Community Gardens as Contexts for Science, Stewardship,and Civic Action Learning

Community gardens are heterogeneous environments that integrate environmental restoration, community activism, social interactions, cultural expression, and food security. As such, they provide a context for learning that addresses multiple societal goals, including a populace that is scientifically literate, practices environmental stewardship, and participates in civic life. Several theories are useful in describing the learning that occurs in community gardens, including those focusing on learning as acquisition of content by individuals, learning as interaction with other individuals and the environment and as increasingly skilled levels of participation in a community of practice, and social learning among groups of stakeholders leading to concerted action to enhance natural resources. In this paper, we use preliminary evidence from the Garden Mosaics intergenerational education program to suggest the potential for community gardens to foster multiple types of learning

Urban Environmental Education From a Social-Ecological Perspective: Conceptual Framework for Civic Ecology Education

A variety of environmental education practices are emerging to address the needs of an increasingly urban population. Drawing from social-ecological systems and social learning theory, we propose a conceptual framework to stimulate research questions in urban environmental education. More specifically, our conceptual framework focuses on environmental education programs that are nested within and linked to community-based stewardship or civic ecology practices, such as community forestry, streamside restoration, and community gardening. It suggests ways in which educational programs, stewardship practice, and other social-ecological system components and processes interact through feedback loops and other mechanisms, as well as means by which urban environmental education might lead to local ecosystem services and human and community well-being. Human and community outcomes may in turn result in pressure to change environmental policies

Extension as a Multilevel Bridging Organization: Supporting Networked Environmental Governance

Governmental and nongovernmental actors at different spatial and jurisdictional levels have information that can benefit natural resources management; however, barriers in communication and organizational culture often prevent information sharing and joint endeavors. Bridging entities, such as task forces or working groups, bring together potential stakeholders to pool expertise and stimulate shared learning. Using a network survey, interview data, and meeting minutes, we constructed a case study of task forces convened to stimulate management of the emerald ash borer, an invasive wood-boring beetle. We found that coordinated action among university and county Extension catalyzed bridging through visionary program design and network positioning

Implementing a 4-H Aquatic Resources Education Program in New York City Through Collaborations

The New York State 4-H Sportfishing and Aquatic Resources Education Program (SAREP) has enjoyed relatively high participation rates in upstate New York, but until 1998, had experienced little success in New York City. This was due to the Cornell staff\u27s inexperience in working with the Extension program in NYC, which does not use the traditional rural volunteer-led 4-H club model. Rather than create a traditional club system in NYC, it was decided to build collaborations with existing youth-serving organizations. The approach resulted in 17 different youth-serving organizations conducting SAREP programming reaching approximately 40,000 youth annually

Public Participation in Scientific Research: a Framework for Deliberate Design

Members of the public participate in scientific research in many different contexts, stemming from traditions as varied as participatory action research and citizen science. Particularly in conservation and natural resource management contexts, where research often addresses complex social–ecological questions, the emphasis on and nature of this participation can significantly affect both the way that projects are designed and the outcomes that projects achieve. We review and integrate recent work in these and other fields, which has converged such that we propose the term public participation in scientific research (PPSR) to discuss initiatives from diverse fields and traditions. We describe three predominant models of PPSR and call upon case studies suggesting that—regardless of the research context—project outcomes are influenced by (1) the degree of public participation in the research process and (2) the quality of public participation as negotiated during project design. To illustrate relationships between the quality of participation and outcomes, we offer a framework that considers how scientific and public interests are negotiated for project design toward multiple, integrated goals. We suggest that this framework and models, used in tandem, can support deliberate design of PPSR efforts that will enhance their outcomes for scientific research, individual participants, and social–ecological systems

Composting in the Classroom: Scientific Inquiry for High School Students

National Science Foundation, Cornell Waste Management Institute, Cornell Center for the Environmen

Trees: Dead or Alive

Sets an ecosystem stage; shows how both live and dead trees provide homes for animals. Reproducible record sheets allow students to record what they observe

Wildlife in Today's Landscapes

For adults to use with youth aged 12 and older. More than 100 illustrations and text explain new concepts in wildlife ecology. Tells what you can do to help wildlife - including rare and endangered species - in a backyard or on a city balcony. Includes activities. The reusable folder contains everything you'll need to choose a habitat patch, map it, make improvements, and maintain it. Contents: a teacher/leader guide; 12 activity records; a project record; activity cards; a list of endangered and threatened species; and a list of trees and shrubs and the wildlife they attract

Advancing Environmental Education Practice

In this important intervention, change-agent Marianne E. Krasny challenges the knowledge-attitudes-behavior pathway that underpins much of environmental education practice; i.e., the assumption that environmental knowledge and attitudes lead to environmental behaviors. Krasny shows that certain types of knowledge are more likely than others to influence behaviors, and that generally it is more effective to work with existing attitudes than to try to change them. The chapters expand the purview of potential outcomes of environmental education beyond knowledge and attitudes to include nature connectedness, sense of place, efficacy, identity, norms, social capital, youth assets, and individual wellbeing.Advancing Environmental Education Practice also shows how, by constructing theories of change for their environmental education programs, environmental educators can target specific intermediate outcomes likely to lead to environmental behaviors and collective action, and plan activities to achieve those intermediate outcomes. In some cases, directly engaging program participants in the desired behavior or collective action can lead to changes in efficacy, sense of place, and other intermediate outcomes, which in turn foster future environmental actions. Finally, Advancing Environmental Education Practice shares twenty-four surveys that assess changes in environmental behaviors and intermediate outcomes, and provides guidelines for qualitative evaluations.Thanks to generous funding from the Cornell Department of Natural Resources, the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access volumes from Cornell Open (cornellopen.org) and other Open Access repositories

Advancing Environmental Education Practice

In this important intervention, change-agent Marianne E. Krasny challenges the knowledge-attitudes-behavior pathway that underpins much of environmental education practice; i.e., the assumption that environmental knowledge and attitudes lead to environmental behaviors. Krasny shows that certain types of knowledge are more likely than others to influence behaviors, and that generally it is more effective to work with existing attitudes than to try to change them. The chapters expand the purview of potential outcomes of environmental education beyond knowledge and attitudes to include nature connectedness, sense of place, efficacy, identity, norms, social capital, youth assets, and individual wellbeing. Advancing Environmental Education Practice also shows how, by constructing theories of change for their environmental education programs, environmental educators can target specific intermediate outcomes likely to lead to environmental behaviors and collective action, and plan activities to achieve those intermediate outcomes. In some cases, directly engaging program participants in the desired behavior or collective action can lead to changes in efficacy, sense of place, and other intermediate outcomes, which in turn foster future environmental actions. Finally, Advancing Environmental Education Practice shares twenty-four surveys that assess changes in environmental behaviors and intermediate outcomes, and provides guidelines for qualitative evaluations. Thanks to generous funding from the Cornell Department of Natural Resources, the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access volumes from Cornell Open (cornellopen.org) and other Open Access repositories