ERIC Number: EJ1468858
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020
Pages: 23
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: EISSN-2325-5226
Available Date: 0000-00-00
The Experience of Learning: Early Adolescents in Organized Youth Programs
Jennifer A. Skuza
Journal of Human Sciences & Extension, v8 n3 p36-57 2020
Although researchers and policymakers have focused on school as the critical place in which learning occurs, organized youth programs offer different environments in which early adolescents can learn. However, early adolescent learning in organized youth programs is an under-researched area of learning, which may limit the ability of youth development practitioners to respond appropriately to early adolescent learning needs. The purpose of this article is to describe the experience of learning in an organized youth program by finding meaning in early adolescents' lived experience through a phenomenological methodology. For youth in this study, learning in an organized program is an experience of discovering new ways of seeing themselves and others in their worlds. Learning is comprised of feelings of anxiety that are tempered with the comfort young people find within themselves. Learning is also a relational experience marked by an emerging sense of ownership that shapes one's sense of self. This study invites youth development practitioners to recognize the significant role they can play in cultivating early adolescent learning.
Descriptors: Early Adolescents, Youth Programs, Learning Experience, Extension Education, After School Programs, Summer Programs, Urban Youth, Adolescent Attitudes
School of Human Sciences, Mississippi State University. PO Box 9745, Mississippi State, MS 39762. Tel: 662-325-6861; Fax: 662-325-8188; e-mail: jhse@ext.msstate.edu; Web site: https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/jhse/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Minnesota
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A