Thesis (M.S.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2009. / Mode of access: Internet. Title from PDF title page; viewed on Jan. 8, 2010. Major professor: Dr. Marni Goldenberg. "Presented to the faculty of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo." "In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree [of] Master of Science in Agriculture, with specialization in Recreation, Parks, and Tourism." "December 2009." Includes bibliographical references (p. 80-88).

Thesis (M.S.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2009. / Mode of access: Internet. Title from PDF title page; viewed on December 10, 2009. Major professor: Marni Goldenberg. "Presented to the faculty of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo." "In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree [of] Master of Science in Agriculture." "December 2009." Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-113).

The results from this study suggest that participants of wilderness adventure education programs offered by Outward Bound and the National Outdoor Leadership School felt challenged by many of the experiences from their programs. Interactions with their group helped in dealing with the challenges presented by the experience. The development of hard skills gave participants a confidence in their abilities to survive and feel safe in these wilderness environments, which allowed them to relax and enjoy the experience, develop new perspectives, become motivated and inspired, and develop a sense of independence. Participants developed a sense of growth and maturity from their experiences, which upon reflection led to a sense of accomplishment. This sense of accomplishment led to transference of program benefits and values into participants’ lives, particularly in greater self-respect/esteem/confidence. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the outcomes that individuals experienced from wilderness adventure programs and the effects they had on participants’ lives. Means-end theory was used to understand the outcomes, more specifically attributes, consequences, and values, and their connections to each other. This study was longitudinal in nature and a comparison between the original data collection and follow-up interviews was done to investigate reported change in values over time. The results from this study show that the outcomes from participation in the Outward Bound and NOLS programs were transferring into participant’s lives and leaving a lasting impression.

The objectives of this research were to determine if the personality traits of instructors at the National Outdoor Leadership School were related to instructor effectiveness as perceived by their students, and to determine if instructor effectiveness was related to changes in the self-concept of students who complete a NOLS course. The research used a pre-treatment/post-treatment· administration of the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS) to 355 students in the treatment group, where the treatment was a NOLS course. A control group of 50 students consisted of students scheduled to take a NOLS course. Significant gains in self-concept were found, using ANCOVA analysis procedures, on 7 of the 10 TSCS scales. The only scales not showing significant change were satisfaction, personal self and self-criticism. Instructor personality traits were determined using the Cattell 16PF self-report instrument and by a post-course evaluation instrument which asked for student attributions of instructor personality on a semantic differential scale. Students also rated the overall effectiveness of each instructor on their course. The student effectiveness ratings for the instructors had significant but low predictive ability when regressed against changes in self-concept. The objective 16PE personality instrument produced no significant trait differences between instructors who had effectiveness ratings above the median and those with scores below the median. The 16PF factors, as independent variables, showed significant but low predictive ability on the dependent effectiveness scores. The student-rated personality traits, however, produced very different profiles between high effectiveness instructors and lower effectiveness instructors. The student attributions of instructor personality traits produced an R² of .513 when regressed against effectiveness ratings. The major conclusions from the research were that changes in self-concept do occur as a result of a wilderness skills oriented NOLS course and secondly, that students were able to discriminate instructor effectiveness on the basis of the personality-based teaching behaviors of NOLS instructors. Recommendations for extension of this research .are presented as well as suggestions for research on broader issues of wilderness education and wilderness values. / Ph. D.