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Research in outdoor education and more specifically on wilderness expeditions has almost exclusively focused on short-term benefits (<5yrs) despite their findings suggesting these are "life-changing" experiences. This study examined long-term outcomes (40 years later) of three (month-long) adventurous school expeditions to mainland Europe, by staff and pupils from a high school (11- to 16-year-olds) in Scotland in the 1970s. The investigation was initiated by a call for life stories from 45 participants, followed by 10 interviews at a school reunion. The interviews revealed a transference of learning qualities attributed to the expedition, indicating a long-term impact on participants' personal and/or professional lives, with individuals still drawing upon their expedition experiences some 40 years later. Significant themes emerging were planning and preparation, confidence, and feelings of gratefulness, which led to participants wanting to undertake service that contributes back into society for young peoples' benefit. This study adds to the knowledge of long-range educational outcomes from school expeditions.

Notions of 'personal and social development' within experiential learning literature remain philosophically underdeveloped, often identified as something like practical wisdom or practical reasoning. Experiential learning practitioners and theorists make frequent claims regarding the 'life-changing' significance for participants; particularly in terms of character development. Surprisingly rare, however, is a long-range study investigating these claims. This article shares findings from a retrospective study examining perceptions of program alumni from a tall ship sailing study school with a view for personal and social development during the experience and since, understood through an Aristotelian virtue lens. Four themes emerged from data: Significance, practice, values clarification and friendships and community. Themes are examined in relation to virtue theory and implications for practice and future research explored.

In aiming to support school-based outdoor learning opportunities, this paper critiques the extent to which Deweyan and neo-Aristotelian theorising is helpful in highlighting how personal growth and practical wisdom gains can be realised. Such critique is necessary, as there are signs of an implementation gap between practice and policy, which is made worse by a lack of conceptual clarity about how educational aspirations can be dependably achieved. Dewey's habit-forming social constructivist emphasis on learning and problem-solving is reviewed and the prospects of a neo-Aristotelian conception of human flourishing, which recognises that virtues are nurtured as moral sensitivities, are then considered. Concerns that Dewey's writings are often vague on how ideas can be operationalised and criticisms that Aristotle's educational thoughts rather over-privilege cognition relative to emotions are also addressed. The article concludes by teasing out suggestions on how Deweyan and neo-Aristotelian ideas on learning might coherently inform curriculum planning and pedagogical practices.

Background: The distribution of adolescent moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) across multiple contexts is unclear. This study examined indoor and outdoor leisure time in terms of being structured or unstructured and explored relationships with total daily MVPA. Methods: Between September 2012 and January 2014, 70 participants (aged 11-13 y) from 4 schools in Edinburgh wore an accelerometer and global positioning system receiver over 7 days, reporting structured physical activity using a diary. Time spent and MVPA were summarized according to indoor/outdoor location and whether activity was structured/unstructured. Independent associations between context-specific time spent and total daily MVPA were examined using a multivariate linear regression model. Results: Very little time or MVPA was recorded in structured contexts. Unstructured outdoor leisure time was associated with an increase in total daily MVPA almost twice that of unstructured indoor leisure time [b value (95% confidence interval), 8.45 (1.71 to 14.48) vs 4.38 (0.20 to 8.22) minute increase per hour spent]. The association was stronger for time spent in structured outdoor leisure time [35.81 (20.60 to 52.27)]. Conclusions: Research and interventions should focus on strategies to facilitate time outdoors during unstructured leisure time and maximize MVPA once youth are outdoors. Increasing the proportion of youth engaging in structured activity may be beneficial given that, although time spent was limited, association with MVPA was strongest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Notions of 'personal and social development' within experiential learning literature remain philosophically underdeveloped, often identified as something like practical wisdom or practical reasoning. Experiential learning practitioners and theorists make frequent claims regarding the 'life-changing' significance for participants; particularly in terms of character development. Surprisingly rare, however, is a long-range study investigating these claims. This article shares findings from a retrospective study examining perceptions of program alumni from a tall ship sailing study school with a view for personal and social development during the experience and since, understood through an Aristotelian virtue lens. Four themes emerged from data: Significance, practice, values clarification and friendships and community. Themes are examined in relation to virtue theory and implications for practice and future research explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]