Using Narratives to Document Environmental Identities and Connection to Nature: A Case Study of ...

196 Pages·2015·4.99 MB·English

AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF

Michelle A. Mileham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Sciences
presented on November 10, 2015.

Title: Using Narratives to Document Environmental Identities and Connection to Nature: A Case
Study of Aquarium Staff and Volunteers.

Abstract approved: ______________________________________________________
Shawn Rowe

Zoos and aquariums are among the best informal education avenues for individuals to
further develop conservation beliefs and values. Research documented the presence of
conservation messages at aquariums, that visitors expect such messages, and staff and volunteers
at conservation organizations increase their conservation-related knowledge and behaviors. This
research often focuses on the evaluation of what visitors gain from an experience instead of the
production of knowledge and messages within an organization or for a learner. Further, little
connection has been made between the life experiences of staff and volunteers prior to their time
in a conservation-related facility and their experiences during their time working in such a
facility in terms of how conservation and environmental ideas are integrated into an
environmental identity.
Understanding how aquarium volunteers and staff form environmental identities over
their lifetime, including time spent in free-choice learning settings, is interesting not only for
understanding and supporting their work but also for modeling the same processes with visitors.
My objective for this research was to understand in what ways working in an environmentally
themed organization does or does not shape a person’s environmental identity.
Staff and volunteers (n=96) completed Clayton’s (2003) Environmental Identity Scale as
well as Nisbet, et al.’s (2009) Nature Relatedness scale, which were used to measure an
individual’s environmental identity and connection to nature. A subset of staff and volunteers
later completed Personal Meaning Maps (PMM; n=36) to share their significant, nature-based
life and work experiences. Survey and PMM results were used to select another subset of
participants to share nature-based experiences stories vis-à-vis narrative interviews (n=10).
Narratives produced by participants elicited beliefs, values, knowledge, and realizations about
nature and the environment.
Results show that staff and volunteers from the Oregon Coast Aquarium who participated
in this research had moderate-high to high environmental identities and felt a strong connection
to nature, which were developed through childhood experiences in nature and over their lifetime
through free-choice learning. Outdoor activities, travel, animals, and education (both their own
education as well as the act of educating others) emerged as significant environmental-based life
experiences. Nature-based experiences such as these lead to beliefs and values about nature,
including nature being pristine, seeing animals in the wild, passing [nature] experiences on to
others, introducing people to a place [natural area], and teaching people to protect what they
love. Future research should focus on how environmental-based narratives, beliefs, values, and
knowledge are developed and shared through professional development experiences,
incorporated into zoo and aquarium exhibits, and ultimately how visitors make meaning from
such stories and exhibits.
©Copyright by Michelle A. Mileham
November 10, 2015
All Rights Reserved
Using Narratives to Document Environmental Identities and Connection to Nature: A Case Study
of Aquarium Staff and Volunteers

by
Michelle A. Mileham

A DISSERTATION

submitted to

Oregon State University

in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the
degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Presented November 10, 2015
Commencement June 2016
Doctor of Philosophy dissertation of Michelle A. Mileham presented on November 10, 2015

APPROVED:

Major Professor, representing Environmental Sciences

Director of the Environmental Sciences Program

Dean of the Graduate School

I understand that my dissertation will become part of the permanent collection of Oregon State
University libraries. My signature below authorizes release of my dissertation to any reader
upon request.

Michelle A. Mileham, Author
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The journey over the last several years and the completion of this dissertation would not be
possible without the support of many people. I would like to thank Dr. Shawn Rowe, who
remained my major advisor through both my Master’s and Ph.D. Thanks for sticking with me
and letting me borrow as many books as I desired. I would also like to thank my committee
members, Drs. Kerry Carlin-Morgan, Jenna Tilt, Wendy Aaron, and Carlos Jensen. Each of you
brought a different perspective to the table, made me think in different realms, and always kept
your office doors open. For that I am eternally grateful. Kerry, I would especially like to thank
you for reading environmental education papers with me, helping me frame this research, giving
me access to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, and for being a mentor in the professional world.

I would like to thank the staff and volunteers at the Oregon Coast Aquarium for providing a
welcoming environment, listening to me talk about my research, and participating in this
research. This really would not be possible without you!

To my graduate school colleagues, thank you for the stimulating theoretical conversations, the
laughs, and the on-going support. You made the journey worthwhile and I can’t wait to cross
paths in the future. A special thank you to Teresa Wolfe for providing me statistical support for
this dissertation. I’d probably still be staring at my computer screen cross-eyed if it weren’t for
you. Jenny East and Jenny de la Hoz, I don’t know how I would have survived writing this
dissertation without you. We will forever remember to always carry tissues!
To my colleagues at Tracy Aviary, especially Tim Brown for providing me the opportunity to
pursue my environmental education dreams. To my Education team, you are all wonderful and I
couldn’t ask for a better group with which to work. Childhood experiences in nature do matter
and we make that happen on a daily basis! A special thank you to Lindsay Hooker for her
feedback on part of this dissertation.

To my wonderful husband, Matthew Boyer, for being the best support system a girl could ask
for. Thank you for cooking, cleaning, and walking Bella while I sat working on this dissertation.
I can’t wait to walk in the park with you and Bella again soon.

To my sister, Melissa Mileham, who always understood my dissertation woes and ensured me
everything would be fine. Thank you! I can’t wait for us to explore Utah together.

To my parents, Steve Mileham and Debbie Hock, for providing the support and encouragement
to pursue my dreams and for the nature experiences you mediated throughout my life. While my
own story is not told here, it certainly influenced this research in numerous ways. Thank you.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
Chapter 1 - Introduction.…………………………………………………………………………..1

Chapter 2 - Discovering Environmental Identities of Aquarium Staff and Volunteers: A
Quantitative Measure of One’s Connection to the Natural World…………………..28

Chapter 3 - Understanding Significant, Environmental-based Life and Work Experiences
Through Personal Meaning Mapping………………………………………………..58

Chapter 4 - Using Narrative Maps to Show How Aquarium Staff and Volunteers Make
Personal Sense of Environmental-based Life Experiences…………………………..88

Chapter 5 - Framing Environmental Identities: The Case of Aquarium Staff and Volunteers…113

Chapter 6 – Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………128

References………………………………………………………………………………………139

Appendices……………………………………………………………………………………...146

Appendix A – Staff Survey……………………………………………………………..147

Appendix B – Volunteer Survey………………………………………………………..153

Appendix C – Personal Meaning Map Prompts………………………………………..158

Appendix D – Personal Meaning Maps Codebook………………………………..……161

Appendix E – Example of PMM and meta-PMM……………………………………...164

Appendix F – Narrative Interview Prompts ……………………………………………166

Appendix G – Narrative Landscape Maps……………………………………………...168
LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

1.1. Model of environmental identity formation and influence on environmental actions
developed by this researcher………………………………………………………………….3

1.2. The Contextual Model of Learning, as proposed by Falk & Dierking (2002)……………….8
1.3.a Number of full time staff in each department……………………………………………...21
1.3.b Number of staff by years of employment………………………………………………….21
1.3.c Number of volunteers by department………………………………………………………21
1.3.d Number of volunteers by years of service. ………………………………………………..21
1.4. Each research methodology was used with a smaller sample although all participants came
from the sample from Phase I…………………………………………………………….. 26

2.1 Model of environmental identity formation and influence on environmental actions
developed by this researcher…………………………………………………………………39

2.2 Level of education reported by Phase I participants …………………………………….......43
2.3.a Number of full time staff in each department ……………………………………………..44
2.3.b Number of staff by years of employment …………………………………………………44
2.3.c Number of volunteers by department ……………………………………………………...44
2.3.d Number of volunteers by years of service. ………………………………………………..44
2.4. Common themes as to why staff chose to work and volunteers chose to volunteer at the
OCAq……………………………………..…………………………………………………45

2.5. Environmental Identity Model, which includes Affinity-identities, revised after data
collection and analysis………………..……………………………………………………..57

3.1.a Number of full time staff in each department……………………………...……….……...66
3.1.b Number of staff by years of employment………………………………………………….66
3.1.c Number of volunteers by department………………………………………………………66