There exist three essential relationships in the human experience: relationship with oneself, relationship with others, and relationship with the natural world. This article focuses on one of these relationships and how children's literature may be used to support and enhance it: relationship with the natural world. The author chose this…

Environmental change is ideally taught through field observations; however, leaving the classroom is often unrealistic due to financial and logistical constraints. The Internet offers several feasible alternatives using webcams that instructors can use to illustrate a variety of geographic examples and exercises for students. This article explores…

Experiences of nature have been shown to be beneficial for disabled children; however, opportunities for disabled children to experience nature are often limited. The social model of disability may provide a theoretical base for increasing access to nature for pupils at Special Educational Needs (SEN) schools. Using results from interviews…

This project involved examining the most widely used instrument designed to evaluate the quality of early learning environments, the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised Edition (ECERS-R). There are many aspects related to the way that the ECERS-R is used in practice that can vary from one observation to the next. The method in which…

Citizen science projects involve the public with scientists in collaborative research. Information and communication technologies for citizen science can enable massive virtual collaborations based on voluntary contributions by diverse participants. As the popularity of citizen science increases, scientists need a more thorough understanding of…

Using virtual worlds as media for learning and teaching gives rise to the potential for many unique ethical problems. Some of these arise due to the nature of the engagement with these virtual worlds, in which the students create a virtual representation, called an avatar, which may enable a sense of embodiment, and hence exposure, within the…

The physical environment of a school community provides more than shelter and work space. It conveys values and messages about who is welcome, what is important, and how children learn. School is a place where children, staff and families spend much of their time, where routine needs are met, relationships are developed, skills are learned,…

In this review essay, Clarence Joldersma argues for a novel role for science in developing an affirmative answer to his title question, "How can science help us care for nature?" He does so in dialogue with Clare Palmer's edited volume, "Teaching Environmental Ethics," Dirk Postma's "Why Care for Nature?" and Michael Bonnett's "Retrieving Nature."…

This secondary analysis examined relationships between the environment and adherence to a walking intervention among 252 urban and suburban, midlife African American women. Participants received an enhanced or minimal behavioral intervention. Walking adherence was measured as the percentage of prescribed walks completed. Objective measures of the…

The authors developed a framework of empirically grounded curricular goals for water-science literacy and documented the challenges that students face in achieving these goals. Water-related environmental science literacy requires an understanding of connected natural and human-engineered systems at multiple scales ranging from atomic-molecular…

As part of a pilot program, the researchers sought to develop an instrument that would effectively measure the nature awareness of students. With this information, the researchers correlated nature awareness scores and science averages. According to Salomon and Perkins' theory of transfer, experiences in one situation can influence experiences in…

Back in 1958, environmental clubs were few, organizations that considered eco-practices were almost non-existent, and the concept of environmental studies at any level in their educational system was in its infancy. It was in this environment that Voyageur Wilderness Programme (VWP) was founded on Voyageur Island, Nym Lake, Quetico, Ontario,…

Schools presently operate without a method for recognizing how the relational aspects of the school environment impacts physical safety. Using two previously unrelated frameworks, NIMS/ICS and the Taguiri model, this paper connects the formal curriculum to relational, administrative and physical safety. The first model presented, National Incident…

The new paradigm in ecology emphasizes dynamic change, disturbance, and nonequilibrium in natural systems, and it presents some challenges for contemporary environmental aesthetics, one of which has to do with the thesis known as "scientific cognitivism." Scientific cognitivism holds that appropriate aesthetic appreciation of nature must be…

It has been argued in recent educational literature that assessment drives learning, and that assessment should therefore rigorously align with the intended outcomes of a course of study. This article describes a research project analysing the assessment tool for the research component of a professional degree in a faculty of engineering and the…