Teaching through the screen: How Our planet impacts adolescents’ feelings of connection to nature

Kathryn Blair Downs; Callie Schultz; Paul Stonehouse; Brad Faircloth

doi:10.29333/ijese/13723

Teaching through the screen: How Our planet impacts adolescents’ feelings of connection to nature

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Kathryn Blair Downs ¹ ^* , Callie Schultz ¹ , Paul Stonehouse ¹ , Brad Faircloth ²

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¹ Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC, USA² University of North Carolina at Asheville, Asheville, NC, USA^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Climate change is a growing threat to human life. As future generations of youth are the most at risk for adverse effects of climate change, encouraging the development of pro-environmental behaviors in young people is of growing importance. Adolescents are in an ideal age range to develop connection to nature (CTN). During these years, experiences in the outdoors are more likely to impact how youth will value nature, and thus the future development of pro-environmental behaviors. In order to effectively encourage the adoption and development of pro-environmental behaviors, an emotional affinity for the environment should be established during childhood. Utilizing nature documentaries to develop connections to nature in adolescents could be a valuable means of combatting climate change for future generations. This study explored how watching a nature documentary can impact adolescents’ CTN. The episode had notable short-term impacts on CTN in adolescents, though long-term effects warrant future study.

Keywords

pro-environmental behavior
climate change
nature documentary
television

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

INTERDISCIP J ENV SCI ED, Volume 19, Issue 4, 2023, Article No: e2316

https://doi.org/10.29333/ijese/13723

Publication date: 25 Sep 2023

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How to cite this article

APA

Downs, K. B., Schultz, C., Stonehouse, P., & Faircloth, B. (2023). Teaching through the screen: How Our planet impacts adolescents’ feelings of connection to nature. Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 19(4), e2316. https://doi.org/10.29333/ijese/13723

Vancouver

Downs KB, Schultz C, Stonehouse P, Faircloth B. Teaching through the screen: How Our planet impacts adolescents’ feelings of connection to nature. INTERDISCIP J ENV SCI ED. 2023;19(4):e2316. https://doi.org/10.29333/ijese/13723

AMA

Downs KB, Schultz C, Stonehouse P, Faircloth B. Teaching through the screen: How Our planet impacts adolescents’ feelings of connection to nature. INTERDISCIP J ENV SCI ED. 2023;19(4), e2316. https://doi.org/10.29333/ijese/13723

Chicago

Downs, Kathryn Blair, Callie Schultz, Paul Stonehouse, and Brad Faircloth. "Teaching through the screen: How Our planet impacts adolescents’ feelings of connection to nature". Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education 2023 19 no. 4 (2023): e2316. https://doi.org/10.29333/ijese/13723

Harvard

Downs, K. B., Schultz, C., Stonehouse, P., and Faircloth, B. (2023). Teaching through the screen: How Our planet impacts adolescents’ feelings of connection to nature. Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 19(4), e2316. https://doi.org/10.29333/ijese/13723

MLA

Downs, Kathryn Blair et al. "Teaching through the screen: How Our planet impacts adolescents’ feelings of connection to nature". Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education, vol. 19, no. 4, 2023, e2316. https://doi.org/10.29333/ijese/13723