Hi. My name is Adam Cheeseman. I'm a graduate student
at Dalhousie University working under
the supervision of Dr. Tara Wright. My
work focuses on understanding
environmental learning experiences of
children who participate in an
environmental education summer camp
program. Specifically I'm very interested
in nature exposure and environmental
education and how summer camps can
provide a space for children to learn
about environmental topics while
developing a strong connection with
nature. Previous research has discussed
the disconnection between youth and the
outdoors. Although children are
interested in being outdoors, a number
of barriers, including perceived dangers,
lack of accessible green space and
influences of Technology restrict
children's ability to participate in
outdoor activities. As you can imagine this
causes a whole host of issues including
impacts on physical and mental health,
feelings of environmental responsibility
and, most importantly for my research,
opportunities for Environmental Learning.
Environmental Learning is important to
consider as it's been shown to be critical
in the development of pro-environmental
attitudes and behaviours later on in life. Unfortunately recent work on
Environmental Learning has not given
space for the participant voice. That is,
campers and learners who are directly
impacted by education programs are not
commonly asked how they feel about their
experiences or what they found most
meaningful about their participation and
instead most studies focus on understanding
the perspectives of teachers or instructors. To address this gap my research focuses
on understanding how a program has
impacted the environmental learning
experiences of campers in three learning
domains: knowledge, feelings and behaviors.
In order to measure these factors,
campers were surveyed both before and
after the camp to capture their
experiences they had with the program.
Parents were also interviewed three to
four months after the camp in hopes of
understanding what sorts of benefits and
learning experiences were retained by
campers. As part of these surveys, campers
were asked to draw images relating to
their learning experiences.
Major themes developed through
analyzing these images showed that
campers enjoyed learning about nature at camp
as the outdoor environment provided
a space for hands-on practical learning. Campers also felt equipped to create
positive environmental change after the
program and developed understanding that
nature is an integral part of their
lives. Through this project we have been
able to contribute to alleviating the
current gap in Environmental Learning
literature by allowing children
participating in the program to share
their experiences. In summary preliminary
results suggest that this summer camp is
able to provide space for children to
learn about and connect with the natural
world. This is incredibly important as these
experiences may be able to assist in the
future development of environmentally
responsible adults. Thank you.
