Wilderness Sport and Adventure Education Essay -- Teaching, Physical Ed

Physical Education teachers today use all types of teaching models in order to provide the best service to their students. One specific example of a teaching model is Wilderness Sport/Adventure Education. The purpose of this essay will be to describe the development of Adventure Education and Wilderness Sport in today’s Physical Education classrooms, and to fully explain the teaching model to those who are unfamiliar with it. Public interest in outdoor recreation has increased significantly in the past several decades. The importance of healthy activity in the natural environment has also seen a positive increase. While adults may see the importance of healthy outdoors activities, kids need to be more active and get outside to play. Today’s generation of children are so â€Å"plugged in† to video games, IPod’s, cellphones, and computers that almost all â€Å"play† is done electronically. Kids no longer come home from school and play tag, kickball, or even hopscotch with their friends. Nowadays kids go straight towards their technology in order to play and communicate with friends. One of the primary results of this is the significant increase in overweight children and childhood obesity. Childhood obesity and early onset diabetes is at an all-time high in this country. This is directly resulting in the fact that kids spend significantly less time active and outside when compa red to time spent sedentary inside. Through these trends, it has been made possible for P.E. educators to cultivate and implement a Wilderness Sport/ Adventure Education curriculum in physical education. So what is Wilderness Sport/Adventure Education? They are two separate units, similar, but different. Adventure Education is more than likely the fi... ...ysical examination and wilderness athletes" (January 1, 2007). Texas Medical Center Dissertations (via ProQuest). Paper AAI1445481. "Health and Human Performance." What Is Adventure Education? Department of Health and Human Performance. Web. 04 Apr. 2012. . Kelly, Luke E., and Vincent J. Melograno. Developing the Physical Education Curriculum: An Achievement-based Approach. Champaign (IL): Human Kinetics, 2004. Print. Lund, Jacalyn Lea, and Deborah Tannehill. Standards-based Physical Education Curriculum Development. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett, 2005. Print. "Welcome to Project Adventure, Leaders InAdventure and Experience-based Learning." Project Adventure. Web. 04 Apr. 2012. .