ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses three major topics: defining adventure education (AE), discussing the status and challenges of contemporary AE practice, and explicating the limits and challenges to AE research. AE is about harnessing the inherent motivation for these experiences in ways that reinforce positives and limit negatives. In AE, as opposed to recreational trips, leaders or instructors guide and facilitate the AE process while also overseeing risk management, managing group dynamics and addressing learning topics. Harnessing the power of intrinsic interest for adventure is an essential piece of the AE experience. The qualities have prompted some to consider AE a microcosm, a smaller and more responsive system that parallels aspects of the larger dynamic systems that surround people daily. The challenge for AE has been to articulate how outcomes are valuable after an AE course ends. An alternative way to understanding AE is to employ a holistic systems approach, taking into consideration the factors that contribute to post-experience trajectories of participants.
