How well does nature contact promote academic achievement in geography? The serial multiple mediating effects of sense of place and geospatial thinking

ABSTRACT

Current studies emphasise that nature plays a key role in geography education. However, little research has been devoted to elucidating the underlying mechanisms by which nature contact (NC) influences academic achievement. With the aim of filling this gap, this study provides a serial multiple mediator model that examines how contact with nature promotes academic achievement in geography (AAG) and is further associated with the serial multiple mediating effect of students’ sense of place (SOP) and geospatial thinking (GT). A self-report questionnaire was administered to 885 senior high-school students in China. The results indicated that the positive association between NC and students’ AAG was not only mediated by an SOP and GT but also serially mediated by an SOP and GT. The findings and details are valuable for educational researchers and practising teachers, as they extend our understanding of the factors influencing AAG and how they correlate with geography learning processes.

KEYWORDS:

• Nature contact
• geography education
• sense of place
• geospatial thinking

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the project partners for their contributions and to the schools, teachers and students who participated in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Due to the nature of the data and in order to protect the participants’ anonymity, the data supporting the findings are not publicly available. However, the anonymised data can be obtained upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.

Ethics statement

Ethics approval for this study was granted by the ethics committee of Zhejiang Normal University (ZSRT2023056). School principals provided written consent for school involvement in the overall study. Teachers, students and their caregivers provided voluntary, informed, and written consent prior to participation in surveys.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the National Social Science Fund of China [Grant number BAA180017].