This paper considers how digital technologies contribute to awakening primary-school children's enchantment with local places. We draw upon Bennett and Thoreau to theorize enchantment and adopt "enchantment as method" from Stainova to guide the research process. We analyze the contrasting digital artifacts produced by three children…

Children comprise many of the visitors to zoos every year, yet few studies have explored the impact of a zoo visit on children's learning. This study employed a repeated measure design using data gathered from 500 questionnaires to investigate students' knowledge, attitude, and behavior before and after visiting a zoo or aquarium in Ireland. A…

Environmental education programs aiming to enhance children's environmental attitudes in a pro-environmental direction require background information, such as age and sex differences, to ensure appropriate design. We used the 2-MEV model with its domains "preservation" and "utilization" of nature to assess a four-day program at…

A Chinese version of the revised NEP Scale was generated and adopted in a survey among 507 students (age 10 to 12 years old) from three elementary schools in Shenzhen, China. The results show an acceptable level of internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.65) but some abnormalities on the modified NEP scale: items 1 and 7 presented very low…

This article addresses issues regarding implementation of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) within formal education systems. In particular, it seeks to identify the basic essential components of ESD pedagogy. The authors present a theoretical pedagogical framework based on accumulated theory and experience in the field. The framework…

The author examined the impact of environmental education lessons in a study that compared activities conducted in the schoolyard with traditional classroom activities involving elementary school boys and girls. Participants were 109 4th- and 5th-grade students. Researchers conducted a 2 (group: traditional/treatment) X 2 (gender) multivariate…

Significant life experience research suggests that outdoor experiences foster proenvironmental outcomes. Time spent outdoors is more frequently identified as the source of proenvironmental behavior than is education, suggesting that cognition may be less important than affect. Yet, environmental education field programs are often evaluated on…

The authors conducted an ethnography investigating children's lived experiences in a 3-day residential environmental education (EE) program with 20 gifted 4th- and 5th-grade students. The authors also conducted participant observation and a series of interviews before, during, and after the trip. After the authors conducted the interviews and…

The ability of the National Marine Park of Zakynthos (NMPZ) in Greece to protect an important sea turtle rookery will ultimately depend on the level of local support and involvement that it receives. Therefore, it is essential for environmental educators to generate among local inhabitants, starting at early ages, positive attitudes concerning the…

The author describes an after-school science club program for urban 4th-grade students that integrated instructional technologies to investigate a pond ecosystem in the local schoolyard. The author conducted a design-based evaluation study to examine the effectiveness of the program in promoting environmental attitudes and understandings of the…

The authors revised and validated the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale for use with upper elementary students. Researchers use the NEP Scale extensively with adults, but it was not designed for children. Interviews with 5th grade students helped the authors revise the NEP Scale for use with children. The authors spent 2 years validating the…

Using phenomenological analysis, the authors examined the long-term effects of an environmental education school field trip on fourth grade elementary students who visited Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The authors' findings suggest that one year after the experience, many students remembered what they had seen and heard and had developed a…

The authors describe a study aimed at enhancing knowledge about amphibian species. Two classes of 3rd and 4th graders aged 9-11 years participated in the study. In addition, approximately one half of the students participated in an environmental conservation action designated to preserve migrating amphibians. During this action, students…