Browsing by Subject "Children and the environment."

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    Exploring the Relationship between Digital Nature Photography and Children's Connectedness to Nature
    (2012) Spencer, Seth F
    Digital photography can be an enjoyable and exciting activity for children. It may also increase connectedness to nature levels. Questionnaires were sent to four different Duluth, MN area 4th grade classrooms. The questionnaire was comprised of the Connectedness to Nature Index (Cheng & Monroe, 2010) and one open-ended question. The questionnaire was given as a pretest and a posttest, after two of the schools participated in a program using digital cameras. Eight-five percent (n=99) responded to the questionnaire. Findings of the study revealed that the respondents generally had a strong connectedness to nature before and after their use of digital cameras. While quantitative data showed no significant change between pretest and posttest connectedness to nature levels, qualitative and anecdotal data suggested that the use of digital cameras can influence connectedness to nature levels in children. The results may be used to emphasize the importance of finding new and creative ways to connect today’s children with a sense of connectedness to nature.
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    Fostering "Connectedness to Nature" through Digital Photo Journaling: A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Environmental Education Curriculum for Upper Elementary Students
    (2012) Zwickey, Kara C
    In Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, Richard Louv (2005) described a shift in our relationship to the natural world. On average, today’s youth spend 6.5 hours a day with electronic media (Driessnack, 2009; Roberts & Foehr, 2008). While this technology has expanded access to the virtual world, it has also attributed to an ever-widening divide between today’s youth and the natural world (Louv, 2005). The Department of the Interior (DOI) initiative Youth in the Great Outdoors and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) priority Let’s Go Outside: Ensuring the Future of Conservation emphasize a need to foster environmental connectedness in America's youth (Department of the Interior, 2010; U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 2010a). The purpose of this study was to explore the use of digital photo journaling as an environmental education method for fostering connectedness to nature among upper elementary youth. A digital photo journaling curriculum was developed, piloted, and evaluated in the Prairie Science Class (PSC) at Prairie Wetlands Learning Center (PWLC) in Fergus Falls, MN.