Research on self-efficacy and how it is developed in K-12 educational spaces has primarily focused on traditional classroom spaces and activities. Little research has focused on self-efficacy development in the context of outdoor experiential learning. Through this study, I use focus groups, in-depth interviewing, and on-line journal prompts to…

Though there has been a marked increase in research driven by posthumanist theory and inspired by the common worlds research approach, practical approaches to conducting this type of research have not been well documented and shared within the literature. This article explores the process of navigating the planning and conducting of research that…

Background: 45-60% of global climate emissions come from individual consumerism choices. In Western culture, nature is seen as a resource, a series of challenges to conquer, limited to facts and figures, or a threat. As practices and language of sustainability still view the environment simply as a resource, and therefore as something separate…

Background: Research shows that participation in outdoor adventure education (OAE) programs can confer individual educational, psychological, and social benefits that relate to college student thriving. Purpose: This qualitative study examined the experiences of college students who took a semester's leave to backpack the Appalachian Trail (AT) in…

The Curriculum for Wales 2022 and the enabling learning approach, which informs the development of early years provision and foundation learning, have provided a strong focus on the benefits of outdoor learning. Such learning promotes children's curiosity, exploration and holistic development. This article describes the ethos and approach of the…

Direct experience with nature is a primary component of environmental education and especially beneficial for young children. The present study examined the outdoor play preferences of toddlers and investigated the role teachers play in the outdoor space. Toddlers' outdoor play was video recorded by GoPro cameras and coded for preferred play…

Leave No Trace (LNT) is globally the most widely accepted minimum impact program and has been linked to behavior change and the maintenance of a range of ecological measures. Critiques of LNT have emerged, including that LNT ignores wider impacts that contribute to climate change and diverse world views. Many outdoor education students carefully…

Students need to develop cross-cultural awareness and understanding, which has led educational institutions to create high-impact global programs to enhance their learning. Global service-learning, a U.S.-based pedagogy, interconnects service-learning, study abroad, and international education programs. A service-learning program of our study in…

This dissertation explores the lived experience of nature-based educators in Duluth, Minnesota. Portraiture served as the methodological framework for learning about how teachers in Duluth got into teaching and why they remain on the job. Teacher turnover and attrition is a national problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, teachers who…

This paper provides an alternative lens of viewing digital technologies and networked spaces in outdoor intercultural learning, by introducing the Taoist philosophy of Ziran (nature) and Wuwei (inaction). The application of digital technology to outdoor learning has become prevailing and triggered critical debates and discussions among scholars…

This study was carried out within the scope of a nature education and science camp project. It aimed to investigate the effects of STEM activities conducted in out-of-school environments on teachers' STEM awareness and 21st-century skills. The research was designed according to the explanatory sequential pattern of the mixed method, and the…

This study seeks to add to our understanding of preschool students' experiences in urban spaces. Very few studies, including educational research, have directly addressed what urban nature spaces, specifically urban parks, mean to young children and even fewer have focused on children's own perception. The study presented here was conducted with…

This study targets hitherto largely understudied empirical processes and activities through which certain ideas and imaginaries are being commercialised and used by corporate actors in the global Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) industry. The aim is to analyse and critically discuss representations of the Scandinavian ECEC regime in the…

Research shows that experiences with nature have positive direct and indirect effects on multiple domains of child development, including language skills. However, few studies have examined the relationship between young children's language and outdoor nature settings. In this quantitative study, we compared children's language use in an indoor…

We have observed that as the theoretical landscape in behavioral science continues to proliferate and diversify, it is not uncommon that distance between subspecialties emerge, artificially accentuating differences between camps. This may occur at the risk of losing sight of the common ground, and worsening communication between subspecialties. In…