Research has proven the positive impacts of residential outdoor environmental education (ROEE) programs on children and teen participants, however, ROEE programs can similarly impact emerging adult instructors. The programs offer a unique educationally and culturally immersive experience for instructors. Specifically, the experience of influence the identity of short-term ROEE instructors, those who work less than three months or for one season. Short-term ROEE instructors generally fall within the emerging adult age group (late teens to mid-20s) whose identity, their values, goals, and beliefs, are particularly malleable at this period of development as they explore different identities and increase their responsibility and independence. Using social practice theory as a framework, the researchers interviewed former short-term educators from a ROEE program in Pennsylvania on the meaning of their experience in the program to understand how the program influenced their identity development.
Social practice theory centers on understanding how an individual develops actions and skills based on the cultural dynamics they experience and how an individual's past influences these behaviors. Drawing upon previous research, this study outlined social practice theory as a four-step progression where an individual starts to identify with a culture, acts in culturally accepted ways, develops knowledge and connection with the culture, and then navigates how to apply this throughout their life. Overall, as someone begins to identify with a culture, they then apply those cultural practices to their life.
The researchers interviewed 26 former instructors from Shaver's Creek Environmental Center's Outdoor School (SCEC ODS), a four-day, overnight program for fifth-graders in central Pennsylvania. These participants served as short-term instructors for the fifth-grade campers at SCEC ODS between the fall of 2004 and the spring of 2019 while pursuing undergraduate degrees at Pennsylvania State University. They received class credit for the role. The interviews took place in the summer of 2019. And ranged from 50 to 120 minutes in length. The 26 participants (aged 20 to 34 years) were categorized into 3 sample groups: 1) 7 emerging adults aged 25 years or younger and still in undergrad; 2) 8 emerging adults that graduated undergrad more than three months before; and 3) 11 adults 25 years or older that had graduated undergrad and were no longer emerging adults. Though individual interviews were conducted, the three groups helped the researchers identify development over time. The interviews covered the participants' experiences before, during, and after their time at SCEC ODS. Specifically, the researchers asked about relevant life experiences and why the participants signed up to be instructors; the participants' experiences during the program and about any fond memories; and, how participants' experiences affected their everyday lives after being an instructor. The interviews were transcribed, and the data were analyzed to determine the impact of SCEC ODS on identity development during and after emerging adulthood.
The results showed the ROEE program supported the former instructors to develop environmental and social actor identities. The interviews revealed the participants wanted to be instructors because they were interested in being outside and the natural world, or they were interested in educational leadership, both interests that aligned with the program's mission. As the participants described their experiences during the program, the researchers found they either displayed social environmental identity or social actor identity. For social environmental identity, the participant felt a strong connection with the environmental values and practices of SCEC ODS and acknowledged these values as a part of bettering society. For social actor identity, the participants felt the leadership skills learned at SCEC ODS helped build confidence in making connections with others. The participants shared that they changed as a result of the program, either committing to pro-environmental behaviors such as reducing food waste or getting out of their social comfort zone by taking on leadership roles and building interpersonal relationships. This differs from program participants at a ROEE, as the instructors revealed a stronger association with the social aspect of the ROEE setting than campers.
Over time, the participants grew into their identities because of their time at SCEC ODS, but there were some challenges navigating that change. For example, emerging adults tended to have a strong connection with the SCEC ODS culture and social norms at the facility, yet had a hard time displaying this while forming their identity outside of SCEC ODS because of the lack of support and reinforcement of the SCEC ODS culture outside of the program. Similarly, emerging adults were unsure about how their social environmental and social actor identities could apply in the real world. However, former instructors past the age of emerging adulthood, were able to better navigate that barrier through flexibility that still associated with their identity, such as choosing teaching as a career: similar to camp counselor, yet more stable. Overall, the researchers concluded the instructors' involvement and social integration in the community at SCEC ODS meaningfully impacted their identity development as an emerging adult because the community reinforced positive social norms like pro-environmental behaviors and leadership skills.
There were limitations in this study. The study focused on one ROEE program, limiting the scope of influence that other programs like SCEC ODS could have had on identity development in instructors. Further, the researchers shared that SCEC ODS is different from other ROEE programs because the short-term instructors attend a week at a time. Though SCES ODS instructors can come back multiple times over the season or even over the course of different years, there is a lot of time that comes between instruction experiences. In contrast, many ROEE programs require instructors to remain a part of the team for the whole season. Finally, the data relied on the participants' self-report of their experiences and identity development as an instructor rather than measure behavior change as a result of the program. These results may not apply to all short-term ROEE instructors.
Based on these results that showed a development of social environmental and social actor identities in instructors, the researchers suggested ROEE experiences not only influence learning outcomes of participants but also the instructors. The researchers recommended ROEE program designers intentionally incorporate social learning to benefit short-term instructors. In doing so, ROEE programs can broaden their impact to both the students they serve and the instructors that participate.
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