Outdoor Education Commons^™

Healing A Generation; Implementation Of Higher Education Curricula For Venezuelan Journalism Students Living Under Structural Violence To Promote A Transition Into Democracy, José Luis Jiménez-Figarotti Prof.

The SUNY Journal of the Scholarship of Engagement: JoSE

Venezuela's sociopolitical landscape has deteriorated significantly over the past decade, culminating in a profound humanitarian crisis. This ethnography, conducted from 2015 to the present, explores the experiences of a study group comprising 2000 Venezuelan communication college students, aged 17 to 25, who navigate structural violence while striving for quality higher education. The research employed a multifaceted approach, encompassing interviews, focus groups, and observations. Additionally, this qualitative study examines the outcomes of implementing an interdisciplinary journalism curriculum grounded in human rights and media activism, complemented by online sessions and an environmental education component. This educational project aims to foster critical thinking …

Book Review It Takes An Ecosystem: Understanding The People, Places, And Possibilities Of Learning And Development Across Settings, Denise Montgomery

Journal of Youth Development

It Takes an Ecosystem: Understanding the People, Places, and Possibilities of Learning and Development Across Settings, edited by Thomas Akiva and Kimberly H. Robinson, is a call to take a holistic and dynamic ecosystem approach to thinking about, designing, developing, and investing in the allied youth fields to more equitably and effectively support young people’s learning and development. Published in 2022, the volume outlines a vision for out-of-school time programs and systems, schools, community-based organizations, and the public sector to move beyond focusing separately on individual systems to a learning and development ecosystem approach that more accurately and inclusively reflects …

Scents Of Place: Exploring Self, Place And Planet Through Botanical Fragrance, Jennifer L. Kitson, Donna M. Sweigart

Open Educational Resources

This learning module provides instructors with an experiential field guide for introducing students to the United Nations Inner Development Goals Framework through self-guided mindful smelling activities and reflection prompts related to botanical fragrance. The interdisciplinary nature of this module allows for use or adaptation in a wide range of courses looking for outdoor, place-based and self-guided experiential learning to explore the role of botanical fragrance for people, plants and pollinators. The overarching goal is to deepen students’ connections to their senses (and scents) of self, place and planet through exploring botanical fragrance with mindful smelling. The learning activities in this …

Fostering Connection Through Ecological Identity: Expanding Colonial Concepts Of Outdoor Adventures, Elizabeth Farrell

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

How can I foster ecological identity? Defining ecological identity as a sense of awareness of how one relates with nature, and identity as an ecological being that is nature, this action research project will explore the ways in which people connect to the natural world through everyday moments. In understanding that the foundations, practices, and industry messaging of the outdoors can be exclusive and perpetuate systems of oppression, I am seeking to expand the notion of what nature connection can be. The hope is to create more accessible, inclusive, and equitable outdoor education practices. Research design included a survey and …

Cultivating Connectedness To Nature In The College Classroom: A Consideration Of Nature-Based Pedagogy In Undergraduate Education, Cody H. Nygard

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

Nature-based environmental education, and research around the cultivation of connectedness to nature, has focused primarily on younger learners without paying close attention to the development of nature-based college curriculum (Leiflander et al., 2013; Ernst & Theimer, 2011; Cheng & Monroe, 2010). Additionally, spirituality as a mechanism for engaging students in the development of connectedness to nature has largely been neglected in higher education pedagogical research (Crowe, 2013). The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of a nature-based, spiritually engaging undergraduate environmental course on students’ connectedness to nature. This quasi-experimental, mixed methods case study compared changes to connectedness …

Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics (Stem) Project-Based Learning (Pbl) Education: A New Mexico Case Study For Equity And Inclusion, Kimberly A. Scheerer

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

This research addresses how student participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) project-based learning (PBL) education activities encourages underrepresented minority student achievement in STEM career field trajectories. Seven New Mexico high school counselors and 12 STEM organization personnel were interviewed during this study. Their responses represent the nuanced professional voices where New Mexico public education intersects with STEM student interest and cultural influence.

For students, STEM PBL can foster deep integration across educational disciplines and enhance STEM career trajectory interest and readiness. STEM education converged with PBL methodologies has the ability to leverage community support while broadening student networks. …

This Is The Way: Faculty On The Camino De Santiago, Benjamin I. Boone, James P. Barber

School of Education Book Chapters

Excerpt from book chapter: "For nearly a millennium, pilgrims have made their way to Santiago de Compostela to visit the tomb of Saint James. These pilgrims initially journeyed from the Iberian Peninsula and then greater Europe, establishing over a dozen routes to reach the northwestern city in modern-day Galicia, a province of Spain. These routes followed established pathways connecting urban hubs, ports, and trade channels. While the number of pilgrims rose steadily in the Middle Ages through the Renaissance, the popularity of pilgrimage mirrored that of the Catholic Church and began to wane with the onset of the Enlightenment. It …

Remote Learning - The Future Of Education: Effective Instructional Strategies Used By Parent Educators And Recommendations For Building Capacity, Raelene Ferguson Haugen

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed methods Delphi study was to identify the remote learning instructional strategies used by expert Southern California parent educators for implementing the anticipatory set, modeling, checking for understanding, and guided practice elements of Madeline Cheek Hunter’s Instructional Theory Into Practice (ITIP) framework. The study sought to identify how expert Southern California parent educators rated the effectiveness of the remote learning instructional strategies in the aforementioned elements of Hunter’s ITIP framework. Additionally, the purpose was to generate recommendations from expert Southern California parent educators to build capacity in the identified effective instructional strategies.

Methodology: The classical …

Sprouting Systems, Abaigeal Aydt, Cassidy Smith

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

After taking a class at UNL about environmental awareness, two honors students paired up to start a hydroponics club at a local Lincoln school. In reaching out to the LPS director of sustainability, they were paired up with Prescott Elementary School. Over the course of a semester, they developed a club that got a hydroponic grow tower functioning for the school and taught students about nutrition and sustainability. This club is only in its beginning stages, but the impacts that it is making around the school can already be seen.

Foodways In Chile: A Bridge Back To Nature, Kayla Weiss

Capstone Collection

As the area of food studies continues to develop and evolve it has been recognized that, not only is food a necessity to life, but it is uniquely tied to understanding culture, history, and other aspects of a society. This study arose from recognizing this influence and importance and I took the opportunity to better understand how Birchwood College might be an optimal site for a short-term study abroad program based in food studies. I conducted a needs assessment through landscape research, surveying students, and interviewing food studies faculty and international educators at Birchwood College. The research findings offered insights …

Place-Based Education As Liberatory Praxis, Todd C. Cooley

The Vermont Connection

Indigenous students are severely underrepresented in higher education, and in STEM disciplines in particular. There is a lack of research critiquing the hegemonic culture of STEM programs in the United States that may present challenges to students pursuing these degrees from Indigenous communities. Using Tribal Critical Race Theory and Native Student Identity Development Theory, I examine the ways in which STEM programs throughout the United States harms and excludes Indigenous students, and seek to uncover ways that we can build Engineering departments which are more inclusive of varying worldviews, with a particular emphasis on Indigenous epistemologies. Specifically, I offer Place-Based …

Student Perception Of Essential Employability Qualities In A First-Year Experience Course, Kara S. Schotter

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the Ernst and Sara Lane Volgenau College of Education at Morehead State University by Kara S. Schotter on April 4, 2022

Pilgering Researchers Or Researching Pilgrims: Experiences From Four Student Projects On The Camino De Santiago 2016-2019, Andreas Braun

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Between 2016 and 2019, I accompanied four student groups on the Camino de Santiago - however the planned 2020 project was cancelled due to the coronavirus epidemic. In this article, I describe the project, its planning, its implementation, and its conclusion, as well as some experiences and impressions of the participating students on the basis of an ethnographical approach. The projects presented have two objectives: on the one hand, to teach the students qualitative and quantitative research methods in a delimited, protected environment, and on the other hand, to introduce the students to the fascination of pilgrimage and the Camino …

“Mind The S-Step” – A Self-Study Of Higher Education, Tomás Aylward

Masters

Lecturing can be very much a solo pursuit. While we work as lecturers in a higher education ecology, we generally teach our students alone and there isn’t always systematic feedback on our teaching practice. This study is borne out of a desire to better know and improve my practice as a lecturer in a technological university. I wish to be era-responsive for my students, particularly in the context of the Anthropocene and our global climate crisis. Specifically, I wished to see if a place-based education (PBE) approach was perceptible in the programme I teach. This research is centred on outdoor …

Academic Libraries Support E-Learning And Lifelong Learning: A Case Study, Sivankalai S

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

E-learning has proven to be the best method for corporations, primarily when MNCs conduct training programmes for their workforce worldwide. In e-learning, a teacher no longer directs students; instead, a step-by-step guide has replaced the teacher. The idea of web 2.0, life-long learning, open education, and social constructivism is often linked with this term. Librarians can benefit from e-learning as well as students and researchers. Staff training through additional online programmes assists employees in learning the latest ideas, handling new challenges, and meeting reader demands. E-learning is becoming more and more popular each year at universities across Canada. E-learning is …

Nature-Based Learning At An Urban Community College: A Case Study At The Central Park Zoo, Nicole Kras

Publications and Research

There is rapidly growing research on the multiple benefits of nature-based experiences. Some institutions of higher education have incorporated these types of experiences in areas such as building design, travel offerings, residential programs, green spaces, field trips, wellness centers, and freshman orientation programs. Unfortunately, urban community college students often do not receive the chance to participate in these type of experiences due to lack of opportunity and lack of time outside of class due to their multiple responsibilities. One way to help mitigate some of these challenges, is for community college faculty to embed nature-based learning experiences into their courses. …

Students’ Meaning-Making Journeys Towards Self-Authorship Through Self-Designed Gap Year Experiences, Erin Garcia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological, qualitative study addressed student perceptions of their meaning-making process towards self-authorship in a self-designed gap year experience and was conducted in a public higher educational institution in the Southeast. Data was gathered through interviews from a purposeful sample of gap year program participants and program administrators. Emerging themes and categories were identified by coding and analyzing the interview data, such as continual reflection reinforces the value of individual meaning-making, self-expectations versus self-worth, the influence of societal expectations are minimized, and self-designed learning helps to solidify changes in self-authorship. The data showed a strong connection between multiple meaning-making contexts …

The Experiential Learning Connections Between University And Community: Recent Ontario Experience, Emmanuel Asafo-Adjei

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Experiential Learning (EL), including a range of pedagogical approaches such as co-ops and community service learning, connect the university and its external community. Universities are considering such approaches to meet a number of needs and priorities both on and off-campus. As it unfolds rapidly at the present time, EL becomes the connection between the university and the community beyond its gates, both locally and more extensively. However, university-community or so-called town-gown (TG) connections traditionally focus on research and/or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This thesis focuses on the teaching and learning connections, especially in Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences …

Gender Equity In Outdoor Adventures: How Gender Constructs Shape Engagement At The University Of San Diego, Lauren Wong

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

Outdoor Adventures (OA) at the University of San Diego bridges the industries of outdoor education and higher education. This action research investigates the constructions of gender that inform programming and relationship building within OA. Through a survey and focus groups, I collected data from OA professional staff and student leaders. The purpose of this research was to explore how different genders engage with experiential learning in an outdoor setting through a lens of queer theory, by evaluating the engagement of OA professional staff and participants. My findings indicate that the constructs of gender inform the ways students experience their capacity …

Post-Trip Blues: Full Time College Students' Emotional And Motivational Post-Trip Transition From Adventure Break Trips, Nichole Crockford

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Full time students who attend break long collegiate outdoor recreation adventure trips receive multiple benefits from spending time with a small group of students out in nature. Coming home from these positive experiences may lead some individuals to negative feelings. Students may struggle to find the motivation needed to return to their previous schedule and match the demands of work that is expected of them. Very little is mentioned about the topic of post-trip emotion and motivation levels, even though an argument for vacation is to experience positive benefits that help not only the individual but also the workplace.

Research …

Investigating Predictive Factors For Online College Coursework Success Among High School Students, Kenneth Tidwell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study seeks to examine the relationship of motivation and self-regulated learning with online college course completion among dual enrolled high school students in Northwest Iowa. The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a predictive relationship between high school student self-efficacy, intrinsic value, test anxiety, cognitive strategy usage and self-regulation strategy usage and successful completion of an online college course. A predictive correlational study was performed. A convenient sample of 23 high school students from one urban Northwest Iowa school district was utilized. Students were surveyed regarding these traits using the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire …

"Perks And Produce Of The Panther Plot": A Multi-Component Program To Engage Uni First-Year Cornerstone Students In Local Foods, Gardening, And Food System Sustainability, Lauren Janning

Honors Program Theses

The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) Panther Plot is an on-campus garden originally designed to provide university students with the opportunity to learn practical gardening skills and apply educational concepts concerning sustainable food systems (Aquilani, 2013). When implemented in 2013, the garden was expected to foster relationships and connections throughout the UNI community and offer a diverse learning experience in the pursuit of academic and civic excellence (Aquilani, 2013). Due to resource constraints, no activities have been undertaken to track objectives/indicators associated with the Panther Plot goals. After speaking with students, staff, and faculty associated with the functioning of the …

Biomimicry A “Natural Lesson” In Steam, Steve Pauls

The STEAM Journal

The introduction of biomimicry as a theme in the classroom has some significant advantages when developing a STEAM curriculum. This growing field has many natural overlaps between the different disciplines within STEAM. There are many fascinating stories surrounding biomimicry connecting nature to simple solutions for many of our most difficult problems, especially related to the sustainability of our planet. Biomimicry cannot but help capture the imagination of our students.

An Investigation Into The Experiences Of Homeschooled Individuals With Autism That Led To Success In The On-Campus College Environment: A Case Study, Carol Dolan

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Rates of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are rising, and more individuals with ASD are continuing to college. At the same time, homeschooling is becoming more prevalent, and more students with ASD are being homeschooled. These increases lead to the inference that colleges will see more homeschooled students with ASD applying for admission. The purpose of this case study was to understand experiences of individuals with ASD who were homeschooled that fostered success in the on-campus college environment. The central question guiding this research was: What are the experiences of individuals with ASD who were homeschooled that lead to success in …

An Important Scholarly Exercise: What It Takes To Write A Valuable Book Review And Why, Charles F. Howlett Ph.D.

Faculty Works: EDU (1995-2023)

So, you’ve been asked to write a book review. Consider it an honor, not a burden. Younger scholars, in particular, often consider reviewing an onerous task detracting from their own scholarly research, interests, and desires, or that it takes up too much time. But I would argue that there are important benefits to be derived from writing book reviews. One of the most notable is that reviewing books not only expands one’s personal library of learning, but it also fosters disciplined reading habits. Failing to read and report on books deprives scholars of one of the academic opportunities of being …

Partners In The Parks: Field Guide To An Experiential Program In The National Parks (1st Edition), Joan Digby, Bill Atwill, Angela Calise, James Clarke, Rebecca Cole-Will, Rony Enriquez, Greg Fahy, Sarah L. Fann, Pavel Goriacko, Andy Grube, Kathleen King, Matt Nickerson, Joy Ochs, Elizabeth O’Donnell, C. P. Price, Heather Thiessen-Reily

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs

When Joan Digby first proposed taking collegiate honors students into our national parks, I jumped at the chance. Within minutes of reading her email, I not only responded with an enthusiastic “Yes!” but went so far as to volunteer the resources of the Southern Utah University Honors Program to get things started. Nestled among 5 national parks in southwestern Utah, I felt our campus would be a natural focal point for the kind of program Joan envisioned. Within weeks we had laid the groundwork for a proof-of-concept pilot project at nearby Bryce Canyon National Park. Little did I know at …

A Proposed Associate Of Science Degree In Recreation, Paul H. Todd

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

An applied project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Education Specialist at Morehead State University by Paul H. Todd on August 3,1981.