Student emotional response to the lesser kestrel environmental and sustainability education program

Abstract Emotion is a central aspect for protecting the environment in environmental and sustainability education (ESE). As such, positive emotions toward nature can increase motivation to learn and take environmental action. This qualitative case study explored the complex interrelationship among place-based education, emotions and values related to ESE, academic social and emotional learning, and explored the situated notion of emotions in the context of environmental citizenship. The emotions of 59 fifth-grade students, who were engaged in a program to protect the Lesser Kestrel, were explored. The findings suggest that the outcomes of the Lesser Kestrel program were complex and mostly positive in activating students’ emotions. The results indicate that ESE programs should focus on situated emotions, due to their important role in promoting powerful learning experiences and environmental citizenship, which may mitigate the environmental crisis, along with moral issues that affect the well-being of the individual, and social and natural environments.