Youth4LandCare

Empowering Young People to Engage with Mt Tamborine Landcare Reserves

This project is about increasing young people's participation in Landcare reserves on Tamborine Mountain. Landcare reserves on Tamborine Mountain are interwoven in communities, yet children and young people's awareness of and participation in these sites is largely unknown. The project is about working with children and young people as co-researchers in understanding young people's perspectives and experiences of Tamborine Mountain Landcare reserves.

From that research footing, SCU researchers and co-researchers will co-design resources to position these sites as everyday neighbourhood spaces in order to increase participation.

This project is highly significant because of national and international research reporting rapid declines in young people's participation in natural environments.

Project Objectives

In the last ten years there has been a rapid resurgence in supporting 'nature play' in education and community settings. Research about young people and nature (or childhoodnature as we frame it) is seriously lacking. We invite 100 children and young people (7-14 years of age) to participate in this nationally funded research project as co-researchers to:

1

Understand and map
the diversity of children and young people's (7-14 years) 'awareness of, attitudes towards and participation in' Mt Tamborine Landcare reserves;

2

Develop and disseminate child-framed support resources that increase children and young people's awareness and participation in Mt Tamborine landcare reserve sites as everyday ecological learning spaces in their local neighbourhoods; and

3

Network and empower children and young people (7-14 years of age) to increase their awareness and participation in Mt Tamborine landcare reserve sites.