The term nature deficit disorder describes the "human costs of alienation from nature" (Louv, 2019). While not meant to be a medical diagnosis, Louv argues that the condition has, "profound implications, not only for the health of future generations but for the health of the earth itself" (Louv, 2008). Children most at risk are…

In this collaborative professor-student contribution, an experiential nature-based university psychology course is described and discussed. Existing scholarship on experiential environmental education informed the course, with the overall aim of educating the "whole student". Experiential environmental education has been identified as…

Faculty in the Chemistry and Environmental Science programs at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas, collaborated to develop an undergraduate course in Field-Based Environmental Chemistry. The course was developed and implemented as a 2-semester, 1-semester, and online, synchronous course offered during the 2020/21 COVID-19 pandemic. As…

In 2011, the authors developed a new study abroad course in China as part of the University of Colorado Denver Global Study program. The program focused on short-term, intensive, international field study conducted during the three-week break period between the spring and summer semesters. The course, "Sustainability Along the Yangtze,"…

Given the current lack of connection between people and the natural environment, the goal of this research was to explore if and how an educational program could impact an individual's sense of place, and environmental stewardship attitudes and behaviors. To address this question, I examined these impacts with a cohort of participants in the UC…

This article provides an up-to-date list of reasons for teachers to create a case for residential fieldwork. The list was developed as part of a project examining 'learning journeys' of inner-urban school visits to residential field centres in England. Uniquely, it draws from the perspectives of students and teachers in light of the changes to…

Climate change adaptation is a notorious example of a wicked problem. Teachers need to have extensive knowledge to design high-quality education that addresses the wickedness and contributes to wicked problem-solving. The components of the knowledge basis for teaching climate change issues can be highlighted with the Pedagogical Content Knowledge…

In recent years there have been concerted efforts among water science educators to increase the number and quality of interactive classroom, field, and lab experiences in undergraduate water resource courses. This article reviews the transformation of a traditional lecture-based hydrology course with a global emphasis to a field-based, integrated…

Creating behavior change to mobilize transitions toward sustainability is a significant challenge of our time. Inspired by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's Farmer Field School, we developed a novel community-based education program to engage people in local sustainability topics. In the Sustainable Communities Field School…

A critical component of environmental education is to ensure student understanding and use of available technologies to better experience and analyze spatially distributed features of the environment. Combining mobile technologies with geographic information systems in field data collection may provide a unique opportunity for students to feel…

Residential field courses are important and should be designed and delivered to maximize their value to students, staff and institutions. In this context, we use a novel approach involving analysis of the daily affective and conative reflections of students immersed in the field course experience to better understand student engagement with…

There is an expectation that Australian teachers engage professionally in all aspects of teaching and learning, including engagement with teaching networks and broader communities. This paper reports on a partnership between a teacher educator and an environmental educator who set out to expand pre-service teachers' professional knowledge,…

Environmental education authors have argued for cultivating a relationship with nature and the outdoors, and have urged parents to "unplug" their children from technology. In this perspective, technology is seen as curtailing ties to the environment and its use needs to be limited. In this paper, we consider the idea that while…

Research apprenticeships offer opportunities for deep understanding of scientific practice, transparency about research careers, and possible transformational effects on precollege youth. We examined two consecutive field-based environmental biology apprenticeship programs designed to deliver realistic career exploration and connections to…

A field-based course in an applied science program can have numerous learning outcomes. These are typically addressed through demonstration, active participation by the students, communication between students and instructor and amongst students, and independent work by students individually or in small groups. Such courses are also opportunities…