Role of youth adventure programs for shaping a conservation ethic, The

2021 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.Research shows that the experiences humans have with nature during their youth and adolescence can reinforce pro-environmental values, attitudes, and behaviors in adulthood (Bruni & Schultz, 2009; Tanner, 1980). Environmental education (EE) has been used to facilitate these formative experiences, especially within outdoor adventure programs committed to educating youth on conservation issues, and developing a conservation ethic (CE) that empowers participants to engage in pro-environmental behaviors (Pitt, Schultz, & Vaske, 2019). CE refers to an environmental attitude and corresponding behavioral guide as it relates to the judicious use, allocation, and protection of natural resources, for the purpose of sustainably managing the world's ecosystems and services they provide (Callicott, 1990; Ehrlich, 2002; Robinson & Garratt, 1999). This study seeks to better understand how program design and subsequent experiences impact youth in adventure programs, specifically as it relates to the development and/or expansion of a CE in participants. This study took place at the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Florida National Sea Base High Adventure program, and included the Marine STEM Adventure, Fishing Adventure, and Keys Adventure programs. Using on a mixed-methods approach, this research consists of observational data from participation in the Marine STEM and Out Island program(s), interview data from semi-structured interviews with scouts (n=20), and pre and post-program survey data from scouts and adult leaders (n=252). Survey data was examined with an principal factor analysis and reliability tests to reveal reliable distinctions between variables, t-tests to determine significant differences in variables before and after participant experiences, multivariate analyses that determined the relational strength of independent variables against the dependent variable CE, and use of one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to determine significant differences across the Sea Base programs surveyed. Interview data underwent a content analysis to identify themes as they relate to the survey data and analysis, with observational data offering additional context and validity of interpretation of survey results. Results revealed that self-reported program impacts (i.e. the perception that an increase in awareness and knowledge of marine environmental issues, confidence and motivation to care for natural resources, and the fulfillment of a High Adventure Sea Base experience) was the strongest site-specific variable that predicted CE and the Sea Base program could readily influence. This analysis provides insight on existing literature relating to youth adventure programs and how to operationalize lessons learned for Sea Base and similar outdoor programs. Informed by study results and previous literature, this research also makes recommendations for how to cultivate experiences that focus on deliberate use of EE and increase effectiveness of the youth adventure programs in their commitments to cultivating a CE in youth

Feeling at Home: Learning, Law, Cognitive Science, and Narrative

What is the how and why of law\u27s affinity for narrative? In order to explain why the use of stories is such an effective teaching and presentation strategy in the law, this paper will consider theories and accounts from cognitive as well as evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, and, briefly, cultural anthropology. This account seeks to address how narrative helps us learn and use the law as well as why we are so compelled to use stories in teaching and in practice. Brain science, simplified here, suggests that the first task is to grab someone\u27s attention. Emotionally charged events are more likely to capture our attention and to be remembered. Because of their emotional content, stories and narrative (which will be used interchangeably here) seize the attention of listeners and readers, students and jurors. In turn, this emotional fixation focuses attention on context and meaning. Studies suggest that this context is the platform that allows later and successive integration of details. Thus, stories work because they focus attention and provide a context for learning the details, that is, the law. Moreover, the same principles that apply to the success of using stories in the classroom also bear fruit in practice. Our culture, and perhaps our genetic make-up, compels us to use stories as a way to both comprehend and transmit the law. In this article, I will discuss three bodies of knowledge that seek to account for how and why stories are such powerful devices for human learning. First, neuroscience and cognitive psychology seek to explain the how of learning. By explaining how attention, memory, and learning occur in the brain, scientists have provided a useful and salient account of how stories help us to learn. Second, a brief look at cultural anthropology suggests that it is a universal feature of all human cultures that we learn and transmit knowledge by storytelling. Finally, evolutionary psychology, a relatively new field, posits that the appeal of stories goes beyond the cultural; rather, this mechanism for learning may be hard-wired into our brains. That is, our appreciation of the arts, particularly of storytelling and music, may be adaptations that have continuing use for learning given the plasticity of our brain/mind. In Part II of this article, I will briefly address what constitutes a story. This concept is impossible to confine to one definition. The scientific sources used here describe stories in a different way than do literary theorists. In Part III, I will describe the three accounts that shed light on why stories help us to learn, beginning with current neuroscience findings on learning, memory, context, and attention. It then will move, briefly, to cultural anthropology, and end with the answer that is provided by evolutionary psychology: we learn from stories because we have evolved to do so. In the conclusion, I illustrate how these insights bear on learning as well as on practicing the law

A Holistic Approach to Energy Harvesting for Indoor Robots:Theoretical Framework and Experimental Validations

Service robotics is a fast expanding market. Inside households, domestic robots can now accomplish numerous tasks, such as floor cleaning, surveillance, or remote presence. Their sales have considerably increased over the past years. Whereas 1.05 million domestic service robots were reportedly sold in 2009, at least 2.7 million units were sold in 2013. Consequently, this growth gives rise to an increase of the energy needs to power such a large and growing fleet of robots. However, the unique properties of mobile robots open some new fields of research. We must find technologies that are suitable for decreasing the energy requirements and thus further advance towards a sustainable development. This thesis tackles two fundamental goals based on a holistic approach of the global problem. The first goal is to reduce the energy needs by identifying key technologies in making energy-efficient robots. The second goal is to leverage innovative indoor energy sources to increase the ratio of renewable energies scavenged from the environment. To achieve our first goal, new energy-wise metrics are applied to real robotic hardware. This gives us the means to assess the impact of some technologies on the overall energy balance. First, we analysed seven robotic vacuum cleaners from a representative sample of the market that encompasses a wide variety of technologies. Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) was identified as a key technology to reduce energy needs when carrying out such tasks. Even if the instantaneous power is slightly increased, the completion time of the task is greatly reduced. We also analysed the needed sensors to achieve SLAM, as they are largely diversified. This work tested three sensors using three different technologies. We identified several important metrics. As of our second goal, potential energy sources are compared to the needs of an indoor robot. The sunshine coming through a building's apertures is identified as a promising source of renewable power. Numerical simulations showed how a mobile robot is mandatory to take full advantage of this previously unseen situation, as well as the influence of the geometric parameters on the yearly energy income under ideal sunny conditions. When considering a real system, the major difficulty to overcome is the tracking of the sunbeam along the day. The proposed algorithm uses a hybrid method. A high-level cognitive approach is responsible for the initial placement. Following realignments during the day are performed by a low-level reactive behaviour. A solar harvesting module was developed for our research robot. The tests conducted inside a controlled environment demonstrate the feasibility of this concept and the good performances of the aforementioned algorithm. Based on a realistic scenario and weather conditions, we computed that between 1 and 14 days of recharge could be necessary for a single cleaning task. In the future, our innovative technology could greatly lower the energy needs of service robots. However, it is not completely possible to abandon the recharge station due to occasional bad weather. The acceptance of this technology inside the user's home ecosystem remains to be studied

Feature Papers "Age-Friendly Cities & Communities: State of the Art and Future Perspectives"

The "Age-Friendly Cities & Communities: States of the Art and Future Perspectives" publication presents contemporary, innovative, and insightful narratives, debates, and frameworks based on an international collection of papers from scholars spanning the fields of gerontology, social sciences, architecture, computer science, and gerontechnology. This extensive collection of papers aims to move the narrative and debates forward in this interdisciplinary field of age-friendly cities and communities

Social-Emotional Competences of Preschoolers: The Impact of Outdoor Educational Activities

Early childhood education is a new & priority of European trends education and a means of increasing the quality of the life. This study aims to provide an analysis of the kindergartens in nature experiences, where children’s lives are conducted in close contact with nature and the outdoor activities in any season and in any weather are an important part of the daily program. These outdoor activities have a significant contribution to social and emotional development of the preschoolers. The concept of kindergartens in nature is an innovative educational concept in which the education for sustainable management and environment has an integrated approach. These activities contribute to the social and emotional development of preschoolers

Selected papers on Hands-on Science II

This second volume of the "Selected Papers on Hands-on Science" the Hands-on Science Network is publishing, reunites some of the most relevant works presented at the 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 editions of the annual International Conference on Hands-on Science. From pre-school science education to lifelong science learning and teacher training, in formal non-formal and informal contexts, the large diversified range of works that conforms this book surely renders it an important tool to schools and educators and all involved in science education and on the promotion of scientific literacy.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Rational and relational bases of public managers’ new profiles in the context of trust research

Competencies are a set of distinctive resources and opportunities. They relate to specific capabilities of management and to performance of management methods. In the catalogue of existing managerial competencies, an increasingly important role is played by trust. The deep insight in this field of literature gives grounds for the inference that trust is rather a means to achieve public organisations’ goals, than being the end in itself. Therefore in this article we have assumed, that contemporary competencies, to a large degree, rely on trust which is rationally and relationally rooted. The main aim of this paper is to identify and evaluate components of trust with reference to the competences of public managers mirrored in their new profiles. To achieve the goal of the article, publications of the field of organisational studies and public management which aim to show the importance of creating trust within an organisation were reviewed to identify main managerial competences analysed in the context of public trust as an important factor of improving public organisations. Moreover, the results of a survey with 93 respondents carried out in 2014 in 8 units of local public administration from the Malopolska Region were used. As a result the main components of trust in new public managers’ profiles have been identified and assessed