Connecting With the Land: The Human and Nature Relationships Emerged From Sixth Graders' Field Trip Experience

• In Event: Learning, Community, and Relations

Abstract

Formal learning environments, especially for STEM disciplines, are often shaped by the Western knowledge systems. It is challenging to engage learners with non-anthropocentric worldviews that can be found in non-dominant knowledge systems. The human and nature relationship is an anchor for different knowledge systems. While Western knowledge systems are characterized by a separation of human and nature, many non-dominant knowledge systems value the connectedness. In this study, we focus on the field trip of the six graders and discuss three cases that show how the different human and nature relationships were enacted and expressed. Our work provides a new perspective of place-based learning as well as implications for how the learning environments could potentially engage learners with different knowledge systems.

Authors

• Lili Yan, Utah State University

• Devon S Isaacs, Utah State University

• Mckay Colleni, Utah State University

• Jennifer Jenkins, Edith Bowen Laboratory School

• Stuart Baggaley, Edith Bowen Laboratory School

• Breanne K. Litts, Utah State University

• Melissa Tehee, Utah State University