In their role as careful observers of nature, citizen scientists are helping to "answer the most challenging ecological and environmental questions, addressing issues that affect everyday lives" (McKinley et al. 2015). They help answer these questions by providing scientists with a large pool of data that can be analyzed (National…

The co-authors, collaborators in garden-based teacher education, question the hegemony of grids in Western time, space and relationship structures in education, while also delving into our own complicity and entanglement with these grids. We ask: (1) Can we reject the grid in environmental education and in garden-based learning when it is an…

It has been a well-known fact that educational activities are significant in approaches directed to permanent solutions for environmental problems. To grow individuals who have awareness on their surroundings and are conscious about environment can be considered as an effective way of dealing with these problems. It is necessary to inform…

The purpose of this study was to investigate students' understanding of groundwater as a system, and to further examine whether and how their understanding is related to attitudes towards groundwater use and conservation. A total of 676 junior high school students completed a groundwater survey including a drawing activity and a questionnaire. An…

As students explore watershed ecology they also speak to elders in the community, participate in hands-on folklife experiences, and learn the techniques and skills of oral history and ethnographic field methods.

This activity is designed to illustrate an application of resistive forces in the introductory physics curriculum with an interdisciplinary twist. Students are asked to examine images of riverbed boulders after a flood and estimate the water flow that was needed to push the boulders downstream. The activity provides an opportunity for students to…

This paper introduces "rhizocurrere", a curriculum autobiographical concept I created to chart my efforts to develop place-responsive outdoor environmental education. "Rhizocurrere" brings together "rhizome", a Deleuze and Guattari concept, with currere, Pinar's autobiographical method for curriculum inquiry.…

Environmental protection is now the common consensus in the world. If we can teach students how to appreciate the natural environment and love its beauty, they may protect the environment naturally. But how can we learn to appreciate nature? The research on the contemporary aesthetics of nature provides rich discussions and directions. This paper…

This ethnographic study explores the educational practice of interpretive naturalists in a Midwestern US state park. The construction of affective memories and direct experiences is examined from the perspectives of a group of naturalists to understand how they teach about a specific place. Enlisting phenomenological insights of lived experience…

This exploratory study used a comparative cross-sectional research design and survey data to describe and compare attitudes of undergraduate students about climate change and environmental issues at the University of Botswana in Gaborone and the U.S. Naval Academy (USNA) located in Annapolis, Maryland during the spring of 2011. Two important…

Purpose: This paper deals with the experiences of three European universities that have implemented transition initiatives, using the Transition Network's methodology to promote their sustainability plans. The Transition Communities' model for change is presented from a socio-educational perspective as an effective methodology for encouraging…

What do children actually carry away from participating in planned activities in natural areas such as those in outdoor camps and schools? Prior research has seldom been rigorous in establishing participants' connection to, knowledge of, and orientation toward nature before intervention, followed by a clear specification of what range of…

This study investigates how middle school students make hypothetical purchasing, consuming, and voting decisions about environmental and science-related issues--a key component of environmental literacy. Fifty-three female students were given a packet containing multiple excerpts of information from conflicting positions from stakeholders and…

Explanatory pictures and models are frequently used in teaching and learning situations. However, it seems to be simply assumed that they are always beneficial. In this article results from an investigation with 16 Swedish pupils aged 7-9 year are presented based on an analysis that has examined how well this assumption holds up. Concepts from…

Near-peer teaching is used within higher education because of its efficacy for both student teachers and learners. Our purpose in this paper is to highlight the possibilities of applying near-peer teaching pedagogies in outdoor and environmental higher education contexts. We begin by reviewing its use in the higher education sector, mainly…