Nothing here to care about: participant constructions of nature following a 12-day wilderness program.(Reports & Research)

ABSTRACT: The experience of 8 teenage participants of a 12-day adventure trip was investigated through participant observation and semistructured posttrip interviews. The teen participants conceptualized nature as a place out--there a reality fundamentally different and removed from their home reality of civilization.

The teens understood nature as undisturbed, natural, unfamiliar, without people or human material development, relaxing, not busy, and with a sense of freedom. The teens strongly suggested nature does not exist at home. It appears that, with this construction of nature, ...

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