The process by which non-attending students regain physicality in a long-term camp used as an adventure education program

Abstract

The present study was conducted to clarify the process by which students who do not attend school regain physicality through participation in a long-term camp used as an adventure education program. We looked at 8 non-attending students who participated in the long-term camp. We collected data by observing the participants and analyzed them using the Modified Grounded Theory Approach. The findings were as follows.
　1)We found that in the process of regaining physicality, students went through 3 stages of “regaining a connection with the body”: ①“a sense of discomfort towards the body and physical manifestation of stress”, ② “awareness of the body” and “facing up to oneself through experience” by “experience of approaching physical limits”, and ③ “feeling confidence in the body”. 2) In terms of the factors that affect the recovery of physical confidence, we found that one factor was “connection with others and nature via the body”, which included 3 categories: “receptive involvement with staff via the body”, “peer relationships in an existential dimension through the body”, and “emotional experience based on physical sensations in nature”.