Connectedness to nature

Parks and outdoor recreation areas are valuable sites for the public to engage with nature, but depend on visitors practicing good stewardship. Due to minimal staffing, parks must rely on indirect management of visitor behavior, via messaging that influences visitors to practice pro-environmental behaviors. The most famous example of indirect management is the Leave No Trace (LNT) program, which was started in the 1960s and continues today. Historically, LNT messaging has focused on individual knowledge gain, such as informing visitors of the six LNT principles.

The Mariana crow (Corvus kubaryi), or Åga, is a critically endangered species endemic to the Mariana Islands, a U.S. Commonwealth in Micronesia. Among the Chamorro people of the island of Rota, past surveys showed that 52% approved of chasing or even shooting Åga on their property, and many could not reliably distinguish Åga from other birds. Past research indicated that a place-based ecological literacy curriculum with an emphasis on storytelling would be the best fit to protect the species on Rota.

The combination of an educator's academic background and interests play into their professional identity. The relationship between an educator and the subject they teach is often significant enough that their academic identity, also known as subject-identity, is fused with their overall teacher identity- known as a fused identity. This study observed a sample of five primary school teachers teaching geography in England.

As the world faces increased impacts from climate change, it is crucial to help young children connect with and value protecting the more-than-human (MtH) world. The term MtH is meant to be used as an inclusive view of the natural world, which embraces animals, plants, water, fungi, land, and more. Researchers have proposed that many nature-related problems the world faces now due in part to a larger disconnect between humans and the MtH world as compared to the past.

There are many benefits associated with outdoor field trips for students, including: increased ecological knowledge, connection to nature, cognitive skills, and student interest and motivation. Field trips are conducive for discovering information and exploring concepts outside of the classroom. However, educators may resist field trips for a variety of reasons, such as lack of funding, liability concerns, curriculum inflexibility due to focus on standardized testing, fear of poor student behavior, logistical challenges, and lack of time or training.

Connectedness to nature (CTN) correlates to environmental engagement and pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors, which are important for developing a society that will conserve and restore the natural world. However, even as climate change and environmental crisis are becoming more prominent, some research shows CTN is decreasing among youth in comparison to past generations.

Connectedness to nature is a predictor for pro-environmental attitudes and actions. Children today are less connected to nature than prior generations. If the trend is not addressed, then the next generation may be less willing to combat environmental challenges. Early childhood educators have an important role in building nature relatedness (NR), a measure of connection to nature, for the next generation. However, there is a limited understanding of the various levels of NR in early childhood educators themselves, which is crucial for fostering NR in their students.

A main goal of environmental education is to inspire pro-environmental behaviors in students. Motivation to act is based on more factors than environmental literacy, such as emotion and empathy toward the environment. Research has proven that exposure to flora and fauna in natural settings can benefit humans and can evoke positive emotional experiences. In this chapter, the authors reviewed how emotion and empathy intersect with wildlife to help educators leverage these human elements in natural settings to encourage student action in conservation efforts.

Environmental education should promote positive relationships to self, community, and the natural world. Garden spaces are frequently used as locations for environmental education programs, and in this study the researchers hoped to deeply analyze garden-based learning programs to evaluate how these programs impact participants. This study focused on findings from three garden-based programs that the researchers had observed.

There are many theories of environmentalism, from historic to contemporary, and they can be interpreted in a variety of ways. One of these theories is ecological identity, which has been defined as how people perceive themselves in nature as living beings connected to the earth, though the author of this study found shortcomings with this definition. They expressed that this definition is based in Western ideologies of individualistic human connection with nature.