Sense of place: survey

Do you conduct environmental education, stewardship, or restoration programs? Then you may be want to explore the effect of your program on sense of place among participants. Some researchers view sense of place as part of human well-being, and showed the relationship between sense of place and pro-environmental behavior. The video below discusses the sense of place survey.

The Science Barge

Last summer, I joined students and their teacher Carol Kennedy from the EcoLeaders program in the Bronx on a trip to the Science Barge. This floating facility teaches about urban farming and sustainable energy. The barge moves from one location to another; sometimes you can see it docked in Manhattan, but in July 2011 it was on the Hudson River in Yonkers. The barge grows hydroponic vegetables such as tomatoes and lettuce, uses solar/wind energy and vegetable oil, and recycles its wastewater with the goal to “to stimulate the sustainable development of New York City.”

Nature University

Nature University, a summer camp program organized by New York Restoration Program.

Narrator: Omari Washington. Videography: Alex Kudryavtsev. New York City, 2011.

26 lesson plans

Upload 26 novel lesson plans, including School Yard Habitat Mapping, A Sound Survey, and Roots of Your Food. These lessons are submitted by participants of the Environmental Education in Urban Communities online professional development course, fall 2011. Participants of the course and authors of lesson plans are educators from all over the U.S. Course instructors: A. Kudryavtsev, M. Krasny, A. Price (EECapacity program).

Download Lesson Plans: 26-Lesson-Plans (PDF, 6Mb)

Drew Gardens, the Bronx, NYC

In this video, Jennifer Plewka talks about different people using Drew Gardens (The Bronx, New York), including students of all ages, adults, elderly people, artists, adults with special needs, political refugees, and immigrants. Drew Gardens includes several ecosystems: the Bronx River, vegetable garden, open space, and urban forest.

Narrator: Jennifer Plewka. Videography: Alex Kudryavtsev. New York City, 2011.

Urban Farm at the Battery

“This is the first urban farm at the Battery since the Dutch planted their cottage gardens in New Amsterdam in 1625,” says the farm’s website. This new garden is located in Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan, a place known for ferries that run from here to Staten Island and the Statue of Liberty. Wall Street and Stock Exchange are just a few steps away. Today I have observed high school students from a transfer school volunteering in the garden, picking up vegetables, and helping with a new farmstand selling fresh produce. Hundreds of tourists pass by every hour, many of them make it to the garden, which is open for everyone. I think that most visitors are amazed like I am by the combination of surrounding skyscrapers and this urban farm with its smell of tomato leaves, compost, wet soil, and lavender.

Satellite Academy Eco-Leaders Program

Field trips to various urban environmental sites is one of the methods that Carol Kennedy uses to teach high school students in the Bronx, New York City. For example, in summer students are rowing on the Bronx River, taking water samples, and interviewing practitioners about rooftop gardens. Carol says, “My philosophy and my approach to teaching is to give the students a wide range of experiences that they would not normally have with the natural world in the urban environment – so that they can form a new view of the world and a new identity.” Watch this video to learn more:

Eagle Street Rooftop Farm

TV studios and repair shops topped with a green roof with a panoramic view of Manhattan skyline and East River… This is the Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in Brooklyn, New York. I was lucky to go there earlier this week with Carol Kennedy, a high school science teacher, and her students from the Bronx. Students said they have never seen green roofs, and after this trip they would like to see one on top of their school in the Bronx.

New York Harbor School

Located on Governors Island in New York City, New York Harbor School has a stunning view of the New York Harbor, Manhattan skyline and Statue of Liberty. High school students take a ferry to get to the island, where in addition to regular classes they learn about the environment through hands-on projects. In this video Pete Malinowski, aquaculture teacher, and his students are speaking about the oyster restoration project in New York Harbor, a project which is part of their curriculum.

What’s Good in My Hood

Akiima Price, an independent consultant in environmental education, discusses “What’s Good in My Hood,” a curriculum that she has developed for urban settings. The curriculum will be available online later in 2011. This video is recorded in July 2011 in Swindler Cove Park, Manhattan, New York City.

Sense of place in parks

Place meaning – how you view certain places – depends on many factors, and one of them is the history of places. At 6:00 in the morning I explored Mill Pond Park, a new 10-acre waterfront park, which has recently opened just one block from my house in the South Bronx on the bank of Harlem River. Unlike many other parks, this green space has a number of great interpretation signs. They tell you that this site used to be the largest food terminal market in New York City with thousands of barges, trains and trucks delivering fruits and vegetables to wholesalers and families. And before that the Lenape people were hunting, fishing and gathering right here. I think that as you learn such stories you start to build a stronger connection to this place and maybe even care more about it.

Artificial trees

Artificial trees attached to a building in my neighborhood in the South Bronx (2011). Is it an expression of biophilia? Probably there were no tree pits to plant real trees.

Metal trees among real trees in Manhattan (2007).

What do people think about urban trees?

Christine Moskell at Cornell University is exploring what New York City residents think about urban trees. Answering this question may help Cornell Cooperative Extension-NYC and organizations related to MillionTreesNYC design better educational activities for communities and engage them in urban tree stewardship. Last year I spent a couple of days helping Christine survey residents in Queens, New York City. I volunteered because it was fun and because I could interview English, Russian and Spanish-speaking passersby. Christine, thanks for this great experience and good luck in your research!

Take a look at the survey results: Download poster (PDF).

An educator profile of Chrissy Word

I plan to publish a book with narrative stories of environmental educators and students in the Bronx, New York City. I would like to post on this blog only two stories, which are great examples of what you will find in the future book. A while ago I have posted Alex Severino’s student story, and here is an educator’s story.

Chrissy Word is an environmental educator in the Bronx at Rocking the Boat. Her story begins in Florida, where she became passionate about birds and nature at an early age. Chrissy’s story is culminating in the Civic Action program, which she has organized at Rocking the Boat in 2009–2010. High-school students in Civic Action were recently immigrated from other countries. Today Chrissy is trying to open the eyes of these young people to the natural environment in the city and involve them in the restoration of ecosystems along the Bronx River.

Download Chrissy Word’s narrative story (PDF file)

 

Photo: Chrissy Word (left) and her students in the Civic Action program.

Students in Chrissy’s daytime program.

Recycling MetroCards research project

I want to share the research report about recycling MetroCards conducted by Tiquasha Thompson in spring 2010. She was a participant of the CAUSE project, which helps high school students in New York City prepare for college. In this project, organized by Cornell University and the Henry Street Settlement, students conducted independent research projects related to the urban environment. For example, students conducted surveys and interviews to answer research questions about eco-fashion, environmental program evaluation and water conservation by urban residents. Tiquasha’s project focused on the recycling of MetroCards. She conducted interviews with employees of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and subway riders, and came up with some interesting suggestions.

Download: MetroCards Recycling Research Report.

Tiquasha (second from the left in the photo) and other CAUSE students visiting a green building at Cooper Union.

Brachiopodes and 高陵 in Tomsk, Siberia

Participants of the Youth Parliament in Tomsk, Siberia are conducting projects related to the environment and health issues. Yesterday I conducted a presentation for these high school students about my research in the Bronx. Today they invited me to the Camp Garden (Лагерный сад) to learn about one of their project educating people about the geological history of this urban area and preserving unique rock formations. Everyone in the city knows the Camp Garden, a gorgeous park with a war memorial on the hill overlooking the river. However, few people are familiar with interesting geological formations downhill near the river, which are sometimes being neglected, destroyed and trashed. Last summer the Youth Parliament has installed interpretation signs explaining the geology of this are, and next year students are going to build metal steps for people to safely explore rock outcrops.

Students gathering near the eternal flame on the monument’s pedestal in the Camp Garden

Few people dare to explore the area down a steep slope

Near a huge kaolinite mudstone. Kao-ling (高陵) in Chinese means “high hill”

Interpretation signs installed by the previous cohort of students

A 330 million year old brachiopod found by students nearby

Environmental education in Siberia

In Siberia it’s a rare event to see 200 environmental educators in one room. Last week I visited the annual environmental education conference organized by the Department of Environmental Protection of Tomsk Region, Siberia. Some guest presenters from Moscow were trying to teach Siberian educators about environmental curriculum based on one-way transfer of knowledge. In contrast, a number of environmental educators from Tomsk and other Siberian cities presented their education projects engaging students in hands-on and inquiry-based learning. For example, a group of Tomsk students in an after-school program have developed and installed interpretation signs near a natural monument, which represents a riverside rock outcrop. To develop signs, students had to talk to scientists and handle contradictory information about ancient cultures that used these rock formations for settlements and to hunt mammoths. By installing signs, students are trying to inform people about the natural and social history of this place and preserve this urban natural site, which has sometimes been neglected.

Park signs in China

I took these photos in parks in China in October 2010. Although signs had English translation, 周建华, a professor at Beijing Forestry University, has sent me a more accurate translation:

Sign in Beijing: “Flowers and grass are smiling at you; please do not disturb them.”

Sign in Shanghai: “Taking actions is more than having awareness; environmental protection needs taking actions step by step (in everything).”

“Make the land green and purify your soul.”

Ecosystem services of urban trees

Last week we visited the Shanghai Roots & Shoots organization. They are planting one million trees in Inner Mongolia to mitigate desertification and offset greenhouse emissions. At the same time, Roots & Shoots educators want to inform people about a number of other ecosystem services provided by trees. It has reminded me about a one-pager “Ecosystem Services of Urban Trees,” which we have created last year for the Urban Silviculture research and education project (PI: Gretchen Ferenz) in the Urban Environment Program at Cornell University Cooperative Extension-NYC.

Download: Ecosystem Services of Urban Trees.

Future Cities, Future Citizens

Future Cities, Future Citizens was a seminar in Shanghai last week. Organized by the Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC), the seminar gathered researchers and students from several countries who presented their urban environmental projects. I collaborated with SRC through the Civic Ecology Lab at Cornell University last summer. I worked with students and an educator at Rocking the Boat in the Bronx, New York City, to describe the impact of their oyster reef restoration project on ecosystem services. We have submitted our data to the Urban Planet Atlas, and then students prepared and conducted a presentation at the seminar in Shanghai.

Download: Presentation file.

Link: Rocking the Boat travel blog.

Photo below: Alex Severino and Govin Baichu (students) and Dawn Henning (educator) conducting a presentation at the Nordic Light House in Shanghai.

The Bronx students met with students from Sweden, Kenya, China and India, and shared their environmental restoration and monitoring projects.

Dawn, Govin and Alex – thank you for your thank you card! – Alex

Presentation at an elementary school

During my visit to the Concordia International School in Shanghai, Scott Murphey, an elementary school teacher, invited me to his classroom. I asked students why nature is important in cities, and they proposed a great deal of nice ideas. Then we connected my research and narrative stories that I write with the topic of their class, which was English writing and reading. I think that Scott wanted to teach students that writing skills are important in many areas including academic research.

Scott continues teaching the reading class.

Green roof in Shanghai

Jennifer Chapman and Todd Gordon, high school biology teachers at the Concordia International School in Shanghai have shown me a green roof on their school. The green roof and a green wall are outstanding: they are huge and provide a nice view from classrooms. However, Jennifer would like to add more educational value to these green spaces. We have conducted a brainstorming session with her students to generate ideas what else can be done on the roof to make it more useful for learning. Some of ideas suggested by students include: install a butterfly garden, create a composting area, grow edible plants, plant small trees and shrubs to attract birds, and install solar-powered cascade fountains.

Teachers Todd Gordon (left) and Jennifer Chapman (right) with students visiting the green roof.

上海协和国际学校

The Bronx is very far from Shanghai, but I think that high-school students in Shanghai liked my presentations about the research project on sense of place and environmental education in New York City. I have conducted several classes at the Concordia International School (上海协和国际学校) about my research during my trip to Shanghai, China. One of the most fun activities I did was inspired by a learning session organized by an educator in the Bronx.

To introduce students to the idea of environmental place meaning, I asked groups of 4-5 students to give five descriptive nouns for three places, including Shanghai downtown, community around their school and a national park. Then each group calculated how many nouns for each place were natural. For example, trees is a natural noun, and skyscrapers is not, while some nouns such as parks describe something half-natural. Different student groups gave different natural scores for the same places, but there were some common patterns. This exercise helped us to discuss how people assign different place meanings to the same places, and what are implications of place meaning.

Unstructured time and other educational approaches

Educators at Rocking the Boat, New York City, share some ideas about urban environmental education. Videography: Alex Kudryavtsev (Cornell University), narrators: Adelaida Guance and Anthony Archino (Rocking the Boat). New York City, 2010.

Thank you!

To educators in the Bronx: Adam Green, Adam Liebowitz, Addy Guance, Anne-Marie Runfola, Carol Kennedy, Chrissy Word, Damian Griffin, Danny Peralta, Dawn Henning, Dwayne Brown, Jennifer Beaugrand, Jennifer Plewka, Julien Terrell, Tony Archino, Sharon De La Cruz, and Steve Oliveira.

I sincerely thank you and your students for your participation in the study on sense of place in urban environmental education! I have finished the data collection in education programs along the Bronx River, and now I am moving out of the Bronx. Next year I will be analyzing the data, and will share with you the results. It was an experience of a lifetime to work with you and your students during the last three years. Learning from your experiences made my research one of the most exciting studies in the world. I will stay in touch, and I wish you the best luck in your future work!

Alex Kudryavtsev, August 2010