Theses and Dissertations

Alayna Naro

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Greenhaw, Laura L.

Committee Member

Phillips, Tommy M.

Committee Member

Swortzel, Kirk A.

Date of Degree

12-9-2016

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Agricultural and Extension Education

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Department

School of Human Sciences

Abstract

Youth-serving organizations, such as 4-H, place a large emphasis on positive youth development and experiential learning in order to assist youth in acquiring specific life skills. The literature suggests that residential summer camps are one of the best ways to provide positive youth development, experiential learning, and targeted life skills. This study was a mixed methods design which utilized four residential summer programs throughout the state of Mississippi in order to compare the differences between the residential 4-H summer programs that took place on a university campus to those that took place within the naturalistic environment. The results of this study indicate that on-campus residential summer programs achieved the essential elements of positive youth development more so than those that took place within the naturalistic environment. The on-campus program participants also acquired targeted life skills more so than those that participated in programs that took place within the naturalistic environment.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/18866

Comments

positive youth development||life skills||4-H||summer programs||experiential learning

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