Rapid development of U.S. cities and towns along with changes in society and technology are dramatically affecting childhood experience. Wild places and vacant lots for kids to play in are disappearing. Parents have limited time to spend with their children and fear letting them play outside alone. Traffic is a growing safety hazard and there is an increasing desire for entertainment in the form of TV and video games over outdoor exploration. As a result, children are becoming alienated from nature. They are growing up without developing a personal attachment to their natural surroundings or an understanding of their impact on the environment. The design of outdoor play areas can help reconnect children to their surroundings and lead to a more environmentally minded generation. Ecoliteracy suggests an understanding of ecological principles as well as appreciation for the environment and an attitude of stewardship. In addition to helping kids acquire factual knowledge, outdoor play spaces should cultivate a sense of wonder and delight and an emotional appreciation of the living world. Through research, observation and application, this thesis project identifies design criteria for promoting ecoliteracy in outdoor play environments. / Master of Landscape Architecture

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:39:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 3955.pdf: 1826260 bytes, checksum: 60479d14ba5bceefe6cd9afd493da554 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-10-11 / Ecological sustainable environmental formation is in the basis of public education policy on country Education so that socioenvironmental questions become part of the curriculum, therefore, of the syllabus. In this theoretical documental investigation we inquire about the ways this proposal of environmental formation occurs in a country school in São Paulo state. We have adopted the perspective of ecoliteracy to understand this formation. The following documents were object of study: the School Pedagogical Project, the Teacher s Plan and the Class Diary of the 5thgrade of an elementary school. After the pre-analysis, a preliminary analysis was carried out indicating: (1) the context of production of the document; (2) the author/authors; (3) authenticity reliability of documents; (4) the nature of the text; (5) key concepts and internal logic of the text. The next step was an interpretive analysis with the objective to identify and to configure how environmental formation is processed in a country school. The results indicated the presence of the environmental formation discourse that reveals itself by means of key elements (words and sentences) that dialogue with the bases of ecoliteracy. These elements pervade the discourse of the Pedagogical Project but in the Teacher s Plan and in the Class Diary that are perspectives to guide the pedagogic actions directly we observed a more specific presence of Science and Geography. We can infer that as the Pedagogical Project has a more comprehensive and ideological discourse according to the directions of environmental formation, such as recommended in public policy on country education, the environmental discourse elements are more explicit and orderly . In the other two documents, even if one of them focuses technical and organic aspects of curriculum (Teacher Plan) and the other is the mirror of daily classroom routine (Class Diary) the discourse of environmental formation becomes less dense and more fragmented. The research question is answered at the same time that it places the ecoliteracy not only as a perspective for environmental formation in country Education but as a possible, theoretical and methodological construct for the curriculum. / Formação ambiental ecológico sustentável - está na base da política pública da educação do campo de modo que as questões de natureza socioambientais passem a fazer parte do currículo, portanto, do conteúdo programático. Nesta investigação de cunho teórico documental, indaga-se sobre as maneiras em que essa proposta de formação ambiental acontece numa escola do campo do interior do Estado de São Paulo. Opta-se pelo ecoletramento como um visor para a leitura desta formação. Os documentos, objeto de estudo: Projeto Pedagógico da escola, o Plano de Ensino e o Diário de Classe de um 5° Ano do Ensino Fundamental. Após a pré- análise procedeuse à análise preliminar indicando: (1) o contexto de produção do documento; (2) autor/autores; (3) autenticidade e confiabilidade dos documentos; (4) natureza do texto; (5) conceitos chave e lógica interna do texto. Na etapa seguinte, efetuou-se a análise interpretativa com o objetivo de identificar e configurar como se processa a formação ambiental nessa escola do campo. Os resultados indicaram a presença do discurso da formação ambiental que se revela por meio de elementos chave (palavras e sentenças) que dialogam com as bases do ecoletramento. Esses elementos perpassam todo o discurso do Projeto Pedagógico, porém no Plano de Ensino e Diário de Classe, que são perspectivas para orientar diretamente as ações pedagógicas, observou-se uma entrada mais pontual e específica em Ciências e Geografia. Pode-se inferir que, como o Projeto Pedagógico tem um discurso mais abrangente e ideológico de acordo com os apontamentos da formação ambiental, tal como se preconiza na política pública para a educação do campo, os elementos do discurso ambiental são mais explícitos, ordenados . Já para os outros dois documentos, mesmo que um seja focalizado no aspecto técnico e orgânico do currículo (Plano de Ensino) e outro seja o espelho da rotina diária da sala de aula (Diário de Classe) o discurso da formação ambiental tornase menos denso e mais fragmentado. A questão da pesquisa é respondida, ao mesmo tempo, em que coloca o ecoletramento não apenas como um visor para a formação ambiental na educação do campo, mas como um possível construto prático, teórico e metodológico para o currículo.

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 9 elementary teachers who had at least 2 years of recent experience working with outdoor classrooms in the U. S. Pacific Northwest. Thematic analysis of interview data, using a combination of a priori and open coding, identified primary themes related to academic rigor, district policies and budgets, and motivations for teaching ecoliteracy. Barriers including a lack of time and money needed to teach effectively using outdoor classrooms and the need for a stronger integrated curriculum that connects SEL, environmental education, and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) emerged as areas of concern. Recommendations based on these findings include ecoliteracy professional development for teachers which may contribute to positive social change by increasing teacher understanding of and involvement with outdoor learning and the integration of ecoliteracy in the pedagogy of K-6 programs.

Undergraduate students lack the opportunity and environment to contemplate and develop ecoliteracy skills that serve to integrate subject matter into their everyday experiences. Ecoliteracy is grounded in Capra's web of life theoretical framework and represents students' capacities to read world systems objectively with their head, heart, hands, and spirit. Contemplative pedagogy provides educators with exercises that give students time to reflect on the integration of learning. Ecoliteracy and contemplative pedagogy research has shown little quantitative data pertaining to how contemplative pedagogy affects undergraduate student ecoliteracy. To address that gap, this causal-comparative study measured the use of contemplative pedagogy exercises relative to undergraduate student ecoliteracy. A convenience sample of 150 undergraduate students who did and did not experience contemplative pedagogy exercises completed the New Ecological Paradigm Scale and Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form. Independent-samples t tests measured the differences between the 2 groups. Findings indicated that students who did not experience contemplative pedagogy exercises in the classroom were more likely to self-report higher ecoliteracy. A possible interpretation of these findings is that current contemplative pedagogy exercises may focus students' attention internally and not adequately promote the world-centered view that would more readily advance student ecoliteracy skills. Results of this study provide further insight that may inform professional development and contemplative pedagogy exercises that empowers students' ecoliteracy skills by encouraging critical thinking, action, and compassion towards positive social change.

There is little research on the young child's experience of the natural environment. Due to the increase in urbanisation, indoor recreation and indoor schooling many young children have become isolated from the natural environment. A love for nature and a sense of wonder in nature is being lost in the hurried childhood. This loss of access to nature impacts on the child's health and wellbeing, sense of connection and environmental literacy. This research study explores how Melbourne preschool children experience and use nature through the environments provided to them in the preschool program. The main environment is naturally the preschool play yard; however, as excursions also form part of the curriculum, the child's visit to the Royal Botanic Gardens and the Ian Potter Foundation Children's Garden forms part of this experience. Six case studies of Melburnian preschool children have been developed as a means to capture and communicate the interactions of individual children. Each of the six case studies present a child or pair of children 'in the moment,' as a snap shot of ecological learning and play behaviour and are presented as six stories, which allow the child's individual character and unique experience of nature to be expressed. Issues and behaviours evident in the children's interactions are then discussed through a framework of the seven ways of interacting in nature, which emerges from the demonstrations of these children. This information was collected using research techniques in observation; structured observations using time sampling and behaviour mapping; participating in conversations with children and collecting anecdotal observations and children's artwork. The case studies provide insight into childhood interactions with the natural environment and the levels of engagement experienced by children, with nature. The six stories, alongside topical literature, form the basis for deep discussion on the observed ways of interacting with nature.

The purpose of this study is to better understand how the natural environment influences who we have become as adults. Recognizing the importance of childhood experiences, with and within nature, the intent of this study is to interpret the essential meanings associated with these experiences and how these, in turn, are situated in our beliefs and relationship with nature. The targeted respondents for the study were all K-12 educators teaching in schools in Central California. The driving research question is stated as In what ways do childhood experiences with and within the natural environment impact who we are as adults? Three sub-questions were also explored: What personal meanings are associated with childhood memories and experiences of being with and within the natural environment? In what ways do individuals assimilate childhood experiences of the natural environment into their adult beliefs about their relationship with nature? In what ways does the exploration of early childhood nature experiences affect the decision to become environmental advocates? Moustakas' (1990) six-stage heuristic inquiry process was adhered to. The initial data collection began within myself, the researcher. Aspects of the experience, which became the collected data by means of conversations with co-researchers, journal writing, and other personal documents, were filtered by way of my own self-inquiry, sense of eco-literacy and experience with my childhood experiences with and within the natural environment. From the organization and analysis I have derived the essential elements of the experience. Nature as the common denominator, Nature awakens inner passions, Nature as lived through a relational awareness, Nature experiences support and guide our every day lives, and Nature stimulates a child's potential were the key thematic elements that embraced my own experience and that of my co-researchers.

Working with an organization outside the public school system that was creating schoolyard gardens, I began to think about culture and cultivation inside and outside of schooling practices. The liveliness of the schoolyard gardens presented possibilities for enlivening educational discourses. With two participants I planted a container box schoolyard garden outside Lamoureux Hall, which houses the Faculty of Education. Utilizing aspects of place-based pedagogy, ecoliteracy, ecopedagogy and a metissage of a/r/tography, eco-art and writing as a method of inquiry, we tended the garden and dwelled upon ideas of nature, culture, and their intersection in a particular place. Our garden experiences left cyber footprints in virtual space as blog spots on a thesis blog site. The garden and the inquiry it generated outside,is brought back inside the education building as a Master's thesis. The garden grew in different and unpredictable ways due to intense construction on site, entwining the planter boxes with unseen variables.

Working with an organization outside the public school system that was creating schoolyard gardens, I began to think about culture and cultivation inside and outside of schooling practices. The liveliness of the schoolyard gardens presented possibilities for enlivening educational discourses. With two participants I planted a container box schoolyard garden outside Lamoureux Hall, which houses the Faculty of Education. Utilizing aspects of place-based pedagogy, ecoliteracy, ecopedagogy and a metissage of a/r/tography, eco-art and writing as a method of inquiry, we tended the garden and dwelled upon ideas of nature, culture, and their intersection in a particular place. Our garden experiences left cyber footprints in virtual space as blog spots on a thesis blog site. The garden and the inquiry it generated outside,is brought back inside the education building as a Master's thesis. The garden grew in different and unpredictable ways due to intense construction on site, entwining the planter boxes with unseen variables.

Working with an organization outside the public school system that was creating schoolyard gardens, I began to think about culture and cultivation inside and outside of schooling practices. The liveliness of the schoolyard gardens presented possibilities for enlivening educational discourses. With two participants I planted a container box schoolyard garden outside Lamoureux Hall, which houses the Faculty of Education. Utilizing aspects of place-based pedagogy, ecoliteracy, ecopedagogy and a metissage of a/r/tography, eco-art and writing as a method of inquiry, we tended the garden and dwelled upon ideas of nature, culture, and their intersection in a particular place. Our garden experiences left cyber footprints in virtual space as blog spots on a thesis blog site. The garden and the inquiry it generated outside,is brought back inside the education building as a Master's thesis. The garden grew in different and unpredictable ways due to intense construction on site, entwining the planter boxes with unseen variables.

Working with an organization outside the public school system that was creating schoolyard gardens, I began to think about culture and cultivation inside and outside of schooling practices. The liveliness of the schoolyard gardens presented possibilities for enlivening educational discourses. With two participants I planted a container box schoolyard garden outside Lamoureux Hall, which houses the Faculty of Education. Utilizing aspects of place-based pedagogy, ecoliteracy, ecopedagogy and a metissage of a/r/tography, eco-art and writing as a method of inquiry, we tended the garden and dwelled upon ideas of nature, culture, and their intersection in a particular place. Our garden experiences left cyber footprints in virtual space as blog spots on a thesis blog site. The garden and the inquiry it generated outside,is brought back inside the education building as a Master's thesis. The garden grew in different and unpredictable ways due to intense construction on site, entwining the planter boxes with unseen variables.