Dear Colleagues,
In partnership, ChangeScale and Stanford University researchers are pleased to share this seventh issue of the Environmental Education Research Bulletin. The most talented environmental educators we know are conducting place-based programs, collaborating with communities, and using hands-on strategies to make critical links between enhancing environmental awareness, building skills, and supporting informed action. Yet rarely do these committed professionals have time to keep up on the latest research, whose beneficial findings may enhance the effectiveness of environmental education programming. To that end, these bulletins aim to help bridge the research-and-practice gap by summarizing recently reported research. In turn, we hope that practitioners may be inspired to infuse their work with research findings.
This issue includes synopses of peer-reviewed journal articles that are particularly relevant for front-line environmental education practitioners. We reviewed issues (published between January to June 2014) of a number of environmental education-related journals, including: Journal of Environmental Education, Environmental Education Research, Applied Environmental Education and Communications, Australian Journal of Environmental Education, Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, Journal of Experiential Education, International Journal of Science Education, Science Education, Visitor Studies, Journal of Interpretation Research, Environmental Research Letters, and the Journal of Environmental Psychology.
Because we are creating this document for you, we’re eager to hear your feedback. Please let us know if there are additional topics you’d like covered or journals you’d suggest that we monitor, or if there’s an alternative format that may be helpful. You can send suggestions to researchbulletins@changescale.org. We’ll consider your feedback at the beginning of each cycle and try to adapt accordingly.
For another take on these kinds of articles, you may want to check out the research community of the North American Association for Environmental Education (https://naaee.org/eepro/research). You may also be interested in the Relating Research to Practice effort of CILS and the Exploratorium, available here: www.exploratorium.edu/education/relating-research-practice.
We wish you all the best in your important efforts to integrate high-quality research into inspiring practice!
Nicole M. Ardoin, Ph.D.
Project Lead
Assistant Professor, Stanford University
Elizabeth C. Babcock, Ph.D.
Chief Public Engagement Officer & Roberts-Wilson Dean of Education
California Academy of Sciences
Kirk Anne Taylor
Director, ChangeScale
