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Programming and self-concept: How does
what you do affect how they feel about themselves?
Cowin, L.
Camping Magazine, (May, 1989), pp.
46-48.
Purpose:
Discover what factors of the camping experience
affect campers' self-concept.
Sample:
147 female campers, grades 5-11
Camp Affiliation: Camp Belvoir Terrace,
MA.
Methods/Instruments:
- Method: Qualitative methods: campers
made daily journal entries about what
they liked most and least during the day
and descriptions of positive and negative
feelings about those experiences during
the 54-day camp experience.
- Design and Data Analysis: Content analysis
method used to identify categories related
to self-concept. Mean percentages of negative
and positive comments were calculated
for each category. Subjects' journal references
were divided into four groups for analysis:
grade 11, grades 9 & 10, grades 7
& 8, and grades 5 & 6.
Results:
- Journal entry analysis resulted in 8
categories related to self-concept: a
supportive, caring/sharing environment,
interactions between counselors and campers,
opportunities to experiment, opportunities
to experience success, opportunities to
fail, opportunities to experience feelings
of empowerment and effectiveness, feelings
of stress and pressure, and program-related
experiences.
- Campers recorded four times more positive
experiences than negative ones
- Only 5% of journal entries were related
to interactions with staff.
- 28.5% of journal entries were related
to program experiences (19% positive,
10% negative). The two oldest camper groups
indicated that participation and progress
in program experiences and afforded them
the greatest number of opportunities to
feel positively about themselves. Younger
campers placed more emphasis on having
fun and less on self-improvement opportunities
in connection with program.
- Peer judgments produced the largest
percentage of negative feelings related
to the program.
- Class placement levels were very important
to campers, who placed greater value on
being assigned to advanced level classes
and expressed negative feelings about
being placed in lower level classes.
- Campers placed value on confronting
failure in a positive and supportive environment.
- Opportunities to experience personal
success within the program significantly
enhanced campers' positive feelings about
themselves.
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