Enhancing Nature Connection and Positive Affect in Children through Mindful Engagement with Natural Environments

Nature connection, which describes a positive relationship between humans and the rest of nature, has been recognised as a worthwhile goal of all education. Given its association with wellbeing, as well as the fact that it can predict ecological behaviours in children, there have been several calls for it to become central to environmental education, and an important tool in tackling climate change. Previous research has reported the success of short-term interventions in increasing nature connection in children, but to date no empirical studies have looked at how mindful engagement with nature can promote both nature connection and positive affect. This study took place in a nature reserve in Wales and included n = 74 children, aged 9–10, who took part in three mindful activities. Pre- and post- measures included nature connection and positive/negative affect. Analysis showed a significant small to medium effect of the activity on nature connection. Moreover, positive affect significantly increased post-activity, while negative affect showed a small decrease.

Gateways to New Learnings: Walking to Re/Vision an International Practicum

We engage in a creative exploration of the ways in which a walk provided us with insights into how we might enhance the curriculum for a teacher education international practicum in Italy. Drawing from a currere framework, we shifted to mindful walking, and we tell our story in three parts that represent the various stages of our mindful engagement: intention; attention; and attitude. Walking in this way provided the impetus for us to re-examine the curriculum of the international practicum. We argue that mindful walking has the potential to increase observation skills and open up ways to develop deeper cultural connections in an international practicum. We consider what those connections could do to enhance the practicum and our teacher candidates’ experience.

Mindful Engagement Mediates the Relationship Between Motivational Climate Perceptions and Coachability for Male High School Athletes

The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating role of mindful engagement in the relationship between male high school athletes’ motivational climate perceptions on their teams (i.e., caring, task-, and ego-involving climate) to athlete coachability. Athletes (N = 164, Mage = 15.58 years) from multiple sports completed measures assessing mindful engagement in sport (Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale—Revised), Caring Climate Scale, task- and ego-involving climate perceptions (Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire), and coachability (Athletic Coping Skills Inventory). Initial bivariate correlations linked mindful engagement and coachability positively with perceptions of a caring and task-involving climate and negatively with ego-involving climate perceptions. Structural equation modeling analyses then revealed mindful engagement mediated the relationship between climate and coachability. Encouraging coaches and players to foster a caring/task-involving climate might assist in enhancing athletes’ mindful engagement in sport, which may positively influence the degree to which they are coachable.

Performing Virtual Pilgrimage: Somaesthetics and Holy Land Devotion at San Vivaldo

Chapter Four examines the somaesthetic experience of the Nuova Gerusalemme di San Vivaldo, a virtual holy land that was constructed by Franciscan friars from Florence in a Tuscan forest in the first decade of the sixteenth century. Designed to emulate key aspects of the Renaissance experience of Jerusalem, San Vivaldo offered a performative space for pilgrims to construct personalized memories of the Holy Land without ever touching its soil. The chapter investigates the affective enhancement of devotion through somaesthetic conditioning and questions the Franciscan founders’ political motivations for building such an interactive and full-bodied experience of the Holy Land, particularly in the period after the Medici were exiled from the city and Fra Girolamo Savonarola burned at the stake. As the chapter reveals, the mindful engagement with the artistic program was an effective strategy to legitimate both the place and the whose practiced it.

Exploring rural palliative care patients’ experiences of accessing psychosocial support through telehealth: A longitudinal approach

In this research, we explore the experiences of rural palliative care patients receiving psychosocial support through telehealth. A longitudinal approach considered how experiences vary over time. Three patients with a terminal cancer diagnosis were given a laptop to access psychosocial support via telehealth over three months. Semi-structured interviews were conducted at monthly intervals. Interpretative phenomenological analysis identified four themes: Deepening understanding through unburdened and continuous connections; the ever-present paradox of visible and invisible telehealth; insight into the holistic self: from barrier to facilitator; and, the immediate change from unnecessary distraction to mindful engagement. Findings challenge previous conclusions regarding the inability of telehealth to support meaningful relationships, and instead provide novel insights to explain why enabling rural palliative care patients to access support from home is supportive for their wellbeing and the quality of healthcare relationships. Our conclusions question whether the indirect benefits of telehealth could also offer a valuable way of accessing health services beyond a palliative care setting.

The Role of Mindfulness Approaches in Integrative Medicine

Patients today frequently present with conditions caused by or aggravated by stress, lifestyle, and behavior. The number of patients with one or more chronic illnesses has increased worldwide, and lifestyle and behavior frequently contribute to these chronic conditions. Biomedical care fails to address many of the behavioral, lifestyle, and environmental factors causing and aggravating these conditions. The article proposes that integrative healthcare is better suited than biomedicine to address the biopsychosocial aspect of modern illness. In addition, mindfulness-based coping and mindfulness meditation are introduced as valuable tools for integrative medicine and integrative practitioners. The article introduces the concepts of the mindful practitioner, the mindful treatment encounter, mindful engagement of the patient, and mindfulness as treatment.

Reform in a general chemistry laboratory: how do students experience change in the instructional approach?

This qualitative study investigated the experience of a cohort of students exposed consecutively to two substantially different environments in their General Chemistry Laboratory programme. To this end, the first semester in a traditional expository programme was followed by a semester in a cooperative, problem-based, multi-week format. The focus on the experience of a change in the laboratory format is complementary understanding to that from participants exposed to a single format. This work used a phenomenological approach for the reduction, analysis, and interpretation of data gathered from semi-structured student interviews. Through deep analysis, five researchers distilled an outcome space with three fundamental features: (1) ten vectors of change that served as lens to analyse the phenomenon; (2) participants' ability to accurately characterise and differentiate the two instructional environments; and (3) an overarching descriptor that argues that a transition from mindless behaviour to mindful engagement subsumed the experience of a change in the laboratory environment. This outcome space is independent of participants' instructional style preferences. Findings from this work inform the design of laboratory experiences furthering the potential realisation of experimental education at the same time when they extend understanding of learning in the chemistry laboratory.