language that helped Outward Bound expand into the educational mainstream, which also helped to extend self-expressive pedagogies into formal and nonformal settings.Research limitations/implications: The Dartmouth Outward Bound Center's tenure coincided with and reflected broader cultural changes, from the cold war motif of spiritual warfare, frontier masculinity and national service to the rise of self-expression in education. Future scholars can situate specific curricular initiatives in the context of these paradigms, particularly in outdoor education.Originality/value: The article draws attention to one of the forms that the human potential movement took in education – experiential education – and the reasons for its adoption. It also reinforces emerging understandings of post-WWII American outdoor education as a product of the cold war and reflective of subsequent changes in the wider culture to a narrower focus on the self.