How Nature Camps and Field Trips Are Shaping Environmental Education in Turkey
When learning escapes the four walls of a classroom, something remarkable happens—knowledge takes root in experience.
Imagine a classroom without walls, where the rustle of leaves replaces the turning of textbook pages and the soil beneath your feet becomes the most compelling lesson in ecology. This is the reality of non-traditional environmental education taking hold in Turkey.
For decades, environmental education in Turkey primarily occurred within formal school settings, often relying on theoretical approaches that yielded limited practical engagement. Between 2000 and 2011, a significant shift occurred as educators and researchers began exploring how learning in non-traditional settings—nature camps, field trips, national parks, and science centers—could foster deeper environmental understanding and responsibility 1 .
This article explores the transformative power of these alternative learning environments, synthesizing key research findings that reveal how hands-on experiences in nature are shaping a new generation of environmentally conscious citizens in Turkey.
Environmental education strives to develop environmentally literate citizens who possess not just knowledge about environmental issues, but also the skills to investigate and analyze them, the empathy to care about them, and the motivation to take action toward solving them 6 .
Learners become active investigators rather than passive recipients of information 3 .
Seeing, touching, and hearing in natural environments creates lasting memories and deeper cognitive connections 1 .
Traditional classroom settings often excel at imparting foundational knowledge but face limitations in nurturing the affective and behavioral components of environmental literacy—the emotional connection and responsible actions .
Turkey's journey in environmental education has been significantly influenced by both internal social developments and global movements.
The First United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm raised global awareness 2 .
CEKUL (The Foundation for the Protection and Promotion of the Environment and Cultural Heritage) was founded, instrumental in providing informal environmental training 2 .
Marked the real beginning of structured environmental education programs outside the school system in Turkey, largely driven by collaborations between TÜBİTAK, universities, and environmental protection agencies 2 .
The Earth Summit in Johannesburg further catalyzed international and national efforts 2 .
The Turkish Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion, for Reforestation and the Protection of Natural Habitats, established in 1992, has been instrumental in providing informal environmental training and public awareness campaigns 2 .
The Foundation for the Protection and Promotion of the Environment and Cultural Heritage, founded in 1990, has played a pivotal role in environmental education through public awareness campaigns 2 .
A comprehensive review of research conducted between 2000 and 2011 analyzed studies that investigated the effects of environmental education interventions in non-traditional settings across Turkey 1 .
Improved understanding of ecological concepts
Enhanced emotional connection to natural world
Increased adoption of pro-environmental actions
The review categorized studies based on their participants, settings, and measured outcomes, providing a cohesive picture of the field's impact.
The interventions in these studies were diverse, including:
To national parks and protected areas 1
Ecology-based programs and summer camps 8
Hands-on activities in nature centers 1
The synthesis revealed that the techniques used in these non-traditional settings consistently contributed to positive developments across several key areas 1 :
To understand how these programs achieve their impact, let's examine a specific, crucial experiment from the body of research.
A 2011 study investigated the effects of an ecology-based summer nature education program on primary school students' environmental knowledge, environmental affect, and responsible environmental behavior 8 .
64 elementary school students (26 females, 38 males) participated in a TÜBİTAK-supported summer nature education program in Ankara in 2008 8 .
The program was ecology-based, meaning its curriculum was grounded in ecological principles and concepts.
The program took place over a concentrated period in a residential camp setting, fully immersing participants in the learning environment.
The program emphasized experiential learning—learning by doing through hands-on ecological investigations and direct observation.
The study yielded clear, significant results, particularly in one key area.
| Measured Aspect | Pre-test Score | Post-test Score | Significance of Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Environmental Knowledge | Baseline | Higher than pre-test | Not statistically significant |
| Environmental Affect | Baseline | Higher than pre-test | Not statistically significant |
| Responsible Environmental Behavior | Baseline | Higher than pre-test | Significant increase |
Source: Adapted from "The Effects of Ecology-Based Summer Nature Education Program..." 8
While students' posttest scores for environmental knowledge and affect were higher, the changes were not statistically significant. However, the program did contribute significantly to the development of children's responsible environmental behavior 8 .
This is a critical finding. It suggests that short-term, immersive experiences in nature may be particularly powerful in motivating students to adopt pro-environmental actions, even if the measurable gains in specific knowledge or affective domains require longer-term reinforcement.
What does it take to conduct research on environmental education in non-traditional settings?
| Tool/Material | Primary Function in Research |
|---|---|
| Validated Questionnaires & Surveys | Quantitatively measure participants' knowledge, attitudes (affect), and self-reported behaviors before and after an intervention 8 . |
| Content Analysis Frameworks | Systematically analyze and categorize educational materials or qualitative data against research criteria 1 6 . |
| Statistical Analysis Software (e.g., SPSS) | Analyze quantitative data, calculate the significance of changes between pre- and post-tests, and identify correlations between variables . |
| Interview & Observation Protocols | Gather rich, qualitative data on participants' experiences, perceptions, and behavioral changes in real-time during educational activities 1 . |
| Ecological Field Equipment | Provide hands-on learning experiences during interventions (e.g., water testing kits, soil sampling tools, binoculars) 8 . |
The review of studies from 2000-2011 allows us to see broader trends in Turkish research on non-traditional environmental education.
| Aspect | Trend/Gap | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Common Research Topics | Affective Domain | A majority of studies focused on environmental attitudes, perceptions, and emotions . |
| Research Methodology | Quantitative Dominance | Over half of the studies primarily used quantitative research methods . |
| Common Data Collection | Surveys & Questionnaires | These were the most frequently used tools for gathering data . |
| Identified Research Gap | Lack of Qualitative Insights | A relative scarcity of in-depth qualitative studies exploring the lived experiences of participants 1 . |
| Identified Research Gap | Long-Term Impact | Few studies track the long-term retention of knowledge, attitude, or behavior changes after the programs end 1 . |
The research conducted in Turkey between 2000 and 2011 provides compelling evidence that non-traditional settings are powerful catalysts for environmental learning.
The findings underscore that experiencing a fragile ecosystem firsthand, participating in hands-on conservation projects, or learning to identify native species can build the environmental literacy required for a sustainable future 3 .
As this field continues to evolve, future research exploring the long-term impacts of these experiences and delving deeper into the qualitative aspects of participant learning will be invaluable. For now, the message is clear: to foster a deeper connection with our planet, we must sometimes step outside and let nature itself be the teacher.