Elements of both the adventure education and personal and social responsibility model will be incorporated into this unit of work. The unit of work will primarily incorporate the adventure education instructional model through experiential learning, challenging the students primarily through the cognitive and affective domains and cooperation. The adventure education instructional model incorporates both individual and group challenges, where the students will develop skills such as communication and problem solving skills through engaging in the activities.

“Experiential learning provides learners with the opportunity to challenge themselves physically and mentally, work cooperatively as a group to solve problems and overcome risk, and gain respect for, confidence in, and trust in themselves and their peers” (Siedentop & Tannehill, 2001, p. 151).

There is a huge amount of challenges that the students in the class face in their day to day lives. However, there can sometimes be a lack of expectation placed on the students to rise to the challenges and overcome them. It is hoped that the adventure education unit of work and the experiential learning they will encounter will give them experience in overcoming challenges.

This unit of work will also incorporate elements of the Personal and Social Responsibility model such as becoming more socially responsible, becoming more responsible for and conscious of the natural environment around them, and accepting a sense of responsibility for their own behaviour and how this affects the students around them. The students will also have the opportunity to take on a leadership role in the different activities during the unit of work as well as designing challenges for other groups of students in the class. It is hoped that the students will take what they have learned about responsibility and apply it to the rest of their subjects and life outside of school. In terms of providing responsibility to the students, this can be quite a risky move, but it is essential to provide students with the opportunity to learn to take responsibility.

“To become responsible, students must learn to take responsibility. However, they cannot take responsibility if they are not given some responsibility” (Hellison, 1996).

The class will begin by taking the roll and bringing the students through the learning outcomes and the content of the lesson, which will be listed on the learning wall. The learning of the previous lesson will also be revisited. Following this, the students will take part in a dynamic warm up and stretching routine, which will incorporate a pulse-raising game that focuses on developing communication and the students’ ability to work with one another. The main body of the lesson will involve different tasks and activities that focus on the development of communication and teamwork skills as the students try to complete the tasks laid out before them. The tasks will ask some students to act in a leadership role and will require students to work together towards the same goal. This will give the students the opportunity to challenge themselves and take on a role of responsibility as they carry out the activities. The tasks will incorporate team challenges and orienteering activities as well as asking the students to design their own team challenges.

At the end of the lesson, the students will cool down using an activity that gives the students an opportunity to reflect on the learning that took place during the lesson. The lesson will finish with static stretching and revisiting the learning wall to ensure the learning outcomes have been met. The students use exit cards to provide feedback on the lesson and record how they feel like their learning is progressing. This will also give the students the opportunity to reflect on their learning experiences and how this might be applied to future challenges (NCCA, 2003; Luttrell & Chambers, 2013).

Literacy skills will be targeted through the introduction of new vocabulary and terms. These will include terms around adventure education, team challenges, success criteria, equipment, and assessment of skills. The incorporation of skill and task cards into the lesson, in addition to the learning wall will further develop their literacy skills.

 

Numeracy skills 

Numeracy skills will be targeted through shape and space and angles and direction. The use of task cards, diagrams and lines of direction will provide a visual aid to this learning. There will be a large focus on problem solving throughout the activities and the students will engage in this in an experiential way.

The students will develop their knowledge of the importance of a warm up, cool down and engaging in physical activity. This scheme has a strong focus on the students working together and students in general engage well with the content, which will allow them to enjoy taking part in PE. This will have a positive impact on their attitude towards physical activity. They will be actively engaging in the class content which will develop their overall fitness and skill levels throughout.

 

The students will be taking part in pair, group and class activities where it will be necessary for them to communicate with one another. Communication will take place verbally, as well as providing written feedback on group work. The students will also be communicating with the teacher and will be learning the importance of listening to one another when they are speaking. Communication, along with teamwork, forms the core of this scheme and is vital for the success of the students in the team challenges.

 

The students will be taking part in pair, group and class activities. They will be learning to work with one another in a practical setting that involves completing tasks and activities as a team, supporting one another, taking on leadership roles and working towards a common goal. The students ability to work together is vital for the success of the activities.