Building Relationships with Land

pi_name

Christine Lee

pi_email

clee@labschool.ucla.edu

pi_department

Education

pi_title

Project Scientist

other_key_personnel

Megan Franke
Laila Shaban
Curren Mandon
Gayeon Koh
Darwin Hernandez
Monica Acosta
Christopher Wilson
Sylvia Gentile

abstract

This academic year, Intermediate teachers are implementing a multidisciplinary curriculum on the history and importance of land. The proposed study is a participatory research study between UCLA researchers and Intermediate teachers from Rooms 1 & 2 to document and examine how students’ understanding of land changes over the academic year. Our data collection will include (1) copies of students’ gardening journals that teachers are using to continuously document and reflect on the importance of land, (2) classroom conversations of students sharing what they wrote in gardening journals, and (3) photographs of students planting and taking care of campus plants. These data sources will be analyzed to track the changing understandings of how students define land, how important it is to have relationships with the land, and the importance of taking action in ways that sustainably support land.

project_summary

In efforts to design and develop a curriculum that supports students’ learning of the relationship between humans and land, the Intermediate teachers are planning to teach students the history of Tongva land and plant on campus grounds. The purpose of this curriculum is not only to teach students about the history of the land, but to nurture connections and relationships with the land. Therefore, the purpose of the participatory research study is to examine how students’ understanding of land changes over the academic year. Participants are from two Intermediate classrooms (Rooms 1&2). Our data collection will include copies of classroom work including student journals that teachers are using to continuously document and reflect on the importance of land, classroom conversations of students sharing what they wrote in journals, and photographs of students planting and taking care of campus grounds. These data sources will be analyzed to track the changing understandings of (1) how students define land (2) the importance of building relationships with the land, and (3) how students grow to understand the importance of taking action in ways that sustainably support land.

goals

In recent years, there has been a need to support elementary students in cultivating care, empathy, and knowledge of our environment and land for sustainable living. As a result, Intermediate teachers have implemented a multidisciplinary curriculum on land. Throughout this curriculum students will learn about L.A’s Indigenous Tongva people, the importance of plants, and how to care for and build relationships with land through gardening. The aim of this study is to document Lab School teachers’ practice and examine how students’ understanding and relationship to land changes over the academic year. Findings from this study will shed light on how learning about the land can support deeper connections and understanding the importance of sustainable practices that care for our environment.

benefits_of_research

This research study can potentially benefit students by supporting their learning and understanding of the importance of interconnected relationships between land and people.

dissemination/publications

Dissemination will include conference presentations and journal articles. We are also planning to publish on the Lab School/CONNECT website.

numer_of_subjects

44

selection_criteria

All students from Rooms 1 and 2.

methods

This participatory study is in collaboration with UCLA researchers and UCLA Lab School Intermediate demonstration teachers, Sylvia Gentile, Chris Wilson, and Monica Acosta. The data sources all draw from the teacher’s planned curriculum. Data sources will include (1) copies of students’ planting journals (2) classroom conversations of students sharing their planting journals, and (3) photographs of students planting and caring for campus plants. Our analysis will aim to understand 1) how students define land (2) how important it is to students to have relationships with the land, and (3) how students grow to understand the importance of taking action in ways that sustainably support land.

instruments

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instruments_other

transcripts of classroom conversations, and photographs of garden spaces.

instrument_explanations

The students’ planting journals document ongoing understanding of the land, including what the land means, and how their dispositions and connections to land changes over time. The planting journals also documents students' observations of their garden spaces over time.
In addition to collecting copies of students' planting journals, we will also audio record classroom conversations where teachers collectively share and reflect on students' journals. The audio recordings will be transcribed and be analyzed to track how whole class conversations change over the academic year around how students define and relate to land.
We will also collect photographs of students' garden spaces to track how students participate in caring for plants over time.

justification_of_methods

The study team will examine how Intermediate students reflect and change their understanding of land. In efforts to change and implement sustainable environmental educational practices in elementary education, UCLA Lab School teachers have implemented a multidisciplinary curriculum on the land that includes the history of Tongva land and teaching students about their relationship to the plants on campus grounds. The purpose of this curriculum is not only to teach students about the history of the land, but to nurture connections with the land in ways that encourage students to view land as a valuable teacher. As a result, Intermediate teachers Sylvia Gentile, Chris Wilson, and Monica Acosta are collaborating with Megan Franke and Christine Lee to document and examine how students’ understanding of land changes over the academic year. All data sources come from teachers' planned classroom practices. The teachers prompt students to reflect on how their definition of land, and how their relationship to land changes throughout the academic year as the class learns about the history of Tongva land plants on campus grounds. We will also collect classroom conversations of teachers sharing and discussing students' planting journals to track how the whole class conversations also changes over time. Finally, we will also take photographs of students' garden spaces as our plants grow in the spring quarter. As the students watch and observe their plants growing on campus grounds, we want to see if students feel more connected to land.

separate_informed_consent

n/a

risk_minimization

No risks anticipated.

deception_debriefing

n/a

confidentiality_data_storage

UCLA Box and a password protected hard drive will be used to store data.

relationship_prior_contact

Christine Lee has already met with Intermediate teachers Monica Acosta, Chris Wilson, and Sylvia Gentile on a bi-weekly basis. This is a participatory research project that was co-developed by UCLA researchers and Lab School teachers.

irb

#24-001621

attachments

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