Author(s): YAMAUCHI, H., KIUCHI, A., SHIMIZU, Y., Institution: INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY, Country: JAPAN, Abstract-ID: 2731

Currently, Project Adventure (PA), an experiential adventure-based education approach, has attracted attention as a potential means of addressing psychosocial maladjustment frequently observed among first-year university students. However, previous applications of PA have largely been limited to short-term off-campus programs or isolated courses led by individual instructors, thereby restricting its systematic integration into university curricula.　Therefore, this study examined the educational effects of embedding PA within required, on-campus physical education (PE) classes, compared with conventional fitness-oriented classes (FT).

The participants were 670 Japanese first-year university students enrolled at a private university in Tokyo (FT group: n = 298; PA group: n = 372). The College Adaptation questionnaire was administered following the intervention, whereas Life Skills (LS) were measured both before and after the PA or FT courses intervention using validated self-report scales. Students in the PA group participated in collaborative, problem-solving group activities grounded in PA principles, while those in the FT group engaged in instructor-led aerobic exercise sessions.

The results of independent-samples t-tests indicated that the PA group scored significantly higher than the FT group across all four subdomains of college adaptation: academic engagement, peer relationships, personal life, and campus environment. In addition, a two-way ANOVA (2 groups × 2 times) revealed significantly greater improvements in intrapersonal skills in the PA group, which are considered to be associated with self-regulated learning and consensus-building processes. Furthermore, a three-way ANOVA (2 classes × 2 times × 3 initial skill level) was conducted after classifying participants into upper-, middle-, and lower-level groups based on baseline LS tertiles. Significant interaction effects were observed: within the PA group, overall LS improved significantly among students at the middle skill level; intrapersonal skills increased among those at the lower skill level; and social skills showed significant improvement among middle-level students.

The findings of this study suggest that systematically embedding PA within regular on-campus PE classes may be more effective than conventional fitness-based instruction in fostering college adaptation and life skills among first-year university students, while also accommodating differences in students’ initial skill levels.