CAREER: A longitudinal study of the emotional and behavioral processes of Environmental Identity Development among rural and non-rural Alaskan children

尽管童年与自然世界的经验对人类发展的重要性，很少有研究集中在幼儿与自然的情感接触或这些经验如何塑造他们的价值观，感知和行为。 这项研究将在五年的时间里系统地研究儿童对自然的行为和情感反应。该项目将研究家庭、文化和地理位置如何塑造儿童在自然中形成身份的方式。 该项目将增进对儿童如何学会在自然中调节自己的情绪的理解，并将扩大对教育在塑造儿童如何发展同情心和关心自然环境的生物和非生物方面所起作用的认识。该项目将突出阿拉斯加土著和非土著儿童的声音和观点，从而扩大对极地地区社会生态科学的参与。本项目中使用的方法为涉及幼儿的参与性和自然主义发展研究提供了一个框架。自然图尔斯之旅的视频将被转换成视频课程，将与公众分享，作为一种手段，说明文化在阿拉斯加土著儿童的学习中的作用，并与环境互动。这个项目将通过研究以下研究问题来加强对儿童环境认同发展的理解：是什么告诉阿拉斯加儿童在户外荒野体验中的情绪和行为？随着时间的推移，孩子们在阿拉斯加荒野的经历如何影响发育？研究将发生在农村和非农村阿拉斯加在春季和秋季季节。这项研究将包括来自阿拉斯加一个孤立的小村庄的儿童，那里的大多数家庭都是阿拉斯加原住民血统，而且获得消费品的机会有限。这项研究还将研究在阿拉斯加城市长大的非土著儿童的经历。因为城市里的消费品很容易买到，这些孩子可能会也可能不会学习狩猎和采集技能。本研究将使用家庭调查，以了解农村和非农村阿拉斯加儿童在荒野中的不同类型的经验。 孩子们的绘画和他们的绘画描述将被收集，以了解他们最喜欢的户外活动。此外，这项研究将利用儿童主导的自然图尔斯之旅。这些图尔斯之旅将涉及可穿戴相机，以检查孩子们与家人一起参加户外活动的经历，以及他们与同学一起进行野外探险的经历。将从4-5岁的农村和非农村儿童以及7-8岁的儿童中收集数据。通过这种方式，研究人员将评估儿童的情感和行为的互动与自然的发展，通过家庭和教育的经验，随着时间的推移。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得的支持，通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

Despite the importance for human development of childhood experiences with the natural world, little research has focused on young children's emotional encounters with nature or how these experiences shape their values, perceptions, and behaviors. This research will systematically examine children's behavioral and emotional reactions to nature over a five-year period. The project will examine how family, culture, and geographical locations shape the manner in which children form their identity in nature. The project will enhance understanding of how children learn to regulate their emotions in nature, and it will expand knowledge about the role education plays in shaping how children develop empathy and care for living and non-living aspects of their natural environments. The project will highlight the voices and perspectives of young Alaska Native and non-Native children living in Alaska, thereby, broadening participation in socio-ecological science in Polar Regions. The approaches used in this project offer a framework for participatory and naturalistic developmental research involving young children. Videos of the nature tours will be transformed into video lessons that will be shared with the public as a means of illustrating the role of culture in Alaska Native children's learning about, and interactions with, the environment.This project will enhance understanding of children's Environmental Identity Development by examining the following research questions: What informs Alaskan children's emotions and behaviors during outdoor wilderness experiences? How do children's experiences in the Alaska wilderness affect development over time? Research will occur in rural and non-rural Alaska during the spring and autumn seasons. The study will include children from a small isolated Alaskan village where the majority of families are of Alaska Native descent, and where access to consumer goods is limited. The study will also examine the experiences of non-Native children growing up in an Alaskan city. Because consumer goods are readily available in the city, these children may or may not learn hunting and gathering skills. This study will use a family survey to understand the different types of experiences that rural and non-rural Alaskan children have in the wilderness. Children's drawings and descriptions of their drawings will be collected to learn about their favorite outdoor activities. Additionally, the study will use child-led nature tours. The tours will involve wearable cameras in order to examine children's experiences participating in outdoor activities with family members as well as their wilderness explorations with classmates. Data will be collected from rural and non-rural children at 4-5 years of age and again when they are 7-8 years old. In this way, the researcher will assess how children's emotional and behavioral interactions with nature develop through family and educational experiences over time.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.