Investigating the ways young children understand human-nature relationships through family engagement with Natural History Museum programmes

保护栖息地以保持生物多样性、限制全球变暖和降低进一步大流行的风险等至关重要的目标需要立即和长期的行动。该项目旨在研究幼儿了解自然世界的方式，以及他们作为地球倡导者的潜在角色。今天的孩子可能是最后一代能够在阻止环境灾难方面发挥作用的一代。为了帮助保护全球环境和自然世界，重要的是人们要了解他们与自然的联系。然而，研究表明，西方儿童(和成年人)往往缺乏对他们作为自然界一部分的认同的欣赏。相比之下，各种正式和非正式的经历可以帮助孩子们更好地了解自然世界及其与自然世界的关系。因此，鼓励年轻人通过这样的经历建立与自然世界的联系是至关重要的。自然历史博物馆是研究儿童及其家人对自然世界的看法的最佳环境：这些是相对稳定的环境(例如，不受天气影响)，并举办了无数吸引游客的物品和活动。伦敦自然历史博物馆(NHM)开发了一种倡导者参与模式(AEM)，以帮助设计游客体验，激发与自然的长期联系，并倡导地球。这种模式建立在博物馆在参观期间激发敬畏的优势基础上，并将其扩展到寻找在儿童游客离开博物馆后激励他们积极的环境行动的方法。为了测试AEM，NHM和伦敦国王学院教育、交流和社会学院(ECS)合作的一个博士项目将探索儿童(6至11岁)在NHM与家人的经历如何能够成为地球的倡导者。这项研究将依赖于儿童临床访谈和家庭博物馆参观观察，以及来自儿童及其父母的问卷数据。将对这些数据进行定性和定量的审查，以便能够设计和执行博物馆和其他地方的方案和活动，以促进儿童担负起环境保护主义者的重要角色。研究结果将通过各种博物馆、学术和其他交流平台进行传播，以便在多种教育环境中加以利用。

The vital goals of preserving habitats to retain biodiversity, limiting global warming and reducing the risk of further pandemics require immediate and longterm action. This project seeks to examine ways that young children come to understand the natural world and their potential roles as advocates for the planet. Today's children may be the last generation that can make a difference to stop environmental calamity. To help preserve the global environment and the natural world, it is important that people understand their connection to nature. However, research suggests that Western children (and adults) often lack an appreciation for their identity as part of the natural world. In contrast, a variety of formal and informal experiences can help children gain greater understanding about the natural world and their relation to it. As such, it is essential that young people are encouraged to establish feelings of connectedness to the natural world through such experiences. Natural History Museums are optimal settings to examine the ways that children and their families think about the natural world: these are relatively stable settings (e.g., not affected by weather) and hold myriad objects and activities that engage visitors. The Natural History Museum London (NHM) has developed an Advocate Engagement Model (AEM) to help design visitor experiences that will inspire longterm connection to nature and advocacy for the planet. This model builds on museum strengths for inspiring awe during a visit and extends this to look for means to inspire positive environmental action from child visitors after they have left the museum. To test the AEM, a collaborative PhD project between the NHM and King's College London's School of Education, Communication & Society (ECS) will explore the ways that children's (aged 6 to 11) experiences with their families at the NHM can lead to becoming an advocate for the planet. The research will rely upon child clinical interviews and family museum visit observations in addition to questionnaire data from both children and their parents. These data will be examined qualitatively and quantitatively to enable the design and implementation of programmes and activities in the museum and elsewhere to facilitate children's uptake of important roles as environmentalists. Findings will be disseminated through a variety of museum, academic and other communication platforms so that they can be capitalised upon in multiple educational settings.