This study seeks to add to our understanding of preschool students' experiences in urban spaces. Very few studies, including educational research, have directly addressed what urban nature spaces, specifically urban parks, mean to young children and even fewer have focused on children's own perception. The study presented here was conducted with…

This paper uses ethnography to explore an outdoor, arts-based intervention run by Urban Wilderness, in partnership with an English primary school. Urban Wilderness are a not-for-profit organisation which aims to connect children and young people from disadvantaged areas to locally accessible nature. Over the course of three afternoon workshops,…

Successful buy-in and support for management of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) should acknowledge the existing cultural ecosystem services and their connections to the well-being of local communities to gain positive perceptions. It is necessary to engage local stakeholders, especially among the youths, to explore governance complexities of MPAs and…

In this paper, we explore relational processes between and among three key learning ecosystem actors -- youth, educators, and more-than-human beings -- as a unit of analysis for understanding a specific type of environmental identity development: a 21st century naturalist. Our conceptualization of these relational processes aims to knit together…

In this paper, we describe an informal science program where specific program elements were designed to support youth development of a 21st century naturalist identity, which we call out as an important subtype of environmental and scientific identity. As part of a research-practice partnership, we conducted a case study of a teen youth program…

Affect or emotion for nature can prime environmentally friendly attitudes and behaviors, but for one's love of nature to grow she must physically experience and communicate about nature with others. This study aimed to identify urban park designs that could increase affect for nature in park visitors by stimulating their desire to communicate…

Conservation education can be fostered through formal and informal learning. An increasing number of zoological facilities with conservation missions have provided experiential learning venues characterized by self-directed, self-motivated and diversified learning experience integrated with fun and entertainment. In this paper, we develop an…

Indigenous peoples have long called for education that supports self-determination, counters colonial practices, and values our cultural identity and pride as Indigenous peoples. In recent years, Land education has emerged as a form of decolonial praxis that necessarily privileges Indigenous ontologies and epistemologies and engages in critiques…

Research has demonstrated that socio-scientific issues based inquiry learning has significant advantages for learning outcomes and students' motivation. Further, a successful understanding of landscapes in environmental and geographical education can be achieved by combining informal learning environments with school education. Therefore this case…

Environmental education (EE) typically occurs in natural settings, which research suggests may enhance learning outcomes. Although field trips are commonly used to teach EE, few studies have isolated the influence of different setting characteristics for enhancing participant outcomes during an EE field trip. According to the literature, certain…

Understanding the development of pro-environmental behavioral intentions and behaviors remains one of the greatest challenges for environmental educators worldwide. Using the Elaboration Likelihood Model as a theoretical foundation, we developed surveys to evaluate the influence of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Junior Ranger program on…

We conducted a qualitative analysis of 5 years of student writing data to understand learning and moral development on a field philosophy course in Isle Royale National Park. We were interested in the connection between physical experiences in the natural world and the way students care about or value nonhuman beings, natural systems, and place.…

Environmental and conservation education programs are commonly offered in the rapidly expanding network of protected areas in developing countries. There have been few evaluations of these programs and their impacts on participants. At Serra Malagueta Natural Park in Cape Verde, we assessed changes in environmental knowledge, opinions, and…

In line with previous studies, where outdoor nature experience was shown to support adolescents' environmental knowledge, our study monitored the influence of a hands-on environmental programme within a National Park on cognitive knowledge achievement. A sample of 4th and 5th graders (n = 289) completed a week-long outreach conservation programme…

This paper presents the framework of an intensive programme (IP) organised by UNESCO and addressed to young graduate professionals to prepare them for a career in fields related to sustainability. The aims of the IP were to address participants' environmental awareness and to develop attitudes and skills related to environmental planning and…