Children’s Connectedness To Nature And Parental Influence: A Mixed Methods Survey

The first chapter of my capstone will introduce the topic I will study and provide background information on my personal journey that led me to the topic. I will share my childhood upbringing, educational background and professional development that inspire and motivate me to look deeper into the topic of children’s connectedness to nature and parental involvement. Specifically, I will more closely examine identity development, including the formation of attitude and ethic, the cognitive psychology and nature experience, parents’ role in environmental education and the relevancy of all these topics in young children. I will conduct a mixed-methods research consisting of two separate surveys to help answer the question: What are the ways parents positively shape their children’s connectedness to nature? I will administer a quantitative survey for children to measure their connectedness to nature as well as a qualitative survey of parents to gather in-depth information to capture the richness of the nature experience that happens at home. These surveys will help me arrive at a better understanding of children’s connectedness to nature and parental involvement.