TY - JOUR
T1 - Connecting children to nature through residential outdoor environmental education
AU - Mullenbach, Lauren E.
AU - Andrejewski, Rob G.
AU - Mowen, Andrew Justin
PY - 2018/3/29
Y1 - 2018/3/29
N2 - Connecting to nature and spending time outdoors as children have been indicated as predictors of environmentally responsible behavior. This study examined whether a residential outdoor environmental education (ROEE) program contributed to the development of children’s connection to nature and their attitudes and involvement in spending time outdoors. Fifth-grade students (n = 163) in Pennsylvania enrolled in a multi-day ROEE program completed pretest-posttest surveys, compared with a control group (n = 72) not enrolled. Program evaluation critically examined the program’s encouragement of spending time outdoors by establishing connections to nature. Results indicated moderate success in the program’s effort to increase participants’ nature connection, but yielded mixed results on outcomes related to time spent outdoors. These findings offer encouragement of ROEE programs’ ability to foster connection to nature in participants.
AB - Connecting to nature and spending time outdoors as children have been indicated as predictors of environmentally responsible behavior. This study examined whether a residential outdoor environmental education (ROEE) program contributed to the development of children’s connection to nature and their attitudes and involvement in spending time outdoors. Fifth-grade students (n = 163) in Pennsylvania enrolled in a multi-day ROEE program completed pretest-posttest surveys, compared with a control group (n = 72) not enrolled. Program evaluation critically examined the program’s encouragement of spending time outdoors by establishing connections to nature. Results indicated moderate success in the program’s effort to increase participants’ nature connection, but yielded mixed results on outcomes related to time spent outdoors. These findings offer encouragement of ROEE programs’ ability to foster connection to nature in participants.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85044536030&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1080/13504622.2018.1458215
DO - 10.1080/13504622.2018.1458215
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85044536030
SP - 1
EP - 10
JO - Environmental Education Research
JF - Environmental Education Research
SN - 1469-5871
ER -