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Cohort 1: Jessica

Jessica, PreK

Year 1, Cohort 1, Non-Rural Alaska
Child-Nature Points of Interest (2018-2019)


Demographic Information

  • Ethnicity: White/Caucasian
  • DOB: November, 2013
  • Gender: Female
  • Birthplace: Fairbanks, AK
  • Family Members: Father, Stepmother, Mother, Stepfather, Sister (age 12), Sister (age 10), Sister (age 10), Brother (age 1)
  • Years Parent Lived in Alaska: 6
  • Parent’s feeling about place lived: 10 (1-10 rating; 10=extremely happy, 1=extremely unhappy)
  • House Location(s) in Fairbanks: Outside Fairbanks City Limits

Source: Family Survey, Fall 2018 (completed by Jessica’s father)

  • Family Outdoor Activities:
    Ranked frequently and almost always)
    • Tend to animals or livestock
  • Child’s Outdoor Activities:
    (Ranked frequently and almost always)
    • Bike, scooter, or skate
    • Make-believe/free play (outdoors summer)
    • Play ball
    • Build forts 
    • Pick flowers
    • Hide and seek
    • Play with dog
    • Swim or water play
    • Collect/Find things
    • Build snowman, snow forts, snowballs
    • Free play outside (winter)
    • Sled
  • Favorite Family Activity (Written response): "4-wheeling"
  • Child’s Favorite Summer Activity (Written response): “Fishing"
  • Child’s Favorite Winter Activity (Written response): “Building snowmen/sledding"
  • Description of outdoor experience when child was afraid/scared (Written response): “Tubing when it starts to go under."
  • Description of outdoor experience when child was excited/happy (Written response): “Fishing in Wisconsin."

Source: Family Survey, Fall 2018 (completed by Jessica’s father)

Child's Drawings

Child's drawing: fire, trees, stick figures

Fall 2018

Summer Activity

Title: Having a campfire

Child quotes:

“Probably in like fireplaces and stuff and maybe just outside too. I have a fire pit at my dad’s house, but now we’re moving, so we have to leave our fire pit there.”

“There’s trees and stuff”

Family Feedback: Jessica’s father writes they have campfires “when camping or sometimes in our backyard” and at “typically Birch or Harding Lake or Angel Rocks.” He writes Jessica has campfires “5-10 times during the summer” and that she does this with “family/parents, siblings.”


Child's Drawing: Family, sledding hill, Trees

Spring 2019

Winter Activity 

Title: Having a campfire

Child quotes:

“Probably in like fireplaces and stuff and maybe just outside too. I have a fire pit at my dad’s house, but now we’re moving, so we have to leave our fire pit there.”

“There’s trees and stuff”

Family Feedback: Jessica’s father writes they have campfires “when camping or sometimes in our backyard” and at “typically Birch or Harding Lake or Angel Rocks.” He writes Jessica has campfires “5-10 times during the summer” and that she does this with “family/parents, siblings.”

Child's drawing: Bridge with people and water
Fall 2018
Child's drawing: things she saw at Creamer's field in the summer ) Flowers, water, bugs, etc.
Spring 2019
Child's drawing: there was a bridge and it was really tippy
Fall 2018
Child's drawing: Almost fell in the ice when I was crossing the bridge
Spring 2019

Fall 2018
Class Nature Tour Video Highlights

Emotional and Behavioral Points of Interest:

Connected water to fishing; Observed cranes "it's a crane party"; Sought to protect cranes - telling others, “Don’t disturb them”; Observant of nature (moose, mushrooms, fish, frogs)

Spring 2019
Class Nature Tour Video Highlights

Emotional and Behavioral Points of Interest:

Uncertainty about environment- entering/quickly exiting thicket, climbing trees; Uses stick as tool, breaking ice and walking stick for grandmother; expresses disdain towards muddy pinecone

Child Reflections on Education Activities

Child Quotes:

“The cranes eat cereal.”

“They [sandhill cranes] know each other from long time ago because they be together.”

Child Quotes:

“I found a lot of tracks. There was one track that had fur by it that faded into colors. I had fun in the thicket.”

“I had fun finding two sticks. I had fun covering the number 1 and 7 (signs) and there was a bug that was a baby spider then we killed it.”

“My friend Amanda and me got through the snow and it was fun and also Brittany.”

“That it is a big responsibility to be there. And keep your eyes peeled for birds.”

“So being in the tree is a big responsibility and you have to be safe. There might be birds with nests.”

“Can go explore places in the puddles and have fun and splash. Can’t go, where I can’t go is on the lake because it might not be thick and I would fall in and I would be scared.”


This project is funded by the National Science Foundation. Award # 1753399, CAREER: A longitudinal study of the emotional and behavioral processes of Environmental Identity Development among rural and non-rural Alaskan children