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Full-Text Articles in Education
Public Elementary School Teachers' Experiences With Implementing Outdoor Classrooms, Lori Schultz Goff
Public Elementary School Teachers' Experiences With Implementing Outdoor Classrooms, Lori Schultz Goff
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Children experience limited time outdoors and have few opportunities for outdoor learning in schools, putting them at risk for being unprepared to engage in solving environmental and societal problems. Researchers have examined outdoor learning at the preschool and high school levels; elementary school experiences have been explored less frequently. Guided by a conceptual framework informed by social emotional learning (SEL), ecological literacy, and teacher self-efficacy, this study investigated public school elementary teachers' experiences with outdoor classrooms including barriers and supports to creating and using outdoor classrooms. A qualitative design using in-depth interviews with interpretive phenomenological analysis techniques was conducted with …
Barriers To Facilitating An Existing Certified Nature Explore Outdoor Classroom, Shelley L. Easler
Barriers To Facilitating An Existing Certified Nature Explore Outdoor Classroom, Shelley L. Easler
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
In response to social trends whereby children are spending less time outside, school administrators have developed certified Nature Explore Outdoor Classrooms (NEOCs) intentionally designed to support whole-child learning within a natural environment. Despite the documented benefits of nature-based education, the literature and NEOC sites report challenges in facilitating this type of space. The purpose of this study was to investigate what prevents teachers in a certified NEOC from facilitating student/teacher engagement with the natural outdoor environment. Kolb's, Piaget's, and Vygotsky's theories of constructivism served as the study's framework to explore the problem from the teachers' perspectives. A qualitative case study …
The Evaluation Of An Environmental Leadership And Service Program's Effectiveness, Roberta Harlow Mcfarland
The Evaluation Of An Environmental Leadership And Service Program's Effectiveness, Roberta Harlow Mcfarland
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
According to a recent report from the National Center for Educational Statistics, approximately 20% of the United States' high-school aged population is at risk of dropping out of high school, an outcome that strongly limits participation in economic and educational opportunities. The importance of earning a high school diploma has increased many local districts' efforts to close graduation gaps across the student population. Accordingly, this study evaluated a recuperative environmental leadership and service (EL&S) program in a northwestern local district to ascertain its effectiveness in providing at-risk students the personal and academic support required for high school graduation. Following the …