## 2 In-Person Communication Strategies
### Field Trips and Immersion Experiences  
Bringing students and adults into nature through field trips is an effective means of improving environmental knowledge and building a connection to natural environments e.g., (Krause, 2019; Krause, 2020; Krause, 2020). Field trips have been shown to positively affect student learning and motivation (Krause, 2020), provide a visual space for students to understand complex environmental concepts (Krause, 2020), promote positive attitudes toward the site where the field trip took place (Krause, 2020), and create lasting impressions that persist into adulthood (Krause, 2020). Field trips are also shown to instill pro-environmental attitudes, boost individual confidence in concepts, and encourage intrinsic motivation to help the environment (Krause, 2020). Of particular importance, formative childhood experiences in nature are often cited by conservation leaders as a key motivating factor to pursue their career paths (Krause, 2020). Bringing people into nature is vital for restoring a connection between people and freshwater ecosystems, and can counter the effects of urbanization (Krause, 2020). Experiential learning focused on place-based engagement is also recognized as an important tool to overcome the human-nature disconnect that leads to many conservation challenges (Krause, 2020). In addition, field trips provide an opportunity to educate national and international tourists as part of ecotourism ventures, which can help instill a conservation ethic in visitors (Krause, 2020). The educational outcomes of ecotourism may be further improved by providing conservation education to local community members who are involved in the tourism activities (Krause, 2020).  
Alternatively, the use of virtual field trips increases the accessibility of immersive experiences and may provide many of the same learning benefits (Krause, 2020). Technologies such as satellite communication, webcams, and interactive websites allow students to directly communicate with scientists or other subject experts, collaborate with students in other schools, or conduct a virtual tour of an ecosystem or specific location. In the context of the  
Figure 1: Conservation outreach festival in Phnom Penh: (**a**) Traditional shadow dance performance depicting a folk tale about a river dolphin; (**b**) a member of Young Eco Ambassador demonstrates an environmental game.  
recent COVID-19 pandemic, such virtual field trips are a way to engage students when in-person interactions must be limited, and best practices and guidelines, e.g., [79; 80], can help educators tailor virtual field trips to specific learning goals and curricula [81]. Compared to other forms of outreach, in-person field trips have a relatively modest reach, as they are only available to engage small groups with the means to participate, and the number of visitors may need to be limited to preserve fragile natural places. In addition, field trips are relatively resource-intensive in terms of the time, effort, and cost to plan, coordinate logistics and transportation, and ensure the safety of participants. However, providing people with direct experiences in natural settings may help participants develop a deeper connection to nature more effectively than other forms of outreach.