Term

Spring 2020

Capstone

Capstone Project

Degree Name

MAED: NSEE

Facilitator(s)

Patty Born Selly

Content Expert

Jenna Moon

Abstract

This capstone sought to answer the following question: what are the best instructional methods for meeting the goals of place-based and environmental education in a short-term, immersive undergraduate setting? While place-based education and environmental education have been exhaustively studied for younger learners, a dearth of research exists in their application for college students. Through a review of the literature and the execution of the project, a January interim course for college students studying the Driftless Region, it was determined that several factors influence successful and meaningful learning for college students. Most notably, discussion, experiential learning, and engagement with community members must be emphasized; when conducting assessment, participation, journals, and hands-on summative projects are better representations of student learning than long-form papers or tests. Findings suggest immense potential for rapid learning and personal growth through courses of this nature, but significantly more research is needed to better understand how college students learn in these settings and towards these educational goals.

Keywords

Adult Education, Curriculum, Environmental Studies, Teachers/ Teaching

dc_type

text

dc_publisher

DigitalCommons@Hamline

dc_format

application/pdf

dc_source

School of Education Student Capstone Projects

Included in

Education Commons

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