Effect of Intentionally Designed Experiences on Teamwork Skills Among Youth: An Application of Symbolic Interaction Theory
Keywords:
youth, teamwork, after-school, developmental outcomes, Symbolic Interaction Theory, recreation experiences, intentional design, situated activity systemAbstract
Given the level of importance placed on teamwork by employers and others concerned about youth transitions into fully engaged adulthood and the dearth of research on teamwork in youth programs, the effects on the outcome of teamwork skills of three different and independent Symbolic Interaction Theory (SIT)-based after-school program experiences. Using SIT and the Situated Activity System as the theoretical framework, the program was intentionally designed using the technique of embedding questionnaire outcome items in facilitator scripts to elicit teamwork skills, defined as effective and productive behaviors for a youth group member. Youths aged 12–13 participated in three independent 90-minute experiences. The Island experience (n = 29) included a variety of team-focused activities, such as rescuing rafts with one another in a make-believe island setting. The Pirates experience (n = 20) engaged participants in responding to the captain's commands as a crew and playing treasure hunt in small groups. The Superheroes experience (n = 32) engaged participants in making capes and using their combined powers to accomplish superhero group challenges. For the last activity, participants completed a self-report in which the questionnaire items were scored using a retrospective response format indicating level of change for each item. To control for participant perceptions of the activities being fun and to ensure that participants reported on teamwork skills and not another outcome, additional items of "fun," and "affinity for nature" were included. Results showed that the highest teamwork skill score occurred in the Pirates experience (M = 3.88, SD = .62), while the Superheroes experience had the lowest teamwork skill score (M = 3.10, SD = .81). The three experiences yielded a strong percent change in reported teamwork skills. All experiences were reported as fun, and none were significantly more fun than others (F (2,78) = 2.83, p = .07). The percent change of affinity for nature was considerably lower than teamwork skills on all three experiences, indicating the program had little impact on participants' affinity for nature. This result suggests greater confidence in asserting that the program experience affected the target outcome of teamwork skills. This study adds to 83 the literature on intentionally designed programs' effects on youth outcomes. Practitioners are urged to utilize outcome language from questionnaire items in their facilitation. More research and practice focus is needed to connect program processes with participant outcomes, and this study strengthens our understanding of these connections.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Sagamore Publishing LLC (hereinafter the “Copyright Owner”)
Journal Publishing Copyright Agreement for Authors
PLEASE REVIEW OUR POLICIES AND THE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT, AND INDICATE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS BY CHECKING THE ‘AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS COPYRIGHT NOTICE’ CHECKBOX BELOW.
I understand that by submitting an article to Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, I am granting the copyright to the article submitted for consideration for publication in Journal of Park and Recreation Administration to the Copyright Owner. If after consideration of the Editor of the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, the article is not accepted for publication, all copyright covered under this agreement will be automatically returned to the Author(s).
THE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT
Assignment of Copyright
I hereby assign to the Copyright Owner the copyright in the manuscript I am submitting in this online procedure and any tables, illustrations or other material submitted for publication as part of the manuscript in all forms and media (whether now known or later developed), throughout the world, in all languages, for the full term of copyright, effective when the article is accepted for publication.
Reversion of Rights
Articles may sometimes be accepted for publication but later be rejected in the publication process, even in some cases after public posting in “Articles in Press” form, in which case all rights will revert to the Author.
Retention of Rights for Scholarly Purposes
I understand that I retain or am hereby granted the Retained Rights. The Retained Rights include the right to use the Preprint, Accepted Manuscript, and the Published Journal Article for Personal Use and Internal Institutional Use.
All journal material is under a 12 month embargo. Authors who would like to have their articles available as open access should contact Sagamore-Venture for further information.
In the case of the Accepted Manuscript and the Published Journal Article, the Retained Rights exclude Commercial Use, other than use by the author in a subsequent compilation of the author’s works or to extend the Article to book length form or re-use by the author of portions or excerpts in other works.
Published Journal Article: the author may share a link to the formal publication through the relevant DOI.
Author Representations
- The Article I have submitted to the journal for review is original, has been written by the stated author(s) and has not been published elsewhere.
- The Article was not submitted for review to another journal while under review by this journal and will not be submitted to any other journal.
- The Article contains no libelous or other unlawful statements and does not contain any materials that violate any personal or proprietary rights of any other person or entity.
- I have obtained written permission from copyright owners for any excerpts from copyrighted works that are included and have credited the sources in the Article.
- If the Article was prepared jointly with other authors, I have informed the co-author(s) of the terms of this Journal Publishing Agreement and that I am signing on their behalf as their agent, and I am authorized to do so.