Outdoor Education Commons^™

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

Masters 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.

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 …

Toddler Play Preferences And The Teacher’S Role In The Outdoor Play Environment, Keting Chen, Erin E. Hamel

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Direct experience with nature is a primary component of environmental education and especially beneficial for young children. The present study examined the outdoor play preferences of toddlers and investigated the role teachers play in the outdoor space. Toddlers’ outdoor play was video recorded by GoPro cameras and coded for preferred play locations and initiator of the play. Results showed that the three most preferred spaces for toddlers in the outdoor classroom were the sandbox, swing area, and play structures; least frequently visited were open areas close to the classrooms, the garden, and the tree area. In addition, toddlers initiated play …

Outdoor Early Intervention Services: Current Practices And Future Directions, Tiffany Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Outdoor play is a crucial in supporting child development, resiliency, social skills, creative thinking, adaptability, family growth, and family engagement. Unfortunately, children are spending less time outside because of technology, parent fears, and other factors. Parents who have a child with a disability have even more challenges when it comes to playing outside. Thus, children with disabilities are spending even less time in outdoor environments. Early Intervention (EI) is a program that is designed for infants and toddlers between the ages of zero to three that have developmental delays and/or disabilities. EI uses a family-center approach in natural environments to …

Nebline, January/February 2022

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

2021 Extension Highlights

Your Trusted Educational Resource

4-H Programs Engaged 24,313 Youth

A New Year, A New You, A Renewed Community by Emily Gratopp

Garden Guide: Things to Do This Month

Extension’s 2022 Master Gardener Training, Two Sites Available

Upcoming Green Industry Conferences

ProHort Lawn & Landscape Update

2022 Pesticide Applicator Trainings

Crop Production Clinics In-Person and Zoom

Heart of 4-H Volunteer Award: Phil Wharton and Jenny DeBuhr

Watch Chicks Hatch on Egg Cam

4-H Rabbit Show, March 19

Dog Club Accepting New Members, Starts Jan. 10

4-H Club Gives Youth With Special Needs Opportunity to Show Lambs

4-H Announcements …

“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 …

The Christian Sportsperson: An Introduction, Brian R. Bolt Phd, Chad Carlson

Movement and Being: The Journal of the Christian Society for Kinesiology, Leisure and Sports Studies

Introduction to the Special Edition of the Journal of the Christian Society for Kinesiology, Leisure and Sport Studies dedicated to scholarship generated from papers presented at the the Second Global Congress on Sport and Christianity, October 23-27, 2019, Calvin University, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

A Stillness In The Desert? Engaging The Public Through An Immersive Exploration Of Southwest Soundscapes, Julian Kilker, Thomas Bjelic

Creative Collaborations

The pandemic highlighted the anthropocentric nature of soundscapes, while the recent popularity of electric cars, quadcopters, and “noise cancellation” earbuds demonstrated how consumer products can rapidly change our awareness of sound. While light pollution is already extensively addressed in scholarly research, popular works such as The End of Night, and public engagement such as The International Dark Sky Association, the complex interplay of sound, natural resources, and public engagement is still emerging, particularly in creative fields.

Two UNLV scholars and artists are collaborating on this project: Julian Kilker, who specializes in visual and emerging technology research, and Tom Bjelic, who …

Winter Wings: An Introduction To Environmental Education, Samuel G. Mothner

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

No abstract provided.

Development Of The Elementary Teachers’ Commitment To Outdoor Education Survey: A Mixed Methods Study, Sagan Goodpaster

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

As the Green Schoolyards Movement continues to grow throughout North America, outdoor education (OE) is gaining more attention in the formal K-12 curriculum (Dyment, 2005; Sterrett & Imig, 2015). Rooted in the pedagogies of place-based and experiential learning, outdoor instruction provides social, psychological, physical, and academic benefits for students, and fosters their sense of connection to the natural environment (Dubel & Sobel, 2008; Robertson, 2017). In particular, outdoor learning opportunities have been shown to promote greater gains in students’ scientific content knowledge (Carrier et al., 2014; Cronin-Jones, 2000; Dirks & Orvis, 2005; Kenney et al., 2003). Outdoor instruction involves students …

Plaster Creek Stewards - Urban Habitat Restoration With Green Team, Jia Luchs, Clare Doss, Rachel Warners, Dave Warners, Deanna Geelhoed

Student Papers and Reports

Plaster Creek, though its watershed is home to many potential stewards in Grand Rapids, is the most polluted creek in West Michigan. The Green Team, a branch of Plaster Creek Stewards, is a group of students that work during the summer with a focus on research, education, and working directly to restore the Plaster Creek Watershed. The Green Team works toward this goal through urban green infrastructure, utilizing native plants to manage stormwater. Two Calvin students, Jia Luchs and Clare Doss, and twenty high school students living in the Plaster Creek watershed were hired by Plaster Creek Stewards this summer …

The Power Of Outdoor Learning Experiences: A Narrative Inquiry, Vincent M. Case

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Outdoor learning experiences offer schools an initial avenue to address global community issues, including climate change, natural resource depletion, disconnection from nature, and the current global coronavirus pandemic. This narrative inquiry study, grounded in the theoretical work of Vygotsky, Cajete, Brody, and Kahn, seeks to understand how children’s perceptions of their outdoor learning experiences provide insights into their learning processes. This study’s findings suggest that regardless of the location (mountains, home, school campuses, local natural areas), students say that they: experience positive affect and enjoyment; observe through their senses to explore, discover, inquire, change their behavior, and build deeper relationships …

Greta Thunberg: A Small But Mighty Voice For The Environment, Madilyn Mortelliti

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

Abstract

This research paper discusses Greta Thunberg and the impact she has as a climate change activist. Thunberg faces many challenges as a young woman, but overcomes these difficulties while encouraging others to follow in her footsteps. She presents herself as a positive role model for younger generations. Thunberg has many accomplishments as an extremely young woman that leads to her global iconicity. She makes her power known in front of the highest ranked men in the world which forces legislation to make a change. Thunberg motivates others to make a difference before all hope is lost.

Empowerment Of Farmers: The Role Of Actor And The Persistence Of Coffee Farmers In Rural Pattongko, Indonesia, A. Hasdiansyah, Sugito Sugito, Yoyon Suryono

The Qualitative Report

Many farmers' empowerment has failed because the process is rigid, instructive, and uses too many techniques that are not following the local conditions of the community. Therefore, the empowerment process must be improved to be able to make farmers empowered and independent. For this reason, it is necessary to explore how the learning process and the involvement of actor in the empowerment process are needed. The subjects of this study consisted of eight farmers and one empowerment actor. The method used is qualitative through in-depth interviews, observation, and document review. All data were transcribed, organized, then analyzed to produce conclusions. …

Moving Beyond Scientific Fact-Only Environmental Education In The United States, Erica Meier

All Theses

There is debate regarding whether environmental education (EE) programs should focus exclusively on teaching science or on teaching and encouraging pro-environmental behaviors through civic engagement, advocacy, and action/behavior change (CEAA) techniques. To assess which CEAA techniques EE providers feel are appropriate to utilize in EE programming for youth and the extent to which they utilize them, we designed and distributed a survey to members of several North American EE organizations. Based on the North American Association for Environmental Education’s Guidelines for Excellence (2019) and input from professionals and practitioners, the survey included a list of 32 CEAA techniques. Respondents (N …

Wellness Through Nature, Yulissa Ochoa

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Ventana Wildlife Society's mission statement is to conserve native wildlife through science, education, and collaboration. VWS addresses the lettuce curtain and lack of access to green spaces with “Salud y Naturaleza ''. The Lettuce Curtain refers to the disconnect between the Salinas Valley and the coast. This Nature Prescription program removes the barriers of transportation, cost, and language, giving access to nature to families in East Salinas by organizing free family trips to the coast and a weekly nature class. With easy access to nature, people will be encouraged to spend time in the outdoors to better their mental …

Barriers Teaching Environmental Justice Education, Jodi Devonshire

Dissertations

The idea of freedom in education has its roots in the social justice movements of the 1950s and 60s. Civil rights groups coalesced independently of other marginalized groups and movements of its time. While similar in nature, environmentalism and civil rights issues rarely crossed paths. As environmentalism made its way into science education and curriculum, social justice issues were restricted to historical perspectives in education. This research initially sought to create an understanding of purpose driven, social justice conscious, Environmental Education as it is related to marginalized learners and identify the barriers of creating and implementing culturally relevant environmental education …

Book Review (Ije 3.1), Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Poem: Rat Jam, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

American Letters: Mencken, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.