KAEE 2024 Conference

This poster session will discuss the research project, “Anthropogenic Litter in Urban Waterways: An Analysis of Litter, Urbanization, and the Emerging Role of Citizen Science in Beargrass Creek, Louisville, KY” and explore the significant environmental education opportunities presented through the results of the data. The findings support the incredible necessity of integrating community engagement, sustainability education, and effective technology together to reconnect neighborhoods with their urban waterways and restore these streams- so that all have equal access to healthy environments and outdoor recreation across the city.

To put research into action, the project addressed the ever-growing presence and persistence of anthropogenic litter (AL) in urban waterways. AL has been studied in marine environments, but research gaps exist in riverine ecosystems. Most of the AL that reaches the Earth’s oceans is carried by urban rivers, so understanding the relationship between these waterways and AL is critical in effectively fighting AL accumulation, especially for legacy plastic pollutants. This study explored fifteen sites throughout Beargrass Creek and recorded the quantity and type of AL present throughout the summer and fall of 2023. The National Geographic Marine Debris Tracker app was employed to successfully accomplish this analysis. This is a powerful tool designed to engage citizens with the streams running through their neighborhoods. The results of this project revealed the interconnected relationship between urbanization and AL accumulation in waterways, and advocates for the crucial change possible through participatory science.

The conclusions found from the project present endless potential for education in practice and exploratory activities that support students’ holistic growth. The human awareness and perception of a stream has an extraordinary impact on AL pollution and the overall health of the waterway. The more communities can engage with their local creeks and streams, the greater environmental change becomes possible. The study revealed the strengths of using technology like the National Geographic Marine Debris Tracker. This app makes data collection much more accessible to any level of scientific experience. It generates data tables and figures, collects geographic coordinates for spatial analysis, and creates an easy system for tracking the quantity and type of AL observed.

The purpose of this poster session is to give educators the background knowledge to plan and carry out effective real-world learning to encourage a sustainable future. Educators will be introduced to the National Geographic Marine Debris Tracker, a potentially powerful tool for classrooms. With the use of the tracker, thematic investigations could begin as simply as recording trash in the school site/school’s watershed area. Through teacher led instruction, students can develop and implement an action project in which every student can participate. The project can grow in complexity with the development of students over grade levels, as well as involving parents, civic organizations, and community leaders providing holistic learning experiences. This technological aid gives educators the platform to teach about the history of stream alteration, aquatic habitat health, land use/ land cover interactions within watersheds- in addition to giving students the opportunity to observe AL firsthand in their local streams, developing investigation skills, inclusion, teamwork, and engaging with the waterways in positive and meaningful ways that promote sustainability practices for the future.

With a spotlight on the current and worsening environmental crisis, a positive attitude toward the environment, and the skills and confidence to actively protect it are necessary to make progress in conservation of important ecosystems like the Ohio River valley. One tool well suited to cultivate these attitudes and skills is environmental education which allows students to explore, engage, and act on environmental issues. Through this active process, goals include increasing students’ awareness of their environment, comfort in being outdoors, empathy toward their immediate environment, and students’ skills in using environmental action strategies.
Thomas More University Biology Field Station offers several different environmental education experiences. The mission is “To educate and engage our visitors about the ecological and cultural value of the Ohio River and its watershed and to empower them to take action to protect them.” The purpose of this study is threefold: measure the cognitive impact of discipline related content, the psychomotor skills acquired, and cultivation of affective behaviors and attitude towards Ohio River conservation. There are two research questions for the study: do environmental education programs increase student knowledge on presented topics; and do environmental education programs positively shift emotional, behavioral, and attitude measurements on presented topics, conservation in general, and potential for future environmental action. Outcomes of the study provide guidance on best practice for deepening understanding and sparking a catalyst for change.

Forest schools, which come from Denmark and the Scandinavian principle of friluftsliv, offer children regular opportunities for nature exploration and most importantly, play-based activities in a woodland environment (Boileau & Dabaha, 2020). Forest schools offer a valuable alternative to traditional classroom setting as they provide a natural and stimulating environment for play and social interaction. The following research questions were used to guide this study;
· RQ1: How do parents’ perceptions of Forest Schooling aid their preschool-aged children with and without disabilities with play and social skills?
· RQ2: How does the type of play preschool-aged children with and without disabilities partake in during Forest School benefit their social skills?
This presentation will delve into how forest schools can foster the growth of social skills in preschool-aged children with and without disabilities. The research questions are explored through a mixed-methods case study that utilizes interviews, observations, surveys with the children’s parents/caregivers, and artifact collection. The child participants (N=10) attended a forest school in a local nature park. The Forest School was delivered in sessions ranging from 2 to 4 days a week for 3 hours over four months, August through November.
This study adds to the current literature on forest schooling in the United States. Prior research has focused in countries outside the U.S. and on developing the awareness and skills to be environmental stewards (Boileau & Dabaha, 2020). My study builds on this literature base by exploring how forest schools may develop children with and without disabilities social skills and play.
Overall, this presentation will identify the importance of forest schools in nurturing the social and emotional development of children with and without disabilities and provide practical strategies for integrating forest schools’ principles into educational settings. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of the benefits of outdoor play and nature-based learning in promoting social skills development in children.

This qualitative study conducted in the spring of 2024 by a graduate student in Environmental Education at EKU compared the demographics of the surrounding areas and quality of two children's play sites’ natural settings and affordances. The researcher gathered data from the two sites using LEAF School Grounds Site Inventories. The researcher also performed analysis of secondary analysis of additional data from various sources including:
*KAEE Landscape Analysis
*US Census data from 2020
*Lexington, Kentucky’s governmental website
*Rowland-Shea, et al., 2020
The Census County Division or Council District of each park was used to gather data for comparison between the two locations, as well as to compare them to state and national averages. This study is intended to identify the various resources residents can use to determine the accessibility and quality of parks and natural areas in Lexington, Kentucky. This can help residents maximize their nature exposure and reap the subsequent benefits.

Having access to nature matters. Rowland-Shea et al. write, “Simply having more tree cover in a neighborhood could account for as much as 13 percent of the variance in student outcomes; the study found the positive effect to be strongest in schools that faced the most external socio-economic challenges”. Just having trees in a neighborhood can change children’s outcomes. With the prevalence of technology in today's society, it is increasingly crucial to prioritize opportunities for children to engage with the natural world. However, not all children have equal access to green spaces in Central Kentucky. With this poster I investigate what are the factors that contribute to children's access to nature in Shepherdsville and Elizabethtown? I investigated this question through a qualitative study that utilized observations in local parks using the LEAF Inventory, analyzing data such as KAEE Landscape Analysis, Census Data. After examining the data, I hypothesize that young families are moving into Shepherdsville. Elizabethtown, an urban trail city, has many green spaces. Still, the park is more traditional and limits creative play. According to the Landscape Analysis, Elizabethtown also has no official environmental education opportunities. Both cities have high poverty rates, with Shepherdsville double the state average. Both Elizabethtown and Shepherdsville have parks for children to enjoy. Although they are very different in design, they have much to offer children and educators looking to utilize the spaces. .To support the growing population, especially in Shepherdsville, the area must implement environmental education opportunities or continue to develop new parks and green spaces that are accessible in the location. Environmental education opportunities should be provided in these areas to ensure young children can connect with nature and be the environmental stewards we need to protect our green spaces. Due to the high percentage of poverty, it is also recommended that these opportunities be low or no cost. Forest or Nature-Based Schools that focus on sustainability are also recommended.

Amur honeysuckle is one of the most disruptive invasive plants in Central Kentucky’s forested ecosystems and in the surrounding region. Its prolific spread and wide-ranging negative impacts on native flora including altered light regimes, resource consumption and allelopathy make it important to systematically monitor and implement management when possible. However, Amur honeysuckle infestations on public and private land are so extensive that most forested habitats are left untreated and even unassessed. Furthermore, assessments usually require experienced land managers and extensive time to accurately develop specifications leading to efficient management.

Because vegetation of different species can exhibit significant spatial diversity within a relatively small area, airborne multi-spectral and LiDAR data can be an important tool for surveying this complex environment. Additionally, drone-based tools can gather data many times faster than ground-based assessments. Therefore, this study was developed to investigate whether drone-based multi-spectral and LiDAR data can be used to assess Amur honeysuckle composition to develop accurate forest improvement specifications. Drone data were compared to field data gathered on 80 forested plots in Central Kentucky representing percent cover of Amur Honeysuckle in five vertical height classes.

Preliminary results indicate a high degree of comparability between the different methods, particularly in the shorter height classes. Drone-based multi-spectral and LiDAR data can accurately and efficiently map the composition of invasive plants in select forested situations leading to increased forest assessments and management. Results from this research will be used to refine this methodology and expand this technology as a forest assessment tool.

Pollinator habitat establishment is conducted in several different ways using different methods. This session highlights various methods using herbicide and provides recommendations based on preliminary evidence, as this is an ongoing project

Probes are a way of better understanding people’s metacognition (internal thinking). Page Keeley created several books based on research of misconceptions found in science. Her ideas were used to create three different probes to elicit student understanding about karst and caves. Three checklist probes about karst and cave misconceptions were created and tested on future elementary teachers. In addition, students write explanations about their reasoning for what items they checked. Understanding their reasoning helps to improve teaching. This idea can be recreated in other places where nonformal education occurs. This poster will discuss how to create probes to assess learning at places where nonformal learning occurs.