Might interacting with relatively wild forms of nature help move our world away from its largely domination-oriented and destructive sensibilities? Toward broaching this question, this study used an Interaction Pattern Approach to model child-nature interaction in a Hong Kong nature program. Observational video data were collected of 54 children…

Museum-based settings such as zoos provide a unique opportunity to engage educators in professional development opportunities. For instance, zoo settings can provide professional development opportunities focused on facilitating learning through a lens of conservation action to promote sustained action by teachers and their students. In this…

The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore affordances for STEM-related skills in a nature preschool in central Texas. Observations were conducted along with the collection of videos and photographs of four preschool-aged participants. Informal interviews were also implemented during data collection and observations. Semi-formal…

Jenn Hooven, Mark Kissling, and Misty Woods show how children between the ages of 3 and 5 learn to be ecological citizens at the Child Care Center at Hort Woods on Penn State's University Park campus. The authors demonstrate how the curriculum provides a learning focus on animals, insects, plants, weather, and nature-at-large and includes both…

The purpose of the study is to reveal the knowledge level of pre-school children aged four to five about the concepts of forest and deforestation. The study group of the research consists of 29 children having pre-school education. The data were collected using a standardized open-ended interview technique. Results of the study showed that…

Aspects of preschoolers' ecological understandings were explored in a cross-age, quantitative study that utilised a sample of seventy-five 3- to 5-year-old children. Specifically, their concepts of feeding relationships were determined by presenting physical models of three-step food chains during structured interviews. A majority of children,…

Connected learning is claimed to support children to connect their formal learning with wider social network and media tools in an interest-driven and inquiry-oriented manner. In a formal context there are few successful implementations of connected learning. This study explores how a kindergarten community of 8 adults and 42 children, equipped…

Studying attitudes toward fauna such as snakes is essential in wildlife management. The main objective of this study was to investigate the impact that fear of snakes has on Slovenian pre-service teachers' attitudes towards conservation and the likelihood of incorporating animals into developing the future science curriculum. The effect of direct…

This empirical study analyses the qualitatively different ways in which teachers approach children's learning in and about nature. The empirical data consists of video observations of children and teachers communicating with one another around natural phenomena found during excursions into a forest. Variation theory is presented as a framework for…