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Outdoor Adventure Education (OAE) are programs designed to enhance leadership and personal growth through challenging experiences in nature, including rock climbing, sailing, and kayaking. Participants in OAE often report that they were transformed by their experiences, but little is known about how such transformations occur. D'Amato and Krasny interviewed 23 former OAE participants to explore how their significant experiences enhanced their personal growth and to a lesser degree their pro-environmental behaviors. By interpreting the data through the lens of transformative learning theory, these researchers found that participants attribute the most meaningful experiences to "living in pristine nature, experiencing a different lifestyle, being part of the course community, and dealing with the intensity and challenges of the course." Interview results also suggest that OAE courses "might integrate personal growth with instrumental learning to better foster environmental behaviors post-course."

SOURCE: D'Amato, L. G., and M. E. Krasny. 2011. Outdoor adventure education: applying transformative learning theory to understanding instrumental learning and personal growth in environmental education. Journal of environmental education 42:237-253.

Dr. Martha Monroe uses the literature on behavioral theories, significant life experiences, and environment-based education to identify “two broad avenues for activities that may nudge individuals and society toward more responsible environmental behaviors”: (1) targeting a specific behavior change, and (2) cultivating environmental literacy through educational programs.

The research literature suggests that agencies and organizations may advance conservation behaviors through the following steps often considered in social marketing and other techniques:

---Identifying the behavior and the target audience;
---Understanding the barriers and benefits that resonate with that audience;
---Asking people to make a commitment to undertake the behavior;
---Reducing the barriers to the behavior;
---Providing vivid, meaningful procedural information about the action;
---Reminding people of the ways the action conforms to their view of themselves;
---Advertising appropriate social norms that complement the behavior;
---Asking people to practice the behavior with the safety and support of a peer group;
---Showing people how easy the behavior is and what the consequences will be;
---Offering small incentives to enable people to start the behavior;
---Reminding people how satisfying they find participating in the behavior;
---Providing feedback on the progress being made based on the number of people conducting the action; and
---Profiling success stories and opinion leaders who have adopted the behavior.

Based on this literature, Dr. Monroe has also identified the following strategies that “could be useful in cultivating environmental literacy” and may serve as a guide for environmental education programs to enhance conservation behavior in learners:

---Using interesting stories, case studies, and success stories of peers, environmental heroes, and community leaders;
---Participation in project-based environmental problem solving;
---Reinforcement for environmental values from family, school, youth groups, and community programs;
---Frequent and sustained experiences in nature, starting in early childhood;
---Opportunities for children to explore and creatively play in nature;
---Partnerships with experts, mentors, older students, and leaders;
---Investigating issues and working on their resolution;
---Persuasive encouragement and support for actions to build efficacy;
---Providing information about the environment, environmental issues, and the consequences of human actions;
---Making connections between and among the various aspects of an issue or action to more thoroughly understand the choices and consequences; and
---Facilitating acquisition and practice of action skills, both political and ecological.”

SOURCE: Monroe, M. C. (2003). Two avenues for encouraging conservation behaviors. Human ecology review, 10(2), 113-125.
http://www.humanecologyreview.org/pastissues/her102/102monroe.pdf

“Does reading a book about the Peruvian Rain Forest, an indirect nature experience, have the same impact on an individual as a more direct experience such as actually traveling to and spending time in that same location?” Researchers at Texas A&M University addressed this question by analyzing qualitative and quantitative longitudinal data from 108 middle and high school students participating in international immersion experiences, and well as data from a control group. Researchers conclude, “It appears that a combination of both indirect and direct experiences that provide opportunities for both the attainment and application of environmental knowledge and attitudes, coupled with the promotion of perceived freedom, is an effective method of promoting pro-environmental behavior.”

SOURCE: Duerden, M. D., & Witt, P. A. (2010). The impact of direct and indirect experiences on the development of environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Journal of environmental psychology, 30(4), 379-392.
http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2010.03.007

Researchers have investigated how values and motivation influence pro-environmental behavioral intention using regression analysis of survey data from 824 university students in the Netherlands. This research produced several conclusions that may be useful for environmental educators, such as:

• “The results imply that practitioners can promote pro-environmental preferences and intentions by strengthening people’s values, particularly their biospheric values.” [biospheric values focus on the welfare of the environment and biosphere as opposed to focus on self or welfare of other people]
• “It is difficult to change values, as values are relatively stable and enduring over time. However, it is possible to stimulate people to act more upon their (biospheric) values. For example, it is possible to make values more salient or to increase the cognitive accessibility of certain values, which will affect the way people prioritize their values in specific situations and consequently the extent to which different values influence pro-environmental behavioral intentions and behaviours in a particular situation.”

SOURCE: de Groot, J. I. M., & Steg, L. (2010). Relationships between value orientation, self-determined motivational types and pro-environmental behavioral intentions. Journal of environmental psychology, 30(4), 368-378.
http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2010.04.002

The authors conducted interviews with 12 young environmental leaders (16-19 years old), who were organizing environmental activities such as environmental education programs for younger students and recycling programs. Young people shared their thoughts on how their experiences have influenced their current involvement in environmental action. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using qualitative research approaches. Authors conclude, “the main self-identified influences on their environmental action were parents, experiences outdoors in childhood, friends, role models, teachers, and youth groups and conferences or gatherings.” Researchers suggest that environmental youth groups, conferences and gatherings are becoming a more important factor influencing youth involvement in environmental activities than in previous years.

SOURCE: Arnold, H. E., Cohen, F. G., & Warner, A. (2009). Youth and environmental action: perspectives of young environmental leaders on their formative influences. Journal of environmental education, 40(3), 27-36.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/JOEE.40.3.27-36