2023/02/07 by L. Shenk, Linda Shenk, James Eells +2
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Agricultural Innovations and Practices #Diverse Educational Innovations Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.2489/jswc.2023.00129
openalex publication_date 2023/02/07 · crossref created 2023/02/07 · crossref issued 2023/05/01 · crossref published 2023/05/01 · crossref published-online 2023/05/01 · crossref published-print 2023/05/01 · crossref deposited 2025/06/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/07/30 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Current conservation outreach largely focuses on single-day, presentation-heavy events typically addressed to farmers, mostly men. Our project created a multisession learning circle series for a cohort of women landowners that introduced conservation education through storytelling and a more conversation-driven format. Its objective was to build relationships that would empower women landowners to take action. Its outcomes, however, far exceeded expectations. The program’s facilitators and the women landowner-participants not only built relationships of action but also developed a partnership that resembles what researchers call a cognitive ecology. This cognitive ecology involves collaboration among diverse and equal partners who expand each other’s thinking and capacity, use tools and technologies to extend cognition (maps, soil tests, lease agreements, and simulation models), and interact with the environment. As a cognitive ecology, our group—facilitators and women landowners—produced this article together, as coauthors. Our collaboration offers a storytelling- and exchange-based framework to engage individuals whose needs have not been fully met through conventional programming. Our preliminary findings suggest that conservation programming might better empower a larger range of underinvolved stakeholders by offering multisession programming that builds an ecosystem of relationships for action.