Outdoor Education Commons^™

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.

School Farms And Stem: Using Institutional Resources To Promote Deeper Learning, Catherine Clare Knowlton

Food Systems Master's Project Reports

Given the structural problems in education laid bare by the recent pandemic, we as a community of educators need to re-evaluate goals for secondary science education. Specifically, classrooms and course content must evolve to become more socially responsive, inclusive, and interdisciplinary. Agricultural education is a demonstrably effective way to boost STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) comprehension as well as SEL (social-emotional learning) skills building. In this study, I use qualitative interview methods to assess current agricultural coursework at independent schools around New England. Results show intriguing themes stemming from designing and implementing farm-based courses, although there are logistical barriers …

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 …

Outdoor Pursuits And Outdoor Learning At Rural Maine Schools: A Positive Outlier Approach, Lauren E. Jacobs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the barriers and facilitators to outdoor learning and outdoor pursuits (OPs) in some of the most rural isolated K-12 schools in Maine. The purpose was to understand why some of these schools incorporate a lot of OPs and outdoor learning into their curriculum while other schools do not. Outdoor pursuits and outdoor learning in school settings are worthy of study because they provide students with opportunities to increase physical activity, benefit from time in nature, and make important connections to local culture (Lim et al., 2017; Schafft, 2016; Trembley et al., 2015).

This study employed a comparative …

Trusting Your Bearings: Outdoor Navigation And The Link Between Perceived Competence, Actual Skill, And Flow State In The Adirondack Region Of New York, Daria Stacy

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived competence and flow theory in the activity of outdoor navigation. This relationship was examined at beginner, intermediate, advanced, and expert skill levels of navigation, targeting a population in the Adirondack Region due to its challenging, thickly forested terrain. The study used a multi-method approach encompassing both quantitative and qualitative data. Surveys were administered to examine beginner, intermediate, and advanced navigators following a formal navigation course at SUNY Cortland’s Outdoor Education Practicum at Raquette Lake or an Advanced Map and Compass Bushwhack Course or Map and Compass Fundamentals Course …

Developing And Piloting A Design Guide For Outdoor Classrooms In Utah, Derek Jenson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Studies nationwide suggest that the use of outdoor classrooms in education benefits both students and teachers. In response, the Utah Office of Outdoor Recreation (OOR) established a grant to help fund the implementation of outdoor classrooms across the state of Utah. Interested schools and non-profit organizations may apply for this grant to fund outdoor classroom projects that will help transform their properties into outdoor learning environments.

One requirement for the application is to submit a site plan for the proposed outdoor classroom space. However, many interested applicants have little to no experience with landscape design and may struggle knowing how …

Parent Volunteers And Covid-19: Balancing Necessity, Enthusiasm, And Caution, Jarrod Myers

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus issue addressed in this Capstone Project is how the pandemic disrupted parent volunteering in schools. Parent volunteering is an essential issue for schools because parent involvement is essential for student success. An evidence-based argument is offered that schools struggled to staff the void left by parent volunteers. The three primary stakeholder perspectives chosen were parents, school leadership, and teachers. Parents make up the volunteer pool; teachers know what kind of assistance classrooms need, and school leadership creates policies. Three themes emerged from analyzing the data and explored ways to reintroduce parents to a school campus. Parent volunteers make …

Increasing The Prevalence Of Risky Play In Preschool And Kindergarten Classrooms In The United States, Kelsey Stark Zuiderveen

Culminating Experience Projects

Risky play is a thrilling form of play that has the potential for some injury and is a biologically innate need within all children that provides a variety of physical, mental, and emotional benefits to children. Currently however, preschool and kindergarten classrooms in the United States offer little to no opportunities for risky play in early childhood settings. The main factor that influences the amount of risky play happening in early childhood classrooms is teacher attitudes related to risky play; if teachers have a negative attitude about risky play, less risky play is allowed in their classroom setting. This project …

Steam Report By Siri Ojamaa, Jacqueline Docampo

STEM Month

My name is Siri Ojamaa I am in 5th grade at Theadore Roosevelt school. I live in Weehawken, NJ. I really love Steam and I wanted to tell you about my experience with Steam

Scholars Electives 4400y: Stem2stern Final Deliverable, Amit P. Sayal Mr.

Community Engaged Learning Final Projects

No abstract provided.

Shew Family Farms Shares Their Story In Honor Of Athen's Farmers Market 50th Anniversary, Marjorie Shew, Kassidy Rock

Spring 2022 Oral Histories: Athens Farmers Market and The Ridges

Member of the Athens Farmers Market since1984, Marjie Shew of Shew Family Farms, now known as Shew's Grassfed Beef, shares her story. From beginning in upstate New York to living on a commune in West Virginia, to owning an orchard with her husband in Morgan County, Ohio and every step in between.

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

Implementing Self-Selected Outdoor Play For Preschoolers, Shannon Jensen

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

As preschool-aged children spend more time using electronic devices and studying academic content, they are spending increasingly less time playing outdoors. Preschoolers spend a large portion of their days participating in sedentary activities. Outdoor play facilitates children' s development and learning in many areas including health, social and emotional skills, and motor skills. Outdoor play has also been shown to assist children with academic learning. Early childhood professionals spend significant amounts of time with young children and are largely responsible for providing outdoor play experiences for the children within their care. This school improvement plan documents the need for an …

Starting The Conversation: Race, Ethnicity, And Land At A Predominantly White Environmental Education Organization, Carolyn A. Waters

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

Environmental Educators use land as the locus and content of their work. However, dominant environmental narratives often exclude Indigenous and Black perspectives on land (Bang et al., 2014; Calderon et al., 2014; Engel-Di Mauro & Carroll, 2014). To address this and other issues related to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI), environmental organizations nationally have called for JEDI initiatives (NAAEE, 2020), such as professional development for their employees- the majority of whom are white (Green 2.0, 2021; Taylor, 2014). Research questions for this study were: 1) How do white environmental educators perceive race and ethnicity in their work as it …

Employment With The Northwest Territories Aquatics Program: A Significant Life Event?, Sebastien Denize, Audrey R. Giles

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

For over 60 years, the Northwest Territories Aquatics Program (NWTAP) has employed university students from southern Canada with little to no exposure to northern Canada to run seasonal swimming pools and waterfronts in isolated northern communities. In this article, we examine the impact that working for this program had on nine former employees’ lives and whether or not working for the NWTAP could be categorized as a significant life experience. We used thematic analysis of the data from retrospective semi-structured interviews and open-ended questionnaires and identified four themes: (1) employment by the NWTAP enhanced the employees’ self-confidence, independence, and self-efficacy; …

Successes And Shortfalls: A Comparison Of German And American Environmental Education, Sophie Wieland

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

Germany and the United States have very different national policies related to climate change mitigation and adaptation, a reflection of starkly different public views on climate change. Public opinions on the environment have many influences, with primary and secondary public education being a factor in the development of environmentally friendly opinions and behaviors. The differences in each country’s approach to the environment, overall methods of environmental education, and continuing problems in climate education are investigated here through a literature search. Both Germany and the US have education systems centered on regional control, and slow change of educational standards plagues both …

Nebline, March/April 2022

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Become a Groundwater Steward

4 Ways to Celebrate National Nutrition Month

Recipe of the Month

Selecting Fruit Trees for Eastern Nebraska

Garden Guide: Things to Do This Month

2022 Chemigation Trainings

Lancaster County Ag VIP Awards

Upcoming Early Childhood Trainings

Aleyna Cuttlers Participated in National 4-H Congress

4-H Horse Judging Team at Nationals

Meet 2021–22 4-H Council

Meet 2021–22 4-H Teen Council

Hear of 4-H Volunteer Award: Sherry Kubicek

Hear of 4-H Volunteer Award: Angie Root

4th & 5th Grade Fun Night, March 4

Rabbit Show, March 19

UNL Chick Days, March 26

Bucket Calf Workshop, March 27

Dressage Schooling …

The Early Sport And Play Experiences Of Elite New Zealand Hockey Players From Rural And Regional Communities: A Qualitative Descriptive Study, Robert J. Newport, Simon R. Walters, Sarah-Kate Millar, Geoff Dickson, Andrew Lenton

The Qualitative Report

The foundation of an athlete’s development is formed through their early developmental experiences. Thus, in this study we explored the early sport and play experiences of elite New Zealand hockey players from rural and regional communities. In our examination of how smaller communities contribute to the development of New Zealand’s top athletes, this research has a particular focus on the athletes’ early sport and play experiences and the influence of people around them during their growth and development. In this qualitative descriptive study, we employed semi-structured interviews to gather data from eight current and former elite New Zealand hockey players. …

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 …