From Fleeting Glimpses to Deep Rootedness: Reconstructing the Core of Nature Education through Place-Based Study Travel
Abstract
travel have increasingly revealed tendencies toward formalization, homogenization, and utilitarianism in practice. These tendencies
have produced an imbalance in which students are physically present without truly entering the learning experience, encounter objects
without constructing understanding, and participate in learning without genuine growth. This study synthesizes the practical dilemmas
of contemporary nature-based study travel and proposes place-based study travel as an important pathway for reconstructing the core of
nature education. The study argues that place-based study travel is not simply a matter of relocating activities to nearby settings; rather,
it is grounded in local natural ecology, vernacular culture, and the realities of everyday life. Through long-term observation, immersive
experience, inquiry into authentic problems, and reflective expression, it enables learners to develop stable connections with nature,
a sense of place, and ecological responsibility. Building on this argument, the paper further proposes practical pathways in terms of
resource integration, curriculum design, modes of organization, mentor preparation, evaluation systems, and collaborative governance.
It also emphasizes that digital technologies should function as auxiliary tools for observation, documentation, and analysis rather than
substitutes for direct experience in nature. Compared with the conventional model of nature-based study travel centered on long-dis
tance travel, site check-ins, and one-way explanations, place-based study travel is more likely to return nature education from knowl
edge transmission to the generation of experience, from short-term activities to long-term cultivation, and from landscape consumption
to authentic educational practice.
Keywords
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.70711/wef.v3i11.9332
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