Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Co-Creating Culturally Inclusive Climate Change Programming: A Qualitative Study With Indigenous Populations In Southeast Utah, Bayli R. Hanson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study explores the impact of climate change on underrepresented communities, particularly Indigenous populations in the Colorado Plateau region, and the negative effects on their cultural identities and traditional practices. Despite their knowledge and connection to the land, Indigenous communities are experiencing climate change at a more extreme rate due to their geographical location and the lasting impacts of settler colonialism. The study aims to better understand Indigenous perspectives of climate change, co-create a climate change curriculum with Indigenous populations in southeastern Utah, and apply it to an Indigenous-centric field experience. By incorporating traditional ecological knowledge and Western science practices, …

Designing A Comprehensive Waste Management Plan For K-12 Public School Systems: Ridgefield High School Zero-Waste Initiative Case Study, Caitlin Saoirse Boyle

Student Theses 2015-Present

Waste management is fundamental to reducing the anthropogenic impact on the environment. It allows humans to recycle plastic, cardboard, aluminum, etc waste that would otherwise pile in a landfill, and compost food and napkin scraps. Ridgefield High School, a local Connecticut public school, initially diverted all of its cafeteria waste to landfills, with recycling bins only in teachers’ offices and select classrooms. Through the first waste audit conducted on their cafeteria trash, out of 258 lbs of waste collected, there is an 82.5% opportunity for diversion out of the waste stream including liquid, mixed recyclables, food, paper, 5-cent recyclables, and …

Nature-Based Education For Elementary Students With Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder, Kayleigh Morrison

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

There are several advantages to including a nature-based curriculum and outdoor learning into state standards, and the consequences of students who do not have access to outside learning and activities can be severe. The term “Attention Restoration Theory” (ART) was coined by psychology professors Rachel and Stephen Kaplan in 1989 and claims that exposure to nature can improve mental fatigue and concentration. This senior capstone examines Kaplan’s Attention Restoration Theory and academic studies rooted in its philosophy as it applies to nature-based curriculum and outdoor learning. There are certain advantages for students who are exposed to a nature-based curriculum and …

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 …

Exploring Youth Relationships With Nature Using Qualitative Gis, Corey J. Martz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understanding youth relationships with nature—what nature is, where nature is located, and why nature is meaningful—is important for a range of contemporary issues, from promoting health and well-being to advancing a sustainable future. Relationships with nature are profoundly influenced by the lived experiences of youth, as they form social connections, have fun, learn, and go about their lives across an array of places—residences, schools, trip destinations, and places in between. One key to exploring youth relationships with nature, therefore, is engaging youth to document their experiences of nature in relation to specific places and developing methods that support them to …

Connecting Youth To Nature: Environmental Education’S Role In The Future Of Wellbeing And Stewardship, Claire Generous

Pomona Senior Theses

In 2005, the term Nature-deficit disorder was coined by Richard Louv to describe the childhood costs of alienation from nature including diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses. The increasing use of technology, stricter parenting, local ordinances, biophobia, socioeconomic status, and coronavirus all contribute to Nature-deficit disorder. To mitigate and reverse Nature-deficit disorder and its consequences, children must connect with nature. Nature connection improves children’s health and wellbeing and increases environmentally responsible behavior. Nature connection can improve physical, spiritual, psychological, and social wellbeing. Children who spend more time in nature report lower …

Paying Attention To Water Relations: Poetic Inquiry And Pedagogical Documentation As Curious Practices, Claire O’Callaghan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This project explores climate pedagogies with particular interest in Western Australia’s current water crisis. Human and more-than-human relations are explored with young children and educators from an early learning centre in Perth, Western Australia, with a view to reimagining education in the context of rapid environmental change. The project is grounded in feminist new materialist knowledge and is framed by an attentive focus to amplify the non-binary nature of both human and more-than-human counterparts. The research focuses on challenging colonial ways of knowing water, by decentring the child, unsettling norms, and reinstating reciprocity between human and more-than-human others (Nxumalo & …

Educating For Hope: Building Climate Change Resilience In The Middle School Classroom, Cambry J. Baker

Senior Independent Study Theses

Children increasingly express feelings of anxiety and hopelessness about climate change. Recent research has shown that cultivating hope in climate change education can increase young people’s emotional resilience and environmental behavior. This study asks: How does middle school teachers’ engagement with climate change and climate change emotions impact students’ hope? And how do students’ climate anxiety, self-efficacy, and connection to nature affect their environmental behavior and climate change hope? Data were collected in October 2020 through an online survey of middle school students (n=96) in Ohio. On average, students experienced low climate anxiety, moderate constructive hope and low-moderate hope based …

Sun, Sand, & Afternoon Showers: Creating Nature-Based, Outdoor Classroom Curriculum For A Central Florida Preschool, Ali Burdick

WWU Graduate School Collection

This project was completed as part of Western Washington University's graduate requirements, and has been presented in a website format. The project centered around the creation and revision of a nature-based preschool curriculum. This curriculum is integral to the school programming at St. Luke’s Lutheran Preschool in Central Florida, where the project was completed. During this project, I evaluated the curriculum already in place and worked with the school’s administration to outline changes that were to be made. These changes mirrored the school’s need and desire for a curriculum that reflected our ever-changing cultural and natural world. Lessons that may …

Documentaries Making A Difference: Communication Effects Of Environmental Film And Television, Lindsey A. Register

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper addresses the motives of environmental documentaries and their influences on public opinion and action regarding environmental issues and ethics. It suggests that through the communication platform of the environmental documentary, environmental education can further one's understanding of the environment and the human relationship with nature. Chapter 1 uses quantitative data on contemporary documentary filmmaking, as well as on coverage of environmental issues in all communications media. This chapter also includes the data from a survey conducted at Fordham University, showing the influence of environmental documentaries on students’ mindsets and behaviors at this school/institution. Chapter 2 explores the history …

Natural History Field Guide: Common Ground Outdoor Adventures, Casey Ann Trout

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Common Ground Outdoor Adventures (Common Ground) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Logan, Utah. Americorps VISTA volunteer Kate Stephens initially founded Common Ground in 1993 to enhance adaptive recreational opportunities for individuals with physical disabilities in the Cache Valley community. The organization has grown since that time and is now a fully-staffed entity which annually serves 3,600 individuals. It works with individuals with a variety of disabilities, including cognitive, physical, and emotional. Considering that there are systematic and social barriers to individuals with disabilities participating in outdoor recreation activities, the role that Common Ground plays to provide opportunities to these …

Urban Biodiversity Experience And Exposure: Intervention And Inequality At The Local And Global Scale, Evan Kuras

Masters Theses

As cities expand globally, researchers must clarify how human activities and institutions shape biodiversity and conversely, how ecological processes shape human outcomes. Two features of contemporary cities motivate this thesis. First, urban residents, and especially children, are spending less time in nature and consequently, miss out on healthy and formative experiences with biodiversity. Second, residents with the least access to biodiversity tend to be those with the lowest socioeconomic status (SES). Together, these patterns convey a multi-layered environmental injustice: not only might urbanites become increasingly estranged from biodiversity, disinterested from its conservation, and disconnected from its benefits, but these outcomes …

The Effects Of Environmental Education On Children's Knowledge Of Elephant Conservation In Rural And Urban Thailand, Tamara Aird

Theses and Dissertations

Think Elephants International’s EE program educated students on issues surrounding elephant conservation. One open-ended response question from surveys was analyzed to determine whether there was a knowledge difference between locations. After participation, urban students referenced more information about HEC, while rural students talked more about elephants’ role as keystone species.

Restoring Reciprocity: Indigenous Knowledges And Environmental Education, Mireya Valencia

Pomona Senior Theses

Environmental education in the U.S. has been slow to incorporate Indigenous knowledges, with most pre-university curriculum centering around Western science. I believe incorporating Indigenous knowledges into environmental education can promote reciprocal, critical, and active human-nature relationships. While Indigenous knowledges should infiltrate all levels of environmental education, I argue that alternative forms of education which operate outside the formal school system might present the fewest immediate obstacles.

Environmental Clearinghouse Of Schenectady, Kate Van Patten

Honors Theses

This paper analyses Environmental Clearinghouse of Schenectady, a local nonprofit environmental organization. The paper investigates the history of the organization as well as the effectiveness of its organizational and funding habits. A literary review was conducted to analyze the success of ECOS mission as well as the positive effects ECOS has on society using elements such as environmental education, the importance of early environmental education, how well the organization connects urban residents with the outdoors and the effectiveness of environmental programs. This research promotes the importance of early environmental education on our future generations health and environmental conditions. Additionally, through …

Growing Youth Programming At Garden City Harvest Through Participatory Action Research, Hannah B. Oblock

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This professional paper presents a program evaluation and strategic plan for the youth development farming programs at Garden City Harvest (GCH), a non-profit in Missoula, Montana, which coordinates community-centered agriculture projects and facilitates sustainable agriculture education. The youth programs, Youth Harvest (YH) and Youth Farm (YF), hire adolescents of 15-18 years of age to work on their urban farms to learn about sustainable agriculture, job readiness skills, and social-emotional well-being. As the organization continues to expand, especially with the addition of a new facility, GCH administration and staff are interested in learning how the programs impact the youth employees and …

A Retro Development In Education: Evaluating The Feasibility Of Integrating Place-Based Education Into Mississippi Curriculum Standards, Colby K. Mcclain

Honors Theses

This thesis evaluates the feasibility of integrating place-based environmental education activities from Think Green, Take Action: Books and Activities for Kids into the Mississippi Department of Education’s (MDE) Frameworks for Science and Social Studies for K-5. As children develop and experience the world, their ability to understand and interpret the surrounding environments expand; however, Mississippi schools are not focused on experiential environmental education, even though experiencing and understanding the surrounding environment is vital in fostering eagerness to learn. Due to a growing disconnect between humans and the natural world, this thesis examined 37 place- and environment-based activities for children, sixteen …

Master's Project: The Ala Archa Ecological Leadership Project: Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Environmental Adventure Education In Growing Responsible Environmental Leaders In The Kyrgyz Republic, Nathan E. Fry

Rubenstein School Masters Project Publications

Many experiential education programs maintain that their respective curriculums cause an increase in environmental ethics and action from graduates. However, a number of researchers suggest that programs do not produce genuine Responsible Environmental Behavior (REB) in students. Other researchers and educators have suggested that combining key elements from the two major models of experiential education – outdoor adventure education and environmental education – may produce the desired increase in REB. Based on research by Marcinkowski (2001), an increase in students’ internal locus of control coupled with an holistic approach to teaching ecological behavior are most likely to achieve this increase. …

Analysis Of Professors’ Perceptions Towards Institutional Redevelopment Of Brownfield Sites In Alabama, Berkley Nathaniel King Jr.

Dissertations

This study was conducted to analyze professors’ perceptions on the institutional redevelopment of brownfield sites into usable greenspaces. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2011) refers to brownfields as sites, (either facility/land) under public law § 107-118 (H.R. 2869), which are contaminated with a substance that is classified as a hazard or a pollutant. Usable greenspaces, however, are open spaces or any open piece of land that is undeveloped, has no buildings or other built structures, and is accessible to the public (EPA, 2015).

Open green spaces provide recreational areas for residents and help to enhance the beauty and environmental quality …

Making A Place For People At A Wildlife Corridor On Chicago's South Side, Alexis Winter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

What role do environmental conservation projects play in the transformation of American cities? How do these projects affect city residents? In this study, I ask these questions at the Burnham Wildlife Corridor, where the Chicago Park District worked with institutional and community-based partner organizations to engage city residents in the creation of a lakefront wildlife habitat and public nature area. Through ethnographic interviews and participant observation I explored how actors at various levels understand this changing landscape and their roles in shaping it. I situate the Burnham Wildlife Corridor project in the broader context of a state-level plan, the Millennium …

Guided Educational Tourism As Informal Science Education: An Empirical Study, Joseph Martin Lane

Dissertations

The scientific research and education communities have long had the goal of advancing the publics’ understanding of science. Informal science education is a powerful mechanism for shaping human conduct, enhancing quality of life, and advancing the publics’ understandings and values regarding science. Guided educational tours (that present science content) provide visitors with unique opportunities to observe and discuss scientific phenomena in the field. Available empirical research related to learning science from guided educational tours is, at best, limited. Research leading to the development of effective guided educational tours that present and interpret scientific information is of interest to both non-profit …

Beneath The Surface Dive And Beach Cleanup Festival, Megan Van Hamersveld

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

Trash Talk: Understanding Food Waste At A Charter Elementary School In Florida, Steven A. Williams

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Waste as a topic for anthropological investigation has enjoyed a recent resurgence in interest, mirroring burgeoning discussion among policy-makers and the general public about questions of environmental impacts, economic costs, and social detriments of contemporary waste management paradigms. While waste management in the United States has largely focused on technical and organizational solutions typically considered the domain of environmental planning and engineering (such as source reduction, recycling, and reuse), anthropology and the social sciences have become more prominently involved in efforts to inform policy-makers and researchers about the social and behavioral factors influencing waste norms and habits, particularly in educational …

La Generación De Residuos Sólidos Domiciliarios Y Sus Principales Determinantes Para El Departamento De Santander 2007 2013 : Un Estudio De Caso, Erika Johanna Carmona Donoso, Katheryn Stefany Echavarría Prieto

Economía

El sistema encargado de la prestación de los servicios públicos domiciliarios, en cuanto al servicio de aseo que consiste en la recolección de Residuos Sólidos Domiciliarios (RSD), es uno de los más importantes debido a la problemática ambiental que se ha generado hoy en día por el manejo inadecuado de los mismos, ya que la cantidad de RSD que se generan a diario, no están llegando en su totalidad a su disposición final (rellenos sanitarios). Lo anterior da como resultado el deterioro del medio ambiente, por lo que es necesario la implementación de reglas de juego cuyo objetivo sea la …

Educating For Environmental Justice : Social/Environmental Marginality And The Significance Of Experiences For Environmental Activism And Proenvironmental Behavior, Donovon Keith Ceaser

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Encouraging environmental action and greater proenvironmental behavior has been a main focus of environmental education since its inception. However, many scholars feel that environmental education has largely been unsuccessful at achieving these goals. To invigorate the potential of environmental education, researchers have become more socially critical and started questioning old stances such as addressing the role of action within environmental education and embraced new techniques like examining the role of personal experiences in shaping people sense of identification with the environment. This dissertation is four separate studies that examine how a socially critical environmental education can help produces students who …

Protecting The Last Tree: Environmental Education In The United States, 1990-2012, Liza R. Baskir

Pitzer Senior Theses

Having already been hired as an environmental organizer, I reflect on how my childhood experiences impacted me. I embark upon this vocational journey with youthful optimism, a good dose of realism, and just a touch of cynicism. An environmental organizer is someone who works mobilizing individuals around targeted environmental issues. They create policy changes that are environmentally positive… generally for little pay. What has motivated me, and scores of others, to willingly take on this seemingly impossible task? For me: was it the summer vacations to Yellowstone and The Rocky Mountains with my brothers and parents? Maybe it was being …

Exploring German And American Modes Of Pedagogical And Institutional Sustainability: Forging A Way Into The Future, Lindon N. Pronto

Pitzer Senior Theses

Rooted deep in Germany's past is its modern socio-political grounding for environmental respect and sustainability. This translates into individual and collective action and extends equally to the economic and policy realm as it does to educational institutions. This thesis evaluates research conducted in Germany with a view to what best approaches are transferable to the United States liberal arts setting. Furthermore, exemplary American models of institutional sustainability and environmental education are explored and combined with those from abroad to produce a blueprint and action plan fitting for the American college and university.

Critical Ee At Osbg: A Case Study In Addressing Environmental Action Through Critical Education, Donovon Keith Ceaser

LSU Master's Theses

Within environmental education the promotion of environmental activism is still considered contentious despite being a major goal since its inception. While some argue on simply raising awareness a growing number believe an action component is necessary to produce citizens capable of addressing environmental issues. Critical environmental education (Critical EE) is one method of integrating action into an educational program that teaches students to better understand the social and natural environment through an integrative participatory teaching-learning culture which allows students to construct contextual value-laden knowledge. This study uses data gathered from six months of participant observation at Our School at Blair …

Coupled Pedagogy: A Study Of Sustainability Education And Community-Based Learning In The Senior Capstone Program At Portland State University, Emily Erin Bowling

Dissertations and Theses

Sustainability has emerged in mainstream higher education over the last few years, and the fields of community-based learning and sustainability education are closely linked through their emphases on active, experiential learning in place-based contexts. In order to create ecologically literate citizens to more adequately address environmental problems, there is a logical connection between teaching about sustainability and engaging students in the community, which can serve as a relevant forum to address sustainability issues. However, there is a problem in that educational programs and courses dealing directly with sustainability topics across the higher education landscape often do not emphasize or include …

Informal Karst Education In The United States And Internationally, Leslie A. North

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the abundance of karst terrains and the important role they play in a wide variety of roles including supplying freshwater drinking supplies, no single, comprehensive study investigates the role of informal education for the improved understanding and protection of the terrains. Commonly overlooked anthropogenic karst disturbances partially occur because of the poor dissemination of scientific information to the general populace and policymakers and budgetary and time constraints of municipalities, thus generating a need to use informal education to fill these shortcomings. The purpose of this study was to: 1) establish the status of and quantify the amount of karst-related …