Education and Learning

We seek to understand how social learning that is situated in community gardening, oyster restoration, streamside restoration, and other civic ecology practices contributes to adaptation and transformation in stressed communities, and thus becomes a source of social-ecological system resilience. This work began in the early 2000's with Garden Mosaics, our intergenerational community gardening education program that has been implemented in cities across the US and in Europe and Africa. Today we continue our research/outreach collaborations with community-based organizations engaged in civic ecology practices, such as Rocking the Boat (http://rockingtheboat.org) in the Bronx and 4-H programs serving military families in upstate New York. The Civic Ecology Lab also houses EECapacity, which uses social innovation theory as the basis for linking civic ecology learning with other environmental education practices, in order to generate innovations in environmental education that reflect the ways in which urban residents and people of color are reconnecting with nature.

Programs

Tools and Activities for Educators

Perspectives on Environmental Education (PDF file). Card sorting (Q-sort) activity to help environmental educators identify they commonly held views as well as their differences
EEccology. Mapping your practical theory of behavior change
Sense of place survey (PDF article in Ecosphere)
EE Outcomes Measurement Tools. Created by participants of the Measuring EE Outcomes course (2012)
Lesson plans for urban environmental education. Created by participants of the EE in Urban Communities online course in 2011 and 2012
Non-formal, preliminary versions of the Guidelines for Excellence related to community-based and urban EE programs. Developed by participants of the EE in Urban Communities online course
Social network analysis survey (forthcoming)
Social capital survey (forthcoming)

Reports and Papers

Lauber, TB, KG Tidball, ME Krasny, N. Freitas, B. Griswold, B. Ukeritis, and C. Word. (2012). Environmental Education in Urban Systems: An Exploration in Research and Practice. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Humans Dimensions Research Unit & Civic Ecology Lab.
Kudryavtsev A., Krasny M.E. (2012). Urban environmental education: preliminary literature review. Cornell University Civic Ecology Lab, Ithaca, NY.

Click here for ADDITIONAL PUBLICATIONS

Ongoing research projects

Participatory approaches to monitoring ecosystem service and other outcomes of civic ecology practices (Phil Sliva, Marianne Krasny).
Comparing peer-peer and instructor-peer influences on learning in an online course (Yue Li, Marianne Krasny, Alex Kudryavtsev).
Integrating citizen science and civic ecology practices in community environmental education (Lilly Briggs, Marianne Krasny).
Sense of place among youth and children in environmental education programs (Alex Kudryavtsev, Lilly Briggs, Richard Stedman, Marianne Krasny).
Social learning and social capital in village grove restoration in Korea (Eunju Lee, Marianne Krasny).
Civic ecology participatory case studies: integrating online learning and research (Marianne Krasny, Phil Silva).
Civic ecology practices on the Cornell campus: contributions to campus sustainability (Marianne Krasny, Jesse Delia).
Integrating youth development and environmental learning through community gardening (Jesse Delia, Marianne Krasny).
Oyster gardener motivations for volunteer engagement in NYC harbor (Sarah Crestol, Marianne Krasny, Keith Tidball, Richard Stedman).
Developing guidelines for community environmental education (Akiima Price, Bora Simmons, Candice Hillard, Jason Corwin, Marianne Krasny).
Perspectives in environmental education (John Fraser, Rupu Gupta, Marianne Krasny).
A tool for measuring social capital among youth (Leigh Kalbacker, Marianne Krasny, Richard Stedman, Alex Kudryavtsev).