Thank you for viewing our video! Our team spent the last several years researching, developing, and disseminating the PLUM LANDING Explore Outdoors Toolkit, a collection of media, hands-on activities, and training materials that fosters outdoor nature exploration among children and families from urban, low-income communities. We worked with a variety of youth- and family-serving organizations to develop and test materials, with a focus on outdoor prescription programming.

Last year, WGBH and EDC published a summary research report that shares what we learned about leveraging assets in urban communities in order to address needs and overcome barriers to provide children and families with meaningful, outdoor science learning experiences. Currently, Concord Evaluation Group is wrapping up a summative evaluation study that is looking at the Toolkit's impact in afterschool programs, in facilitated family education settings, and among families exploring the Toolkit at home on their own. 

We welcome your comments and questions and are particularly interested in knowing more about your experiences in leading children and families in outdoor environmental science exploration, and in using media and technology to foster engagement with nature.  

Hi 'GBH! You have developed a thoughtful and broad set of education resources for outdoor science targeted to urban educators, families, and students. Thank you for sharing your work. It is fascinating to consider the role of media in motivating outdoor exploration, and of personal exploration motivating the desire to learn more through media, particularly with urban students and families. Does your evaluation work to date speak to this interplay? What are some key features of the media, or key roles of the parent/facilitator, to spark that motivation to get outside and explore?

Thank you for sharing your work! Sounds like you've developed quite a lot of incredible resources for engaging young people in STEM. I especially like the outdoor focus of your work. I am curious how you developed a scalable program to investigate nature in a way that works in all locations and geographical areas. 

I also wonder what the role of the young people and educators were in designing the program. Were they on the design team? If not, how did they give feedback? 

Lastly, how has this program been taken up? Do folks use it? If so, how and in what contexts? Have folks struggled to adopt in in certain contexts over others? 

Hi Jake, I can't seem to reply directly to your comment, so I'll respond here. 

Thank you for your kind words about PLUM LANDING! The project has given a lot of thought to using media to motivate families to get outside and explore nature. Some of the ways we have done this include:

Parent videos: During our initial Needs Assessment, WGBH and EDC learned more about the constraints facing urban parents in exploring the outdoors with their children. We found that there are many reasons families may be reluctant to explore nature in their neighborhoods: Some parents view parks and other outdoor spaces as dangerous places, either because they are actually unsafe or because they fear elements of nature like bees and ticks. Some parents are unaware of the many mental and physical health benefits of getting outsides. Others may not see opportunities to explore nature in their neighborhoods, or may need ideas and encouragement doing so. We created a set of parent videos that provide inspiration and support for families to explore the outdoors with their children. Parents can view these on their own on the PLUM LANDIDNG site, and we also encourage our partner organizations to screen them during community events and share on their social media channels to motivate families to get outdoors with their kids.  

Animated videos: In our research, we found that short, animated videos can spark children’s interest and prepare them for learning by introducing science concepts and stimulating discussion. For example, our hands-on activity Fly It and Spy It asks children and families to go outdoors to look for living things in a small patch of grass. To prepare them for the activity, we suggest they begin by watching Wild, Wild Life, a 3-minute video in which two of the PLUM LANDING characters shrink down to the size of bugs and discover the wildlife that’s living right beneath their feet. We found videos like this to be a motivating segue to get kids to engage in more sustained hands-on outdoor science exploration.

App: As a part of this project, we also created a new app, Outdoor Family Fun with Plum. The app includes over 150 “missions” that prompt families to investigate features common to most urban environments (e.g., leaves, squirrels, pigeons). Each mission makes use of a counter, checklist, or camera device, and contains additional information and discussion prompts to further families’ learning. We found that apps like this can provide a way for families to overcome concerns about time and space for outdoor exploration by integrating collaborative scientific play into their daily routine. For example, in our study, families used the Outdoor Family Fun with PLUM app to explore nature on their walk to and from school, and in the car on their way soccer practice.

As you suggest, once families are engaged in learning about nature, it is our hope that they keep they cycle going by searching out more resources to supplement their learning. This is why, at the end of every activity, we provide ideas for kids and families to “Explore Some More,” including recommendations for additional videos, apps and games, online guides and maps, and citizen science projects.  

Hi Camellia, I asked our digital team to look into this today. Looking back at our analytics data, it appears that when players open a mission in the Outdoor Family Fun with Plum app, about a quarter of the time, it's one they've done before.