Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Publication Date

Fall 12-18-2021

Abstract

Outdoor learning experiences offer schools an initial avenue to address global community issues, including climate change, natural resource depletion, disconnection from nature, and the current global coronavirus pandemic. This narrative inquiry study, grounded in the theoretical work of Vygotsky, Cajete, Brody, and Kahn, seeks to understand how children’s perceptions of their outdoor learning experiences provide insights into their learning processes. This study’s findings suggest that regardless of the location (mountains, home, school campuses, local natural areas), students say that they: experience positive affect and enjoyment; observe through their senses to explore, discover, inquire, change their behavior, and build deeper relationships with each other and the natural world; and, recognize that their complex learning processes occur differently outdoors compared to classrooms and/or online. Providing OLEs can help educators address the growing gap between the empirical evidence in support of these impactful experiences and the core curricular reality for many school-aged students.

Keywords – outdoor learning experiences, narrative inquiry, student learning perceptions and processes, Vygotsky, Cajete, Brody, ecopedagogy

Keywords

outdoor learning experiences, narrative inquiry, student learning perceptions and processes, Vygotsky, Cajete, environmental education

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies

First Committee Member (Chair)

Holbrook Mahn

Second Committee Member

Vincent Werito

Third Committee Member

Gregory Cajete

Fourth Committee Member

Kim Eichhorst

Fifth Committee Member

Carolyn Hushman

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