The longitudinal effects of a wilderness adventure program on potential school dropouts

• Main Author: Locke, Derek W.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 1993
• Subjects: Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://research.library.mun.ca/10915/; https://research.library.mun.ca/10915/1/Locke_Derek.pdf

The primary purpose of this three-year longitudinal investigation was to evaluate the short- and long-term effects of a dropout prevention program that attempted to utilize wilderness adventure experiences to reduce the dropout proneness of a group of potential school dropouts. -- The subjects for this study were male junior high school students (Grades VII to IX) who attended Templeton Collegiate during the 1987-88 school year. All junior high students in the sample school were administered the Dropout Alert Scale (DAS) as part of a guidance orientation program. Those male students identified by the DAS as potential dropouts were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups (24 students in each group). A randomly-selected sample of male students identified by the DAS as potential persisters formed a second control group to control for potential dropout selection bias and to evaluate the discriminating power of the Dropout Alert Scale (DAS) with a sample of Newfoundland school students. -- The potential persisters were found to be significantly different before treatment from both groups of potential dropouts (control and experimental) on all selected school-related variables associated with dropouts. The selected variables included: age, years/grades repeated, percent of courses/credits passed, academic average and days absent. The DAS accurately identified as potential dropouts all of the students who subsequently dropped out of school over the three years of the study. -- The experimental program departed from conventional dropout intervention strategies in that it presented twenty-four potential dropouts with the challenge of successfully completing a five-day wilderness camping expedition. During the expedition, the school counsellor and an Army Cadet Instructor served as group leaders. Both leaders attempted to reduce the dropout proneness of the students by involving group members in a variety of learning experiences; specifically, adventure activities, communal living experiences, physical ...