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Developing positive relationships with nature through outdoor play and education may lead to increased environmental consciousness in adults. Building on past research showing the influence of early memories on adult decision making, this study strives to understand how childhood play outdoors relates to adult values of nature and their potential desire to share similar outdoor experiences with others. Utilizing the Nature Relatedness Scale and semi-structured qualitative interviews, I have explored a deeper understanding of the relationship between parents' memories of play outdoors and their subsequent decisions for their children. Reflecting on many of my own meaningful outdoor experiences alongside those of my parent participants, I have discovered that nature experiences are valued across different perspectives. Due to memorable outdoor experiences, these adults have taken action to offer their children similar meaningful opportunities in nature.

In this study, I investigated seven and eight-year-old children’s interest in the boreal forest in Yukon, Canada. This research attempts to provide insight on this topic by giving students autonomy over their movement in a diverse natural landscape, and by investigating where they go and what they do in a forest context. A mixed methodology approach was used to explore children’s interest in the boreal forest, and data were analyzed from the geospatial technology that was affixed to each child, and by inquiring about what the children enjoyed doing in the forest. Key findings from the study included: the importance of play as a primary means of interacting socially with the environment, children’s affiliation and fascination with living things as strong motivators for exploration, and the affordances the landscape offered the children, specifically loose parts (e.g., sticks, berries) and the diverse topography (e.g., hills for running, dense forest for hiding). Based on these findings, I contend that it is becoming increasingly important for educators, parents, and policy makers to understand the child-nature relationship and its relevance to young children. / Graduate

This autoethnographic study details the researcher’s experiences as a high school student and as a new teacher—which eventually led to the creation, implementation, and 8-year life cycle of Mount Logan Discovery, a sixth-grade integrated outdoor experiential learning program in a public middle school. Routine field experiences established academic background knowledge, fostered relationships, built confidence, and provided purpose for curriculum standards. Perspectives of parents, students, colleagues, administrators, and donors add detail. This study responds to calls qualitative studies that focus on how outdoor programs are conducted, the descriptions of experiences and perceptions of students and parents, and how participants were changed through outdoor experiential learning programs. The primary research question was: What are the lived experiences of the researcher as a founder of a public middle school outdoor experiential learning program, from its inception to its closure? Though outdoor experiential learning is the main theme, this study is also about teaching reading and writing in authentic contexts, integrated science, and the struggle for constructivist-minded educators to humanize schools within high-stakes testing culture. From a theoretical standpoint, this is a story of constructivism in praxis. Participants described that outdoor field experiences improved their attitude towards school, their overall confidence, fostered relationships, established a strong classroom community, and boosted their academic performance. Students and parents emphasized the impact integrating literacy with field programs had on their writing and reading skills. Other themes that surfaced include the role of field experiences in building character and allowing students to find joy and happiness in the learning process. Parents and students alike indicated outdoor field experiences had a lasting impact on participants lives. The analysis also identifies six steps for putting principles of constructivism into practice in schools, recommendations for implementing new programs, and components of effective field programs. The narrative spurs parents, educators, administrators, and lawmakers to reflect on what really matters in schools. Until we change the way schools are evaluated, outdoor experiential learning programs like Mount Logan Discovery, and other attempts to enrich students’ educational experiences, will always exist on the fringes and in the shadows of public education, fighting for sustainability.

This document represents a holistic account of two years’ work thinking about place-based learning at Ye’yumnuts from a Quw’utsun Mustimuhw perspective. In acknowledging individual and collective responsibility, and accounting for the slowness of work in place over time, this document signals the need for specific careful conversations about Quw’utsun ways of being in place. Some of the topics highlighted for subsequent engagement include prioritizing Indigenous futures over settler futures when constructing and imagining Indigenous land; the need for a strengthening of Quw’utsun community engagement at Ye’yumnuts in support of further local public-school learning at the site; the potential for a deeper recognition of Quw’utsun protocols to ensure safety for Indigenous and settler visitors at Ye’yumnuts, and a nuanced understanding of visiting a place such as Ye’yumnuts in a public school-setting. This work affirmed my own commitment to thinking through the ways in which Quw’utsun Mustimuhw and their futures can be prioritized at Ye’yumnuts – how this place can be appropriately reintegrated into Quw’utsun territory and into our daily lives. This document indicates a shift in my research and personal intentions, shifting from a focus on public-school resources to an attention to the importance of Ye’yumnuts’ unique connection to its people, and the ways in which this strengthened connection will one day best support public-school learning at Ye’yumnuts and other places in Quw’utsun territory. / Graduate

Studien har en ämnesövergripande ansats som undersöker lärares utsagor om hur platsbaserat lärande kan möjliggöra utveckling av elevers läs- och skrivförmågor. Ämnesövergripande undervisning innebär att flera ämnen integreras med varandra. Ett platsbaserat lärande innebär att undervisningen utgår ifrån en specifik plats i skolans närområde. Data samlades in genom en enkätundersökning som riktar sig till lärare i grundskolans årskurser F–3. En systematisk analys av materialet har skett där mönster, likheter samt skillnader har identifierats. Enkätundersökningens resultat visar att lärare gärna väver samman läs- och skrivaktiviteter.Exempelvis genom att eleverna får läsa faktatexter om ett djur för att sedan besöka platsen där djuret befinner sig och avslutningsvis skriver eleverna en egen faktatext med hjälp av fotografier från platsen. Vidare belyser resultatet att de flesta lärare arbetar ämnesövergripande utifrån ett tematiskt arbetssätt. Ekonomiska aspekter redovisas som handlar om bland annat för få resurser, för lite planeringstid och dyra transporter. Det framgår att lärare gärna vill använda ett platsbaserat lärande men att deras kunskaper om hur det ska genomföras på ett strukturerat och givande sätt kan utvecklas. Lärare uttrycker att de önskar bättre förutsättningar för ett platsbaserat lärande samt även möjligheter till vidare utbildning inom området. På så sätt, menar lärarna, kan platsbaserat lärande inkluderas i undervisningen. / The study adopts an interdisciplinary approach, investigating teachers' statements on how place-based learning can facilitate the development of students' reading and writing skills. Interdisciplinary teaching involves the integration of multiple subjects. Place-based learning is based on a specific location within the school's vicinity as the foundation for instruction. Data were collected through a survey directed at teachers of primary school grades F–3. A systematic analysis of the material was conducted, identifying patterns, similarities and differences. The survey results indicate that teachers often integrate reading and writing activities by, for example, reading factual texts about an animal, visiting the location where the animal resides and subsequently having students write their own factual texts using photographs from the location. Furthermore, the results highlight that most teachers employ interdisciplinary methods based on thematic teaching. Economic aspects are also discussed, including insufficient resources, inadequate planning time and costly transportation. It is evident that teachers are keen to use place-based learning, but their knowledge on how to implement it in a structured and beneficial manner can be enhanced. Teachers express a desire for better conditions for place-based learning as well as opportunities for further education in this area. According to the teachers, such improvements would enable the inclusion of place-based learning in their instruction.

Teachers in elementary schools have increasingly been required to follow pacing guides, given directives on what curriculum to use, and are provided standardized assessments to measure student learning. Curricula used by elementary teachers rarely address the environmental degradation plaguing the planet. School gardens have been used for over a century by educators as a place to promote students learning about the environment, science, and health. However, few studies have been conducted exploring the ways teachers have been influenced by teaching within school gardens. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to better understand the role of school gardens as a learning place, while exploring the lived experiences of teachers' interactions and experiences within school gardens and ways place-based education influenced teachers' pedagogical approaches and curriculum decisions. The four participants who took part in this study were all elementary school teachers at a Central California school. The guiding research question was stated as: How do school gardens function as learning places? Phenomenological methodology was used to explore the shared experiences teachers had with utilizing the school garden as a learning place. From analysis of interviews, classroom and garden observations, and supplemental curricula used by participants, three themes emerged illuminating ways participants' pedagogy and curriculum decisions had been influenced. Interactions and experiences with school gardens inspired participants to integrate project-based learning and interdisciplinary supplemental curriculum into their lessons. Place-based learning helped to build relationships, and the importance of teachers integrating emotional connections in their instructional practices. By teaching content disciplines using interdisciplinary curricula with lessons taught in the school garden, participants were able to integrate project-based learning activities that increased student responsibilities in the learning process and provided service learning opportunities. Conclusions drawn from the findings were that direct interactions and experiences with elements of place-based learning in a school garden influenced the ways in which participants perceived the purpose of their pedagogical approaches and curriculum decisions. Literature supported these findings and reinforced the influence of lessons in school gardens promoting environmental and health education. Connected with the results of this study, implications for practice and recommendations for future research are also presented.

The purpose of this study was to discover whether learning garden programs increase access to locally grown foods and successfully empower and include food insecure populations. This study examined the Oregon Food Bank's Seed to Supper program which situates garden-based learning in food insecure communities. Through a mixed-methods community-based research process, this study found that community building, learner empowerment and sustainability leadership in place-based learning garden programs increased access to locally grown foods for food insecure populations. When food insecure populations participated in these learning garden programs they often engaged in practices described in the literature as the "web of inclusion" (Helgesen, 1995). When food insecure populations were engaged in these practices, participation in food democracy and food justice increased. Additionally, participation in learning gardens led to sustainability leadership and increased access to food literacy, which led to greater community health and engaged, local community food systems.

Allt fler bor i urbana områden och vistas mindre ute i naturen. Samtidigt pågårklimatförändringar som bland annat påskyndas av att torrlagda våtmarker släpper utkoldioxid. Den här undersökningen utforskar hur miljöpedagoger arbetar med exkursionervid våtmarker för att stärka barns natursamhörighet, uppmärksamma våtmarkers värden, samthur exkursioner kan bidra i arbetet för Agenda 2030 och Sveriges miljömål gällandevåtmarker. Semistrukturerade intervjuer med miljöpedagoger samt observation av enexkursion vid en våtmark utfördes i undersökningen. Resultatet visar att exkursioner vidvåtmarker kan vara avgörande för barns natursamhörighet, barns förståelse för våtmarkersvärde, samt utvecklande av empatiska beteenden gentemot naturen. Under en exkursion vidvåtmarker får barn vara med och utför åtgärder för att skydda och bevara våtmarker, vilket ären viktig del för att uppnå Agenda 2030 och Sveriges miljömål. Trots att mänskligaaktiviteter vid våtmarker kan vara negativt för den biologiska mångfalden, är exkursionernödvändigt för det framtida arbetet för våtmarkers välstånd. Framtida forskning bör fokuserapå långsiktiga effekter på barn som kontinuerligt får komma ut på exkursioner inaturområden. / The number of people living in urban areas has increased significantly, and they spend lesstime in nature. At the same time climate change is taking place, which is being accelerated,among other things, by drained wetlands that emit carbon dioxide. This study explores howenvironmental educators work with excursions at wetlands to strengthen children's natureconnectedness, pay attention to the values of wetlands, and how excursions can contribute toreaching the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sweden's environmental goalsregarding wetlands. Semi-structured interviews with environmental educators and anobservation of an excursion to a wetland, were conducted in the study. The results show thatexcursions at wetlands can be crucial for children's nature connectedness, children'sunderstanding of the value of wetlands, and the development of empathic behaviors towardsnature. Through excursions at wetlands, children are involved with the wetlands andmeasures are taken to protect and preserve wetlands, which is an important part of achievingthe 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sweden's environmental goals. Althoughhuman activities in wetlands can be detrimental to biodiversity, excursions are necessary forfuture work on wetland prosperity. Future research should focus on long-term effects onchildren who are continuously on excursions in nature.

To increase equity and inclusion for underserved and excluded Indigenous students, we must make efforts to mitigate the unique barriers they face. As their knowledge systems have been historically excluded and erased in Western science, we begin by reviewing the literature on the inclusion of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) in biology education and describe best practices. Next, to better understand how Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander (NHPI) students integrate into the scientific community, we used Social Influence Theory as a framework to measure NHPI student science identity, self-efficacy, alignment with science values, and belonging. We also investigated how students feel their ethnic and science identities interact. We found that NHPI students do not significantly differ from non-NHPI students in these measures of integration, and that NHPI students are varied in how they perceive their ethnic and science identities interact. Some students experience conflict between the two identities, while others view the two as having a strengthening relationship. Next, we describe a lesson plan created to include Hawaiian TEK in a biology class using best practices described in the literature. This is followed by an empirical study on how students were impacted by this lesson. We measured student integration into the science community using science identity, self-efficacy, alignment with science values, and belonging. We found no significant differences between NHPI and non-NHPI students. We also looked at student participation, and found that all students participated more on intervention days involving TEK and other ways of knowing than on non-intervention days. Finally, we describe qualitative findings on how students were impacted by the TEK interventions. We found students were predominantly positively impacted by the inclusion of TEK and discuss future adjustments that could be made using their recommendations. The last chapter describes how we used remote sensing to investigate land cover in a fenced and unfenced region of the Koʻolau Mountains on the island of Oahu. After mapping the biodiversity hotspot Management Unit of Koloa, we found that there is slighlty more bare ground, grass, and bare ground/low vegetation mix in fenced, and thereby ungulate-free areas, than those that were unfenced and had ungulates. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.