Learning with and within City Ecosystems: Studying Children’s Changing Understandings of Socio-ecological System in Richmond, VA

Faculty Mentor

Dr. Kathryn Lanouette

2025 Student Researcher

Sydney Foxx '28, Majors: Environmental Science and International Relations

Project Description

This research project investigates how children's understanding of socioecological systems is supported through data practices such as collecting data, building visualizations, analyzing patterns, and telling data stories. Under the mentorship of Assistant Professor Kathryn Lanouette and Joshua Bearman from Blue Sky Fund, a W&M student will examine how children learn about socioecological systems through Blue Sky’s Explorer’s Program, an outdoor environmental education initiative that organizes 4-5 day trips each year for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders throughout the city, including locations like Belle Island along the James River Park System, Shalom Farms, and other outdoor spaces.

The student will conduct research to better understand what children learn about the environment and themselves during these outdoor trips. Two main research questions will guide the study:

1. How do children understand the socioecological systems in which they live, learn, and play, and their place within them?
2. How do children’s understandings of these systems and themselves evolve over time through participation in outdoor environmental education, particularly in urban spaces?

The student will:

• Conduct a literature review on existing assessment and protocol methods related to children’s conceptualizations of socioecological systems
• Implement selected assessments
• Analyze children’s responses from interviews, drawings, and written reflections
• Collaborate with 3rd-5th grade teachers and students to engage in qualitative data analysis of co-designed work

Project ID - Format

25-003-25 - CRP Year