Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T11:21:30.319Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sense of Place in Australian Environmental Education Research: Distinctive, Missing or Displaced?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2012

Robert B. Stevenson
Robert B. Stevenson*
Affiliation:
James Cook University
*
†Address for correspondence: Professor Bob Stevenson, The Cairns Institute and School of Education, James Cook University, PO Box 6811, Cairns, Queensland 4870, Australia. Email: bob.stevenson@jcu.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Many environmental educators were motivated to enter the feld by a concern for the loss of places to which they felt a strong sense of attachment and belonging. This raises the question of whether a sense of place, or attachment to the Australian biophysical or cultural landscape, has shaped Australian environmental education research. An analysis was conducted of articles by Australian authors published in the AJEE in the period from 1990–2000, a time that preceded the (re)emergence of attention to place-based education in academic circles. Only four of 67 articles addressed the author's or other Australian's sense of place. Several explanations for this fnding are examined, drawing on some of the environmental psychology literature on place identity as well as the notion that sense of place involves multiple interrelated personal, cultural and professional identities. Finally, an argument is made as to why place attachments are important to environmental education research.

Keywords

sense of placeplace identityattachment to landscapeenvironmental education researchplace-based research
Type
Feature Articles
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 27 , Issue 1: Special Issue: The “ness” of Environmental Education , 2011 , pp. 46 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ardoin, N. (2006). Towards an interdisciplinary understanding of place: Lessons for environmental education. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 11, 112–126.Google Scholar
Beringer, A. (1999/2000). On ecospirituality: True indigenous Western. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 15–16, 17–22.Google Scholar
Brooks, T. (2010). “Every child has a ditch or ought to”: Investigating children's place attachments through collage and stories. Unpublished B.Ed. (Hons) thesis. James Cook University.Google Scholar
Casey, E. (1997). The fate of place: A philosophical history. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Chamlee-Wright, E., & Storr, V. (2009). “There's no place like New Orleans”: Sense of place and community recovery in the ninth ward after Hurricane Katrina. Journal of Urban Affairs, 31(5), 615–634.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Egan, K. (2005). An imaginative approach to teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Ellis, J. (2005). Places and identity for children in classrooms and schools. Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies, 3(2), 52–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Everett, J. (1997). Aboriginal education and colonialism: Our earthlinks under threat. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 13, 11–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fettes, M. & Judson, G. (2011). Imagination and the cognitive tools of place-making. Journal of Environmental Education, 42(2), 123–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fien, J. (1991). Toward a school-level curriculum inquiry in environmental education. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 7, 17–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, J. (1979). The theory of affordances. In Shaw, R. & Bransford, J. (Eds.), Perceiving, Acting, and Knowing: Toward an Ecological Psychology. Hillsdale N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Gough, A. (1997). Education and the environment: Policy, trends and the problems of marginalisation. Melbourne: Australian Council for Educational Research.Google Scholar
Greenwood, D. (2008). A critical pedagogy of place: From gridlock to parallax. Environmental Education Research, 14(3), 336–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruenewald, D. (2003). Foundations of place: A multi-disciplinary framework for place-conscious education. American Educational Research Journal, 40, 619–654.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruenewald, D. & Smith, G. (Eds.) (2008). Place-based education in the global age: Local diversity. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Hay, R. (1998). Sense of place in a developmental context. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 18, 5–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahoney, D. (1995). The signifcance of ‘special ways of knowing’ for environmental education. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 11, 13–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKenzie, M. (2008). The places of pedagogy: Or, what can we do with culture through intersubjective experiences? Environmental Education Research, 14(3), 361–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mesch, G., & Manor, O. (1998). Social ties, environmental perception, and local attachment. Environment Behavior, 30(4), 504–519.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michaela, C. S. (1987). Towards an Australian spirituality. Occasional essay supplement. Eremos Newsletter, September 1987.Google Scholar
Milligan, M. J. (1998). Interactional past and potential: The social construction of place attachment. Symbolic Interaction, 21(1), 1–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, W., & Gough, S. (2003). Sustainable development and learning: framing the issues. London: Routledge Falmer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skamp, K. (1991). Spirituality and environmental education. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 7, 79–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slattery, D. (1999/2000). Adult environmental education and ecology. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 15/16, 85–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, G. (2002). Place-based education: Learning to be where we are. Phi Delta Kappan, 83(8), 584–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, G. (2008). Oxymoron or misplaced rectifcation. Environmental EducationResearch, 14(3), 349–352.Google Scholar
Stedman, R. (2003). Is it really just a social construction? The contribution of the physical environment to sense of place. Society and Natural Resources, 6(8), 671–685.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevenson, R. (1997). Developing habits of environmental thoughtfulness through the in-depth study of select environmental issues. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 2, 183–201.Google Scholar
Stevenson, R. (2008). A critical pedagogy of place and the place(s) of critical pedagogy. Environmental Education Research, 14(3), 353–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trigger, D. (2008). Place, belonging and nativeness in Australia. In Vanclay, F., Higgins, M., & Blackshaw, A. (Eds.). Making sense of place: Exploring concepts and expressions of place through different senses and lenses. Canberra: National Museum of Australia.Google Scholar
Tuan, Y. (1977). Space and Place: The Perspectives of Experience. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar