Skip to main content

Cohort 1: Robert

Robert, PreK

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


Demographic Information

  • Ethnicity: White/Caucasian
  • DOB: August, 2014
  • Gender: Male
  • Birthplace: Fairbanks, AK
  • Family Members: Father, Mother, Brother (age 2)
  • Years Parent Lived in Alaska: 40
  • Parent’s feeling about place lived: (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 Robert’s mother)

  • Family Outdoor Activities:
    (Ranked frequently and almost always)
    • Go to playground or park (in city/town/village)
    • Go to sports field (soccer, baseball, etc.)
    • Motorbike or 4-wheel (for recreation)
    • Garden or greenhouse 
  • Child’s Outdoor Activities:
    (Ranked frequently and almost always)
    • Make believe/free play (outdoors summer)
    • Play ball
    • Pick flowers
    • Look for bugs
    • Hide and seek
    • Play with dog
    • Jump on trampoline
    • Swim or water play
    • Free play outside (winter)
  • Favorite Family Activity (Written response): "Walking/hiking"
  • Child’s Favorite Summer Activity (Written response): “Free play outdoors"
  • Child’s Favorite Winter Activity (Written response): “Playing in the snow sledding"
  • Description of outdoor experience when child was afraid/scared (Written response): “N/A”
  • Description of outdoor experience when child was excited/happy (Written response): “Just started to ride a bike"

Source: Family Survey, Fall 2018 (completed by Robert’s mother)

Child's Drawings

Child's drawing: Slide, boys

Fall 2018

Title: Playing on the slide

Child quotes:

“On the slide”

“My friends”

Family Feedback: Robert’s mother writes that he “plays at the playground on family outings on the weekends and with his grandparents in the afternoons.” She writes that he plays with “mom, dad, brother, grandma and grandpa,” “at parks and school playgrounds,” “during the summer once/twice a week.” She says that “he enjoys the playground time.”

Spring 2019

Title: Snowball fight

Child quotes:

“Throw snowball fight”

“So persons can throw them at evil persons and persons they can throw at the persons that started it they can throw at the persons, they can throw at the person that has snowballs.”

“Sometimes after school I go sledding with my brother.”

“Grandpa and grandma and my dad and my mom and my brother and me!”

“I like them [snowballs] because I like to have snowball fights”

“This is the ice mountain.”

Family Feedback: N/A

Child's drawing: The boardwalk and the river is blue. I am drawing the trees.
Fall 2018
Child drawing: A little forest, deep snow, a dragon, remote, tv at my house, my dad (tall legs), Sky (Paw Patrol)
Spring 2019
Child's drawing: I am worried about the tree because the branches are so long"
Fall 2018

Spring 2019: No drawing

Fall 2018
Class Nature Tour Video Highlights

Emotional and Behavioral Points of Interest:

Experienced tensions in navigating tall grass: misconception in tall grass “some of them are killed…so we can step on them”; expressed fear in tall grass "it's very spooky in here"; singing song about farmhouse to navigate tall grass; felt lost in tall grass, "we're lost, let's go out here."

Expressed excitement when getting back to farmhouse.

Learning how to climb tree: falls when climbing tree; expressed uncertainty in climbing tree, “I can’t climb one…"; used self-talk to gain confidence for climbing tree, ”I need to climb one…”

Spring 2019
Class Nature Tour Video Highlights

Emotional and Behavioral Points of Interest:

Sticks as weapons, expressed fear of “trees that fall,” explores deep puddle

Child Reflections on Educational Activities

“Nothing.” (Answer to “What did you learn about sandhill cranes?”)

“Hunting for wolves, fighting for wolves, fight them with our swords.”

“I saw my dad and I saw moose nuggets. I had a stick that was doing this. Screwing it in the ground. I used it to fight with bigger wolves.”

“I runned up to Matthew. It was hard because the snow was deep. I saw my dad on the easy trail. I saw moose poop.”

“I saw Samantha’s dad swing her.”

“Not on ice where water is. Stay where there is snow.”

“I learned that the farmers don’t live there anymore.”


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