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PRECEPTOR CASE STUDY 

 

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Copyright © by Indiana State University                                                                                Clinical Practice in Athletic Training  
All rights reserved. ISSN Online 2577-8188                                                                              Volume 1 – Issue 1 – June 2018 
 

Secondary School Athletic Training Facility Scavenger Hunt 
Orientation  
Joseph Vogler, MS, LAT, ATC 
Unionville High School, Kennett Square, PA 
 

 
ABSTRACT 
 
The purpose of this case study is to explain an educational 
game that was utilized as part of an orientation component 
with Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training 
Education (CAATE) accredited professional phase athletic 
training students. The students were guided through a 
scavenger hunt in 3 phases to help locate items within the 
athletic training facility and then analyze the item’s function 
and non-traditional usages. In Phase 1 the students were 
asked to search throughout the athletic training facility and 
fostered engage in dialogue regarding unknown items. The 
preceptor asked the students to retrieve random items during 
Phase 2. During Phase 3 the preceptor found random items 
and asked the students to think of traditional and non-
traditional uses for the chosen item. This activity utilized the 
educational theory of Bloom’s Taxonomy to introduce 
knowledge of athletic training supplies and equipment, and 
help students implement that knowledge into future clinical 
practice. Additionally, medical education literature has 
shown that games engage learners by increasing interest, 
retention, and stimulates students into higher levels of 
thinking.  

Key Phrases 
Orientation, observation experiences 
 
Correspondence 
Mr. Joseph Vogler, Unionville High School, 750 Unionville 
Road, Kennett Square, PA 19348. 
E-mail: jvogleratc@gmail.com 
Twitter: @goUathltraining 
 
Full Citation 
Vogler J. Secondary School Athletic Training Facility 
Scavenger Hunt Orientation. Clin Pract Athl Train. 
2018;1(1):30-32. 
https://doi.org/10.31622/2018/0001.6 

Submitted: April 30, 2018 Accepted: May 30, 2018 
 

 
 
 

INTRODUCTION 
 

Professional athletic training students (ATSs) in 
Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training 
Education (CAATE) accredited athletic training 
programs (ATPs) are required to engage in 
clinical education experiences at various sites 
throughout the curriculum. Many ATSs begin 
clinical rotations at secondary schools and are 
unaware that often times secondary school 
athletic trainers are forced to be more 
resourceful than their collegiate counterparts due 
to decreased budgets and staffing ratios.1 Since 
many secondary school athletic training facilities 
are smaller than their collegiate counterparts, 
organization skills and knowing where items are 
located is essential for students.2 Due to these 
differences, ATSs assigned to the secondary 
school must hone in on their organization and 
resourcefulness skills from day one. As a result, 
the training activity described in this paper was 
done on one of the first days ATSs began a 
rotation at the secondary school level during the 
professional phase.  
 
ATHLETIC TRAINING STUDENT 
CHARACTERISTICS 
 
The activity was performed with 1-2 CAATE 
accredited professional phase ATSs in their first 
secondary school clinical rotation.  
 
PRECEPTOR CHARACTERISTICS 
 
The preceptor practiced at a local secondary 
school in a large suburban school district. The 
preceptor has been an athletic trainer for 4 years 
and has been a preceptor for 2 ½ of those 4 
years. The preceptor has been through a formal 
graduate level class on educating athletic trainers 
and attended numerous preceptor workshops 
over the previous 3 years. There are 2 other 

https://doi.org/10.31622/2018/0001.6


Secondary School Athletic Training Facility Scavenger Hunt Orientation 
 

 

31 
Copyright © by Indiana State University                                                                                Clinical Practice in Athletic Training  
All rights reserved. ISSN Online 2577-8188                                                                              Volume 1 – Issue 1 – June 2018  

athletic trainers, 1 part time, 1 full time, who 
interacted with the ATSs on a semi-regular basis.  
 
EXPERIENCE 
 
As an orientation to the secondary school setting, 
the ATSs took part in a scavenger hunt that has 
been designed in three phases. In Phase 1 the 
ATSs were asked to explore and rummage 
through closets, cabinets, drawers, and kits to 
discover the location of all items in the clinic. If 
they did not know the item or its function, they 
were supposed to ask a preceptor for 
explanation. Once the students completed Phase 
1 by searching through the entire athletic training 
room, Phase 2 was introduced gradually when the 
preceptors start asking students to find random 
items from around the clinic. Phase 3 usually 
occurred once ATSs were familiar with all items. In 
this phase the preceptors pulled various items and 
asked the ATSs if they could think of 3-5 non-
traditional functions for that item as it related to 
athletic training clinical practice.  
 
The objective of Phase 1 was to familiarize the 
ATSs with all supplies and items located in the 
athletic training facility and to spark conversations 
about the function of the items. The obvious benefit 
to this is that in an urgent situation (i.e. needing an 
epinephrine injector in the gymnasium for a 
patient experiencing anaphylactic shock) the ATS 
is familiar with the location of the item. An 
additional benefit is that the athletic trainer had 
an opportunity to plan for future educational 
discussions based on what items the ATS was 
familiar and unfamiliar with. For example, if the 
ATS asked questions about modalities, the 
preceptor could spend some time discussing 
modalities in greater detail. Questions that 
sparked further dialog were often about unique 
non-traditional items such as, “Why is there a can 
of dusting spray in the rehab area?” (correct 
answer: to help decrease the friction of the 
slideboard), or “Why are there two tongue 
depressors taped together in the football 
equipment removal kit?” (correct answer: to 
remove cheek pads from a football helmet in a 
cervical spine emergency). However, there have 
also been questions posed about therapeutic 
modality and rehabilitation equipment that was 
not seen at previous observations such as, “How 
do you use the Vibracussor?” or, “What type of 
rehabilitation is a BAPS board used for?”  

The objective of Phase 2 was to get students 
familiar with important items or items that may 
have been missed. Often times this was used as an 
informal assessment to make sure students were 
familiar with the location of emergency and acute 
care items. For example, making sure that a 
student knew where nasal sponges were, so that 
during a situation where a patient presented with 
an epistaxis, they are able to treat the bleeding 
before there was significant blood loss.  
 
The objective of Phase 3 was to encourage the 
ATSs to think outside of the box and help them 
understand that in the athletic training setting, 
especially at the secondary school level, athletic 
trainers must be resourceful and items can serve 
many purposes. Phase 3 sparked other 
conversations that led to a chain reaction of 
tangential learning. The preceptor prompted the 
ATS by finding a random item, such as baby 
powder, and asked them to list 3-5 athletic 
training uses of that item. For example, baby 
powder can be utilized for reducing friction in a 
multitude of ways. Often times the ATSs mentioned 
the most common usages such as treating chaffing 
or sweat reduction in a shoe or cleat. However, 
often the students did not think of the additional 
usages, such as using baby powder to help slide 
on a neoprene sleeve, or helping a patient put on 
a wet sock back on over a fresh ankle taping. 
Additionally, baby powder can be used with 
deep oscillation therapy (i.e., the HIVAMAT 200 
Evident unit),3 and this particular usage created 
an educational opportunity to learn about deep 
oscillation therapy on numerous occasions.  
 
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
 
The overall results of the activity have been 
positive. The ATSs started out thinking that the task 
was busy work, yet soon realize that it ignited 
educational discussions. The execution of this 
activity worked best when the ATS starts at the 
clinical site and a period of the day with a low 
patient-load, to allow an opportunity for open 
dialog. After the scavenger hunt, there was a short 
debriefing session among the ATSs to ask for their 
impressions and ways to make the activity better 
in the future. There was some competitive nature 
to the activity as the ATSs competed to be the first 
to find items, and to come up with more unique 
answers during the Phase 3 questions.  
 



Secondary School Athletic Training Facility Scavenger Hunt Orientation 
 

 

32 
Copyright © by Indiana State University                                                                                Clinical Practice in Athletic Training  
All rights reserved. ISSN Online 2577-8188                                                                              Volume 1 – Issue 1 – June 2018  

CLINICAL BOTTOM LINE 
 
When looking at educational research, the 
scavenger hunt activity aligned with Bloom’s 
Taxonomy, an educational theory explained by 
Benjamin Bloom in 1956, with each phase of 
learning building upon the previous phase of 
learning.4 In Bloom’s Taxonomy, there are 6 levels 
(1. knowledge, 2. comprehension, 3. application, 
4. analysis, 5. synthesis, 6. evaluation) that 
students experience during instruction.4 When 
analyzing the scavenger hunt in Phases 1 and 2, 
the ATS are asked to retrieve knowledge by 
looking for items and then asked to comprehend 
that knowledge by posing questions for 
clarification and explanation from the preceptor.4 
In Phase 3 the ATSs were asked to apply, analyze, 
and synthesize their knowledge as they critically 
thought about the usage of items in clinical 
practice.4 The ultimate goal is that the ATSs will 
then take what they have learned in the scavenger 
hunt and put it together with other components of 
their athletic training education to apply this 
knowledge to their future clinical practice.4 
Additionally, by turning this experience into a 
scavenger hunt the ATSs saw it as a game and 
were competitive. In medical education games 
have been indicated to promote interest, increase 
retention, and stimulate students into higher levels 
of thinking within Bloom’s Taxonomy.5,6   
 
STUDENT PERSPECTIVE 
 
Athletic training students have stated, “I really 
enjoyed the scavenger hunt activity that we did at 
the beginning of the semester. It helped me to feel 
more comfortable in the [athletic training facility] 
and was helpful for when I needed to find 
something quickly. It was a really fun way to get 
oriented and feel more confident there.” 
Moreover, “The scavenger hunt game in the 
athletic training [facility] is very beneficial and an 
engaging game. It helped me learn where 
everything is in the room in a short amount of time. 
Knowing where all the equipment and supplies 
are is very important, so there is no delay or 
questioning when needed to acquire 
equipment/supplies.” 
 
 
 
 

REFERENCES 
 
1. Mazerolle SM, Raso SR, Pagnotta KD, Stearns 

RL, Casa DJ. Athletic directors’ barriers to 
hiring athletic trainers in high schools. J Athl 
Training. 2015;50(10):1059-1068. 
https://doi.org/10.4085/1062-6050-
50.10.01 

2. Cooper L. Ready to renovate. Training & 
Conditioning. http://training-
conditioning.com/4ATS/ready-renovate. 
October 11, 2017. Accessed May 21, 2018. 

3. Compass Richmar Corporation. Operating 
Instructions: HIVAMAT 200 Evident. 2017. 
http://richmarweb.com/Websites/richmar/i
mages/pdf/operation-manuals/hivamat-
200-evident-manual.pdf. Accessed March 21, 
2018. 

4. Bloom BS, Engelhart MD, Furst EJ. Taxonomy 
of Educational Objectives: The Classification of 
Educational Goals Handbook I: Cognitive 
Domain. New York, NY: David McKay 
Company; 1956.  

5. Meterissian S, Liberman M, McLeod P. Games 
as teaching tools in a surgical residency. Med 
Teach. 2007;29:e258-e260. 
https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159070166
3295 

6. Akl EA, Mustafa R, Slomka T, Alawneh A, 
Vedavalli A, Schunemann HJ. An educational 
game for teaching clinical practice guidelines 
to Internal Medicine residents: Development, 
feasibility and acceptability. BMC Med Educ. 
2008;8(50). 
https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-8-50 

 

 

https://doi.org/10.4085/1062-6050-50.10.01
https://doi.org/10.4085/1062-6050-50.10.01
https://doi.org/10.1080/01421590701663295
https://doi.org/10.1080/01421590701663295
https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-8-50

	ABSTRACT
	INTRODUCTION

