Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
A review of walk-and-talk conversations with children as a research method
Jönköping University, School of Education and Communication, HLK, Sustainable Societies (SUS), Sustainability Education Research (SER). Department of Pedagogical, Curricular and Professional Studies, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5432-6418
2024 (English)In: Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, ISSN 1472-9679, E-ISSN 1754-0402Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]

This review of research publications in the period 1989–2021 examines both advantages and limitations of walking methodologies used as a research method, aiming to serve education researchers contemplating using the approach with children. Walking methodologies combine walking with verbal and non-verbal communication, such as body language or photography, and are particularly useful to study how children and young people relate to their environment, as well as for research on experiential and outdoor education. Advantages mentioned in the reviewed studies included improved communication, enhanced memory and reducing power imbalances. Challenges included group dynamics, possible exclusion based on disability or language, practical issues such as distractions, and power imbalances or limited relationship capital. Child-led walks, distractions, effects of the weather, and influence of place or the children’s interest on conversation topics reduced the researcher’s control over the research process, while at the same time offering greater agency for the children.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Taylor & Francis, 2024.
Keywords [en]
Walking methods, walk-and-talk conversations, children’s perspectives, power issues in research with children, non-verbal and situated communication
National Category
Didactics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-57181DOI: 10.1080/14729679.2024.2404656ISI: 001314333300001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85204096128Local ID: HOA;;1669809OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hj-57181DiVA, id: diva2:1669809
Note

Included in licentiate thesis in manuscript form.

Available from: 2022-06-15 Created: 2022-06-15 Last updated: 2024-09-27
In thesis
1. Skogsträdgårdsvistelser ur barns perspektiv – Speglat under samtalspromenader
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Skogsträdgårdsvistelser ur barns perspektiv – Speglat under samtalspromenader
2022 (Swedish)Licentiate thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

The licentiate thesis examines what spending time in a forest garden can offer children when this environment is used for teaching aimed at sustainability. What do the children remember from their visits to the forest garden? What do they find special or memorable? What can the children learn there? To answer such questions, walk-and-talk conversations were conducted with children who for a three-year period had regularly visited a forest garden during school hours.

The overall purpose of the licentiate thesis is to deepen knowledge about what spending time in a forest garden in a school context can offer children, reflected from the children's perspectives. Furthermore, the thesis aims to deepen knowledge about walk-and-talk conversations as a data collection method when children are respondents. This leads to the research questions:

1. In what ways can walk-and-talk conversations as a data collection method reflect children's perspectives in an environment and in relation to places? What are the possibilities and limitations of the method?

2. What significance do forest garden visits in a pedagogical context aimed at learning for sustainability have from the children's perspective?

The theoretical starting points of the licentiate thesis draw on social studies of childhood, ecological literacy and affordances. Another concept that emerged in the analysis process was plant blindness. Data consisted of audio-recorded walk-and-talk conversations, children's photographs and recorded informal, supplementary interviews. A total of 28 children (11 boys and 17 girls) participated in sub-studies II and III. The children were aged 7-9 years, but most were 9 years old.

The licentiate thesis consists of three sub-studies:

Sub-study I is a literature review that focuses on opportunities, limitations, and challenges in using walk-and-talk conversations as a data collection method with children and young people. Walk-and-talk conversations can increase opportunities to capture children's perspectives and help to reduce power imbalances between children and researchers. However, analysing data from child-led walks and conversations can be challenging, while awareness of the researcher's own position and assumptions becomes particularly important.

Sub-study II deals with the forest garden from children’s perspective. The first category, ‘to appreciate the place the forest garden’, contained the following themes: physical work, relationships with animals and plants, aesthetic and edible aspects and food, and friends. Most of the children enjoyed staying in the forest garden with its natural features. They valued the care of living organisms and felt that spending time in the forest garden was fun and exciting. In the second category, ‘aspects of learning in the forest garden’, the following themes emerged; practical skills, coexistence and caring, and biological knowledge and ecological understanding.

Sub-study III deals with the four most photographed phenomena in the forest garden. The first were the plants, including trees and shrubs, which provided sensual, aesthetic and emotional affordances. The second was the pond, which provided physical affordances and wishes, while the third, the barbecue area, provided social affordances. Finally, the tipi provided affordances for privacy and imagination.

To conclude: children's forest garden visits, with learning and nature encounters, can contribute to sustainable development. The investigated forest garden was an outdoor environment designed for children with natural features and with a focus on organic farming, where the forest garden educators helped to create a framework for both learning and relational opportunities. Developing ecological literacy in the new generation is a crucial concern, and the results of the licentiate thesis suggest that establishing educational outdoor environments where children receive parts of their education can contribute to the development of such literacy. The creation of outdoor environments for children is thus an important sustainability issue.

Abstract [sv]

Licentiatuppsatsen undersöker vad skogträdgårdsvistelser kan erbjuda barn när en sådan miljö används för undervisning riktad mot hållbarhet. Det övergripande syfte är att fördjupa kunskap om vad skogsträdgårdsvistelser i en skolkontext kan tillföra barn, speglat utifrån barnens perspektiv. Vidare syftar uppsatsen till att fördjupa kunskaper om samtalspromenader som datainsamlingsmetod när barn är respondenter.

Licentiatuppsatsens teoretiska utgångspunkter tar avstamp i barndomssociologi (Social Studies of Childhood), ekologisk litteracitet och affordances. Ett annat begrepp som framkom efter analysprocessen var växtblindhet. Den undersökta skogsträdgården, var en natur- och utomhusmiljö med inriktning mot ekologisk odling designad för barn, där skogsträdgårdspedagogernas pedagogiska inramning bidrog till att skapa både pedagogiska och relationella möjligheter. Metodvalet har varit ljudupptagna samtalspromenader, barns fotografier samt inspelade informella, kompletterande intervjuer.

Sammanfattningsvis visar resultaten att barns skogsträdgårdsvistelser, lärande och naturmöten bidra till hållbar utveckling. Utvecklandet av ekologisk litteracitet hos den uppväxande generationen måste betraktas som central, och licentiatuppsatsens resultat pekar mot att anläggandet av pedagogiska utomhusmiljöer där barn får delar av sin undervisning kan bidra till utvecklandet av sådan litteracitet. Tillskapandet av utomhusmiljöer för barn är därför en viktig hållbarhetsfråga.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Jönköping: Jönköping University, School of Education and Communication, 2022. p. 122
Series
Forskningsrapporter från Högskolan för lärande och kommunikation ; 023
Keywords
Forest Garden, Social Studies of Childhood, Children’s Perspectives, Walk-and-Talk Conversations, Ecological Literacy, Affordances, Plant Blindness
National Category
Pedagogy Environmental Sciences
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-57183 (URN)978-91-88339-54-6 (ISBN)978-91-88339-55-3 (ISBN)
Presentation
2022-09-07, Hb116, Högskolan för lärande och kommunikation, Jönköping, 13:15 (Swedish)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2022-06-15 Created: 2022-06-15 Last updated: 2024-05-07Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textScopus

Authority records

Hammarsten, Maria

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Hammarsten, Maria
By organisation
Sustainability Education Research (SER)
In the same journal
Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning
Didactics

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 783 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf