Humans have always shown a great capacity for attachment to each other, and to places. Place attachment has been defined and used in environmental psychology, but not in education. As outdoor and sustainability education becomes more popular, a look into this phenomenon and its implications for children is increasingly interesting. This research will investigate a form of outdoor education, field trips to local nature education centers in the Chicagoland area, and their effects on place attachment in children. A qualitative method approach was used, and two case studies were done with two different classes at two different nature centers. Twelve students were observed and interviewed with semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. The results showed that students do show signs of place attachment on multiple levels based on a psychology framework. The students had individual and group experiences that solidified an interpersonal bond with the place, they demonstrated the affectual, cognitive, and behavioral processes of place attachment, and they discussed the social and physical benefits of the place itself. Overall, they showed all the signs of positive place attachment as per the framework. However, further research should be conducted on place attachment in children specifically and what these results mean for the future of education in the United States.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-195985 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Turner, Rachel |
| Publisher | Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för beteendevetenskap och lärande |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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