学科	教育文化学科	ゼミ教員名	WILLIAM ROBERT STEVENSON III	年度	2023年度
タイトル	Conscious Contact with Nature in Environmental Education Programme for Primary Sschool Children

内容

Environmental education develops children’s connectedness to nature. However, the process of this development has not been clarified. Previous research supports that conscious contact with nature promotes connectedness to nature. This thesis has conducted fieldwork at an environmental education tour and an interview with a tour staff. Both were analysed with the Modified Grounded Theory Approach. Those analyses revealed the process of how children start having conscious contact with nature. At first, fieldwork indicated that children do not have conscious contact with nature during activities. This can be explained with flow theory. In contrast, it is during gap time between activities when children are likely to have conscious contact with nature. This can be supported by the biophilia hypothesis. Following the fieldwork, an interview with a tour staff was conducted. The analysis of it revealed three insights. First, a tour staff also recognises conscious contact with nature occurs in gap time. Second, a staff wishes children to develop their autonomy, which leads to children’s conscious contact with nature. Third, analysis of the interview supports that children are in a state of flow during activities. Based on those findings, this thesis represents how children have conscious contact with nature during environmental education. This thesis will lead to building environmental education programmes which promote children’s connectedness to nature.

講評

Doing less creates more, at least in terms of nature connectedness. This is the conclusion of Ayumu’s insightful thesis. For more than a century, outdoor education has used outdoor activities to pursue its goals. Yet, as Ayumu convincingly argues, it is during the “gap time” between outdoor activities that children become most consciously aware of their natural setting. Based on these conclusions, if nature connectedness is among desired learning outcomes for outdoor education, leaders should learn to incorporate these periods of time into their curricula. I intend to do this with my own classes, and I look forward to learning more from Ayumu as he continues his research as a graduate student.

キーワード1	Environmental Education
キーワード2	Connectedness to Nature
キーワード3	Contact with Nature
キーワード4	Flow theory
キーワード5	Biophilia hypothesis