Comparing the use of virtual, augmented, and outdoor field trips in the environmental education of children
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: Geography, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Jerowsky, Micheal
issued: 2024-04-19T22:08:45Z
issued: 2024
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: There is a long history of using outdoor field trips in the environmental education of children to facilitate the place-based, experiential approaches that are commonly applied in this field. However, the use of virtual and augmented reality has been steadily increasing as these technologies become more available. In this dissertation I conduct a mixed methods case study of classrooms in the Vancouver School District that differ in their walking access to areas of quality green space. I examine the comparative efficacy of these different types of field trips when promoting gains to environmental literacy, environmental attitudes, and connection to nature. Additionally, I explore how these interventions may help overcome barriers to teaching and learning when engaging with critical approaches to environmental education. I provide evidence that access to green space can influence the comparative efficacy of these interventions. However, these findings primarily relate to environmental literacy, as gains to environmental attitudes and connection to nature are minimal in this study. My interviews with students and teachers also found that the use of immersive media can help to overcome barriers related to a lack of access to quality green space. Further, virtual and augmented reality can promote engagement with environmental processes, plants, and animals that may be inaccessible when in the field. Relatedly, they may help to address a lack of environmental expertise among teachers who can use phone applications or embedded videos to support their teaching when providing interpretive nature walks. Finally, virtual and augmented field trips provide an opportunity to foreground the experiences of Indigenous community members or those of volunteers seeking to restore and protect natural areas. I suggest that teachers should integrate virtual, augmented, and outdoor field trips into their environmental education programs by carefully blending these tools based on their effi…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/87911
note: COMPARING THE USE OF VIRTUAL, AUGMENTED, AND OUTDOOR FIELD TRIPS IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION OF CHILDREN by Micheal Jerowsky B.A., The University of British Columbia, 2016 M.A., The University of British Columbia, 2019 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Geography) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) April 2024 © Micheal Jerowsky, 2024 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: Comparing the Use of Virtual, Augmented, and Outdoor Field Trips in the Environmental Education of Children submitted by Micheal Jerowsky in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography Examining Committee: Dr. Brian Klinkenberg, Professor Emeritus, Geography, UBC Supervisor Dr. Loch T. Brown, Associate Professor of Teaching, Geography, UBC Co-supervisor Dr. Nina Hewitt, Associate Professor of Teaching, Geography, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Dr. David Gaertner, Assistant Professor, Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies, UBC University Examiner Dr. Avi Lewis, Associate Professor, Geography, UBC University Examiner Additional Supervisory Committee Members: Dr. Mark Turin, Associate Professor, Anthropology, UBC Supervisory Committee Member iii Abstract There is a long history of using outdoor field trips in the environmental education of children to facilitate the place-based, experiential approaches that are commonly applied in this field. However, the use of virtual and augmented reality has been steadily increasing as these technologies become more available. In this dissertation I conduct a mixed methods case study of classrooms in the Vancouver School District that differ in their walking access to areas of quality green space. I examine the comparative efficacy of these different type…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2024-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0441449
language: eng
degree discipline: Geography
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Klinkenberg, Brian, 1954-
contributor: Brown, Loch T.
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/87911