Nature immersions: teaching reading through a real-world curriculum

Bates, K

Nature immersions: teaching reading through a real-world curriculum

Bates, K

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Publisher:: CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 2023, 39, (2), pp. 181-198
Issue Date:: 2023-06-16

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Bates, K https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6524-4036
dc.date.accessioned	2024-01-09T02:08:01Z
dc.date.available	2024-01-09T02:08:01Z
dc.date.issued	2023-06-16
dc.identifier.citation	Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 2023, 39, (2), pp. 181-198
dc.identifier.issn	0814-0626
dc.identifier.issn	2049-775X
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/174130
dc.description.abstract	Debates about teaching reading have long been a part of educational vernacular, frequently reduced to polarised views about phonics. This attention can unnecessarily divert from the cumulative skills required for learning to read and comprehensive research, which indicates the positive influence of systematic phonics instruction on students' reading outcomes. Australian education has recently moved beyond these reading wars to include explicit phonics instruction in a reformed national English Curriculum. This provides an opportune time to engage preservice teachers entering the workforce with strategies that explicitly teach these skills while nurturing young people's ecological consciousness through positive nature connections. With this focus in mind, a participatory action research project involving preservice teachers was undertaken, from which an Eco-Conceptual Framework ensued. The project put immersive activities in place, promoting transdisciplinary ways to develop learners' connections with nature using images collected from participants' real world when learning to read. Results indicate that action research energised preservice teachers' perceived knowledge, self-efficacy about teaching early reading utilising place and skills in designing visual resources. It brings attention to the critical influence of preservice teachers' dispositions and preferred natural spaces on what images are collected and offered when designing early reading activities utilising the natural world.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
dc.relation.ispartof	Australian Journal of Environmental Education
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1017/aee.2022.50
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess
dc.rights	© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
dc.subject	05 Environmental Sciences, 13 Education, 16 Studies in Human Society
dc.subject.classification	3901 Curriculum and pedagogy
dc.title	Nature immersions: teaching reading through a real-world curriculum
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	39
utslib.for	05 Environmental Sciences
utslib.for	13 Education
utslib.for	16 Studies in Human Society
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
dc.date.updated	2024-01-09T02:08:00Z
pubs.issue	2
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	39
utslib.citation.issue	2

Abstract:

Debates about teaching reading have long been a part of educational vernacular, frequently reduced to polarised views about phonics. This attention can unnecessarily divert from the cumulative skills required for learning to read and comprehensive research, which indicates the positive influence of systematic phonics instruction on students' reading outcomes. Australian education has recently moved beyond these reading wars to include explicit phonics instruction in a reformed national English Curriculum. This provides an opportune time to engage preservice teachers entering the workforce with strategies that explicitly teach these skills while nurturing young people's ecological consciousness through positive nature connections. With this focus in mind, a participatory action research project involving preservice teachers was undertaken, from which an Eco-Conceptual Framework ensued. The project put immersive activities in place, promoting transdisciplinary ways to develop learners' connections with nature using images collected from participants' real world when learning to read. Results indicate that action research energised preservice teachers' perceived knowledge, self-efficacy about teaching early reading utilising place and skills in designing visual resources. It brings attention to the critical influence of preservice teachers' dispositions and preferred natural spaces on what images are collected and offered when designing early reading activities utilising the natural world.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/174130