Predictors of intellectual development in outdoor sports education mediated by student satisfaction and moderated by prior outdoor experience

Outdoor sports education is a specific field of study that examines the influence of environmental, pedagogical, and personal factors on students’ cognitive development. This study investigates the implications of learning environment, teaching techniques, student engagement, and learning outcomes on the intellectual development of outdoor sports education. It also examines the moderating and mediating effects of past outdoor experience on this relationship and on student satisfaction. Structured questionnaires were used to poll 650 students from different institutes in China. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to assess the predictive power of the independent components of intellectual development. Further, the study employed moderation-mediation analysis to discuss the mediated relationship between students’ satisfaction and their past outdoor experience and the learning outcomes. The results showed that significant predictors of intellectual development were the quality of the teaching environment (β = 0.25, p < 0.001), the efficiency of the teaching technique (β = 0.30, p < 0.001), student engagement (β = 0.15, p < 0.001), and learning outcomes (β = 0.20, p < 0.001). This association is mediated by student satisfaction (β = 0.30, p < 0.001, CI 0.16, 0.44) and moderated by prior outdoor exposure (β = -0.25, p = 0.002, CI −0.41, −0.09). The study emphasizes supportive learning environments, effective teaching, and student engagement to foster intellectual development in outdoor sports education.