Discovering Environmental Literacy: PhD Reflections About My Own Training Process

Abstract

[eng] In this chapter, Olaya describes the journey trajectory that she followed during the development of her thesis. It is narrated according to her own experiences and feelings during the time she was doing her research. It also tries to show how during this process some problems and challenges arose and how she tried to overcome them and what she learnt from these. Olaya’s personal experience reveals that in the end, there is nothing predictable when you conduct your thesis research. This chapter is the narrative of the personal and academic story of a PhD student; her experience and lessons learnt can serve as a guidance for other doctoral students. Olaya begins this chapter discussing how she entered the world of education and research, her childhood experiences and her subsequent academic training. She also narrates how her work experience motivated her to start her research in Environmental Education (EE). Then, she explains how the literature review of her thesis led her into a conceptual framework in EE that was totally new to her, namely that of environmental literacy. This concept laid the foundation for Olaya’s research. Olaya completed her research and training outside her country of origin, which is really central to her PhD story. In her conclusion, Olaya describes what she learnt as a result of the completed process. The chapter ends with a brief summary of Olaya’s research.