Developing Early Literacy and Eco-Consciousness in French Immersion Through Daily Nature Walks: a Case Study of Teacher Reflection
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Running head: DEVELOPING EARLY LITERACY AND ECO-CONSCIOUSNESS IN FRENCH IMMERSION THROUGH DAILY NATURE WALKS: A CASE STUDY OF TEACHER REFLECTION Developing Early Literacy and Eco-consciousness in French Immersion through Daily Nature Walks: A Case Study of Teacher Reflection by LYNN VARGA A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Social and Applied Sciences in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION Royal Roads University Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Supervisor: DR. LIZA IRELAND Thesis Committee Member: DR. JOANNE ROBERTSON AUGUST, 2016 LYNN VARGA, 2016 DEVELOPING EARLY LITERACY AND ECO-CONSCIOUSNESS IN FRENCH 2 IMMERSION THROUGH DAILY NATURE WALKS COMMITTEE APPROVAL The members of Lynn Varga’s Thesis Committee certify that they have read the thesis titled Developing Early Literacy and Eco-consciousness in French Immersion through Daily Nature Walks: A Case Study of Teacher Reflection and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the thesis requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION: DR. LIZA IRELAND [signature on file] DR. JOANNE ROBERTSON [signature on file] Final approval and acceptance of this thesis is contingent upon submission of the final copy of the thesis to Royal Roads University. The thesis supervisor confirms to have read this thesis and recommends that it be accepted as fulfilling the thesis requirements: DR. LIZA IRELAND [signature on file] DEVELOPING EARLY LITERACY AND ECO-CONSCIOUSNESS IN FRENCH 3 IMMERSION THROUGH DAILY NATURE WALKS Creative Commons Statement This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc- sa/2.5/ca/ . Some material in this work is not being made available under the terms of this licence: • Third-Party material that is being used under fair dealing or with permission. • Any photographs where individuals are easily identifiable. DEVELOPING EARLY LITERACY AND ECO-CONSCIOUSNESS IN FRENCH 4 IMMERSION THROUGH DAILY NATURE WALKS Abstract This case study, with aspects of action research, integrates place-based education in a primary French Immersion classroom. The focus is on developing a sense of eco-consciousness and language arts competencies by writing interactive messages with the students about daily walks, featuring Aldo Leopold’s ten ways of knowing nature. Previous research has failed to address the reading/writing connection and outdoor learning in an interdisciplinary French Immersion language arts program. This study uses hermeneutic phenomenology and reflective teaching to examine the students’ and teacher’s shared lived experiences. In response to experiential and sensory learning experiences, students demonstrated engagement and enjoyment as well as development of eco-consciousness and the four language skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking. Recommendations are offered for teachers as British Columbia transitions to a new curriculum that features interdisciplinary learning and opportunities for reflection on experiences of place. With an emergent curriculum practice, teachers can support literacy development with a practice of outdoor learning to support developing eco- consciousness and sense of place. DEVELOPING EARLY LITERACY AND ECO-CONSCIOUSNESS IN FRENCH 5 IMMERSION THROUGH DAILY NATURE WALKS Acknowledgements I would like to thank, first and foremost, my loving family—my husband, Keith, my children, mother and daughter-in-law—who have supported me tirelessly in this endeavour along with the wonderful Grade 1/2 French Immersion students who participated in this study. This work would not have been possible without the approval and support of the school administrators who were so accommodating while I did this research. I would especially like to thank my thesis supervisor, Dr. Liza Ireland, for her kind mentorship, numerous conversations and excellent feedback. I also wish to thank my second committee member, Dr. Joanne Robertson, for her thought-provoking comments and questions that really added further depth to my work. Further, I would like to thank Dr. Rick Kool and other MAEEC instructors and presenters who had initial conversations with me to assist me in developing my ideas for this research and/or impacted on my growth during my studies. Additionally, I am grateful for my experiences with my MAEEC cohort and also for some former MAEEC students whose research and work helped me find my way towards my thesis ideas. Finally, thank you to Françoise and my sister, Susan, for additional proofreading support. I dedicate this paper to my children—Gabriel, Aaron, Jacob and Leah— and my 2015/2016 students who were the source of inspiration and many moments of warmth, joy and laughter. DEVELOPING EARLY LITERACY AND ECO-CONSCIOUSNESS IN FRENCH 6 IMMERSION THROUGH DAILY NATURE WALKS Table of Contents Creative Commons Statement ........................................................................................................... 3 Abstract .................................................................................................................................................... 4 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................. 5 Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................... 6 List of Figures ....................................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter One: Introduction ............................................................................................................... 11 Background ...................................................................................................................................................... 11 The Opportunity ............................................................................................................................................. 12 Research Question and Objectives .......................................................................................................... 14 Significance and Benefits ............................................................................................................................ 14 Chapter Two: Literature Review .................................................................................................... 17 Outdoor Education, Environmental Education and Experiential Education ............................ 17 Outdoor education. ..................................................................................................................................................... 17 Environmental education. ....................................................................................................................................... 18 Experiential education. ............................................................................................................................................. 19 Developing Eco-consciousness ................................................................................................................. 21 The cognitive, affective and ethical aspects of eco-consciousness. ........................................................ 21 Cognitive aspects. ........................................................................................................................................................................ 22 Affective aspects........................................................................................................................................................................... 23 Ethical aspects............................................................................................................................................................................... 23 Nurturing eco-consciousness through sense of place. ................................................................................ 24 Place-based Education ................................................................................................................................. 25 Benefits of place-based education. ...................................................................................................................... 26 Nurturing eco-consciousness through place-based education. ............................................................... 27 Sensory stimulation. ................................................................................................................................................................... 27 Sobel’s stages of child discovery for developing a sense of place. ......................................................................... 28 Nature journals. ............................................................................................................................................................................ 29 Leopold’s ten ways of knowing nature. ............................................................................................................................. 30 Curriculum Fulfillment ................................................................................................................................ 32 Reading goals and reading performance standards. ...................................................................................