Outdoor Education Commons^™

The River And The Ranger: The Crafting And Background Of An Interpretive Program, Amy J. Heusinkvelt

Honors Theses

The central part of this creative project was the development and presentation of an interpretive program delivered in conjunction with employment at the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway. To supplement this place-specific program, a second program was developed retaining similar themes to the first, but designed to be presented in Lincoln. A brief history of the National Park Service as well as the fundamentals of interpretation were researched and elaborated upon to provide both a base and background for presentation of the interpretive programs. The project includes both self-assessment of the programs and research, as well as remarks, suggestions, and …

Arete Cel Final Report, Roshana Ghaedi

SASAH 4th Year Capstone and Other Projects: Publications

Roshana Ghaedi reports on her participation in the Arete project on an isolated North Carolinian farm in the summer of 2019, which she counted as experiential-learning requirement in the School for Advanced Studies in the Arts & Humanities (SASAH). She explains Arete’s founding pillars and approach to education and details the work and self-reflection she undertook, the concept of self-governance, and the process of developing her presentation on her experience.

Nebline, January 2020

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

2019 Extension Highlights

Benefit to People

Extension’s Volunteers Worth Over $800,000

Resilience Makes Nebraska Strong

35,312 Youth Engaged in 4-H Programs

Find Tips and Recipes Easier at food.unl.edu

Recipe of the Month

UNL Food Processing Center Offers Assistance to Small Food Business Start-ups

Pesticide Applicator 2020 Training Dates

Successful Farmer Series Starts Jan. 10

Landlord/Tenant Cash Rent Workshop, Feb. 3

Soil Health Conference, March 3

Upcoming Green Industry Conferences

Extension’s 2020 Master Gardener Trainings, Two Sites Available

Garden Guide Things to Do This Month

Childcare Professionals — Considering Outdoor Play in Winter?

Upcoming Early Childhood Trainings

Heart of 4-H Volunteer …

Impact Of A Student-Athlete Career Preparation Program On Athlete Alumni Affinity, Heather L. Hunter

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has indicated the majority of athlete alumni do not give charitable donations to their alma mater or athletics department. With over 4 million former National Collegiate Athletic Association student-athletes, these athlete alumni should have an inherent affinity for their athletics department. The purpose of this research study was to examine the relationship between a student-athlete career preparation program (“Career Program”) and athlete alumni affinity for the athletics department. This study uses the theoretical framework of Social Exchange Theory to examine if an athlete alumni’s affinity for their athletics department increases when they receive support for their career launch. …

A Troop, A Raft, A Bed, Hanna Jane Guendel

Senior Projects Spring 2020

A Troop, a Raft, a Bed tells the interwoven fictional stories of three major animals (the mountain gorilla, the Adélie penguin, and the American eel) and four transitional animals (the white stork, the humpback whale, the common octopus, and the great white shark). The stories are told from the animals' perspectives, and are written with language that considers each animal's unique intelligence, mind, and behavior. These stories seek to communicate how animals around the world may be experiencing the various effects of climate change and global warming.

Taking A Walk On The Wild Side: Case Studies Of Programs That Integrate K-12 Curricula With Adventure Sports And Outdoor Learning, Jonathan Trzepkowski

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

In the United States there are a number of schools that utilize outdoor learning and adventure sports as part of their educational approach. The purpose of this case study was to analyze several programs that utilize adventure sports and outdoor learning in their curriculum and then present their distinguishing features in case study form. This case study selected 16 schools/programs that used adventure education or outdoor learning and created a profile for each one using a set of common guiding questions. This paper offers an interpretation of the findings that goes beyond the 16 profiles by synthesizing common components of …

Adolescent Adventures In Geology: Impacts Of Geoscience-Focused Stem Education Combined With Recreation Activities On Adolescents’ Perceived Self-Efficacy, Lauren Janowicz

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Quality, informal learning techniques combined with outdoor adventure recreation, or adventure STEM programming, is a potentially powerful complement to and extension of formal education (Fu et al., 2015). To address this underexplored field, West Virginia University (WVU) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) partnered to create a geology STEM, outdoor adventure recreation camp. This thesis research project employed qualitative directed content analysis to examine the potential impacts of this adventure STEM program on participants’ perceptions of their outdoor recreation (OR) self-efficacy (Bandura, 1994; Mittelstaedt et al., 2009). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 adolescent participants with an average age …

Evaluation Of The Watershed Education Network's Fish Week Program, Rennie Ann Winkelman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Watershed Education Network (WEN) is a nonprofit environmental education program that aims to foster knowledge, appreciation, and awareness of watershed health through water-based education programs and field science experiences. Their Fish Week program for 7^th graders at Washington Middle School has an overarching theme of watershed and ecosystem health and includes an introduction to aquatic invertebrates, native fish, fish habitats, bugs and dry fly comparison, and an introduction to fly fishing. This is a formative, outcome-based evaluation of the Fish Week program. I used pre and post program survey data from 2017 and 2018 as well as survey …

Raising An Indoor Generation: Outdoor Environmental Education Impact On Adolescent Development, Daisy Elizabeth Bewley

Student Theses 2015-Present

In an increasingly digital world, children are growing up with less involvement and interaction with the environment. Hands-on and experiential learning is less popular in schools and a more test-oriented and numerical evaluation is increasingly popular. This thesis explores the decrease in outdoor environmental education and the impact that has on adolescent development and developmental milestones in children. This impact extends past just mental development and impacts the physical health development of children. Obesity, attention deficit disorders, and other behavioral issues are just a few of the signs of the problems that have arisen due to a decrease in environmental …

Nature Relatedness: Investigating Differences Among Rural, Suburban, And Urban Populations In Connection To Nature Scores, Elizabeth K. Skinner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study examined the Nature Relatedness scores of people from rural, suburban, and urban populations to investigate differences among these populations. Survey participants also reported on whether or not they were currently raising children under the age of 18 in their home, how many outdoor activities they participated in as children and currently as adults, and their hours of screen time per day. These variables were examined to measure their impact on Nature Relatedness scores. Results showed significant differences in the Nature Relatedness scores of people from rural and urban, and urban and suburban populations. This study found that people …

Day Worker Center: Employer And Client Engagement, Anayeli Avalos

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Day Worker Center of Santa Cruz County is a component of the Community Action Board (CAB), a non-profit organization that has been providing services to eliminate poverty. CAB offers the program, administrative, and fiscal oversight to the Day Worker Center. The County of Santa Cruz is facing a high rate of unemployment, which is affecting the community. What contributes to the problem is low awareness of community knowledge about employment services. Also, the undocumented community that finds it hard to trust services because they think they can get deported. In addition, the issue can cause consequences such as health …

Outdoor Activities To Improve Writing, Alyssa Kyllonen

Conspectus Borealis

No abstract provided.

Nebline, November/December 2019

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

CONTENTS

4-H Horse Program Grows Youth for Life

Thanksgiving Food Safety

Recipe of the Month

Successful Farmer Series Starts Jan. 10

Produce Safety Workshop, Nov. 19

Pesticide Applicator Trainings

Upcoming Green Industry Conferences

A New Can of Worms: Asian Jumping Worms

Use Caution to Avoid Deer-Vehicle Collisions

Reuse Your Fresh Cut Christmas Tree for Wildlife

Gifts For The Gardener

Garden Guide: Things to Do This Month

High-Quality Child Care Depends on Effective Family Engagement

Heart of 4-H Volunteer Award: Beverlee Keller

Heart of 4-H Volunteer Award: Dave Hattan

4-H Video Companion Animal Showmanship Contest Results

Outgoing 4-H Council Members

2019 …

Weather Courtyard: Reflections On Interactive Stem Learning Spaces, Ryan Day

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

In this article, the author discusses his experiences in service-oriented engineering developing an interactive weather station for DCES students. Day details this process and the lessons learned over the course of the project development, as well as the project’s influence on his aspirations for a career in civil and environmental engineering. To provide substantive takeaways from the project, he concludes by reviewing the benefits of interactive STEM learning spaces in the instructional environment and links them to the impacts of the weather station project on the community.

I Want To Know Why, Virginia Casper, Rebecca J. Newman

Occasional Paper Series

In this article, an early childhood coach and her mentor coach tell one story of their year of joint reflective work together. They follow the topic of outdoor play in birth-to-three and early childhood family-based care programs as it surfaced at the beginning of the year. This inquiry expanded into the coach’s burgeoning understanding of the meaning of experience for very young children, which became a parallel process in the coach’s work with practitioners. Together, the coach and mentor coach describe the ways in which they created a more authentic and meaningful way to think about outdoor time and environments …

The Saint John's Maple Syrup Operation: Something Sweet For Everyone, Sarah Gainey, Kyle Rauch, Stephen G. Saupe

Biology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Nebline, October 2019

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

CONTENTS

Groundwater Protection: It’s Up to Everyone

The Nutritional Power of Pumpkins

Recipe of the Month

Sulfur Deficiency in Corn

Planting Garlic in the Fall Vegetable Garden

Composting Demonstrations

I Spy a Spider: Common Spiders Around the Home

Invasive Species: American Bullfrog

Plant Spring Bulbs for Pollinators

Garden Guide: Things to Do This Month

Become a Master Gardener

Chatting With Babies Helps Brain Development

Heart of 4-H Volunteer Award: Kelsey Ebke

4-H Golf Tournament Fundraiser, Sept. 29

4-H Specialty Clubs Invite New Members

4-H Announcements for 4-H'ers and Volunteers

State Fair 4-H Top Results

Lancaster County 4-H Quilt of Valor …

A Competency Analysis Of Waterpark Aquatic Professionals, Christopher A. Crume, William D. Ramos

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

The purpose of this study was to further the knowledge base in the aquatics field and assist in the development of universal standards to ensure that competent managers are employed at waterpark type venues. Until recently, thanks in part to the establishment of the Model Aquatic Health Code (MAHC 2014), universal standards did not exist in aquatics. The development of standards in the field will help to ensure continuity in policies among all facility types, properly trained professionals, and ultimately safer environments for participants. Using a pair of five-point Likert scales to sample 600 aquatic professionals, this study sought to …

Nebline, September 2019

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

CONTENTS

Read for Resilience Program Helps Young Children Cope After a Disaster

Breakfast — Don’t Leave Home Without It!

Recipe of the Month

Grazing Calves on Annual Forages

Sheet Composting Requires No Turning

Composting Demonstrations

Prepared, Not Scared. Be Ready for Disasters

Plant Asters for Fall Color

Garden Guide: Things to Do This Month

The Lowdown on Lyme Disease

Heart of 4-H Volunteer Award: Brenda Nepper

4-H Teen Council Invites New Members

Support 4-H by Dining at Chipotle on O Street, Sept. 16

New Horticulture 4-H Club Meeting, Sept. 19

4-H Golf Tournament Fundraiser, Sept. 29

Interested in Joining 4-H? …

First Responders' Narratives Of Drowning: Perceptions Of Family And Community Impacts And Policy Implications, John Wells Phd, Michael Bergin Phd, John Connolly B.Ed., Ma In Ed., Suzanne Denieffe Phd

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

This is an exploratory study of the impacts of drowning death on local communities and families in the Republic of Ireland as perceived by first responders. The impact of a death may be particularly stressful. The identified population of interest were members of the Garda and first responders from Community Rescue Boats Ireland. The principal data collection method was one-to-one narrative interviews followed by a focus group. Questioning involved asking interviewees to talk about specific events rather than providing general opinions. Community identity was a source of impact, an urban or rural setting was a significant factor, social media was …