The impact of an experiential education program on the self-perceptions and perceived social regard of physical education students.

This study investigated the effectiveness of an 8-month Team Building through Physical Challenges (TBPC; Glover & Midura, 1992) program on the self-perceptions and perceived social regard of middle school physical education students (N = 1802). Data were analyzed using multilevel analyses where midpoint and final evaluations were conducted separately. Results revealed that at the midpoint evaluation, students in the experimental and control conditions were not different on any of the subscales assessed. At the end of the program, students in the experimental condition, compared with those in the control condition, showed significantly higher scores on 6 of the 10 subscales assessed and the effect sizes were medium to very large. The findings support the effectiveness of the TBPC program in creating positive psychological outcomes for students in a field-based setting.