Term

Spring 2018

Capstone

Thesis

Degree Name

MAED: NSEE

Primary Advisor/Dissertation Chair

Bill Lindquist

Secondary Advisor/Reader One

Amy Markle

Peer-Reviewer/Reader Two

Kelsey Depew

Abstract

Sense of place is a concept that explains an individuals connection to a specific location. The goal of this capstone is to answer the research question, “Is there a relationship between a student’s repeated visits to a particular community nature center and a positive sense of place?” This is an important question to answer as literature supports the idea that individuals with a sense of place have pro-environmental behaviors as they have positive attitudes towards the environment and want to protect the place they have a deep bond with. Having a sense of place also meets the goals of environmental education of creating an awareness and concern about the environment and providing every person with opportunities to acquire knowledge. This capstone thesis used quantitative research methods through a Likert-scale survey. Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient was used to determine the strength and direction of the variables relationship. Data collected supports the research question that students gained a positive sense of place through repeated visits (r = 0.72, p = <0.000, n = 64). Sense of place became stronger over time with frequent visits which lead to strong intellectual and emotional bonds to the nature center.

Research Methodology

Survey (attitude scale, opinion, questionnaire)

Keywords

Environmental Education

Included in

Education Commons

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