Children and Young People's Experience of the Natural World: Teachers' Perceptions and Observations

Fägerstam, Emilia

doi:10.1017/aee.2012.2

Cited by 28 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Coinciding with the findings of previous studies (Fägerstam, 2012;Gilberston, 2012), happiness is the emotion most frequently attributed to the images of natural environments (landscapes). The higher frequency of attributions of happiness may be the result of feelings of agreeableness generated by the recall of pervious experiences in similar settings, which reinforces, as posited in the theory of connectedness to nature, the importance of contact with nature for the development of positive emotional traits (Mayer and Frantz, 2004;Schultz and Tabanico, 2007;Mayer et al, 2009;Olivos and Clayton, 2017;Mena et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Biophilia and Biophobia as Emotional Attribution to Nature in Children of 5 Years Old

et al. 2020

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Introduction: Connectedness to nature is a concept that reflects the emotional relationship between the self and the natural environment, based on the theory of biophilia, the innate predisposition to the natural environment. However, the biophobic component has largely been ignored, despite, given its adaptive functional role, being an essential part of the construct. If there is a phylogenetic component underlying nature connectedness, biophilic, and/or biophobic, there should be evidence of this record from early childhood. The main aim of this study is therefore to describe the emotional attributions identified in 5 years old. Methodology: Two studies were conducted. In the first, 94 children expressed their concept of nature and made basic emotional attributions to a set of 30 images of natural, using a software designed for the study. In the second, 39 children repeated the procedure and provided explanations for their responses. Results: The main results show that, in general, children use both positive and negative emotions, which may be related to a three-dimensional model of emotional attributions to nature. The most widely attributed emotion is happiness. However, fear is the second most common attribution. The role of happiness could be explained by a feeling of security and familiarity, while the importance of fear in nature could show an adaptive response of the fear of wild nature in children. This interpretation could be confirmed when analyzing specifically the emotional attributions, classifying the images according to biological and ecosystemic criteria. Thus, for example, more emotional attributions are explained by the "pleasantness" attributed to primary producers and landscapes (e.g., flora), versus attributions of "harm" to the images of secondary and tertiary consumers (e.g., hunters). Conclusion: These results provide evidence in favor of a didactic procedure to study emotional attributions to images of nature in preschool children. They suggest the incorporation of biophobia as an important adaptive factor in connectedness to nature and a tripartite emotional hypothesis based on the valences of the attributed emotions.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Biophilia and Biophobia as Emotional Attribution to Nature in Children of 5 Years Old

et al. 2020

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“…This supposition has supported a range of popular and academic claims about the importance of children's connections with nature – whether in terms of physical, embodied learning, play or presence in forests or other natural spaces, or children's understanding of natural processes (especially the production, management and divestment of resources like water, energy and food). Thus, a range of studies and systematic reviews have demonstrated the positive outcomes for children and young people of better connectedness with nature in terms of: improved self‐esteem, behaviour, creativity and empathy (Faber Taylor & Kuo, ); diverse developmental characteristics and performance in standardised educational tests (Armour & Sandford, ; Austin et al., ); the adoption of pre‐environmental knowledges and behaviours (sometimes termed “biophilia”; Fägerstam, ; Payne, ); participation and social inclusion in “local” communities (Wake & Birdsall, ); varied health outcomes, ranging from reduced prevalence of obesity (Durand et al., ) to improved cell ageing profiles (Olafsdottir et al., ) and from improved mental health (Biddle & Asare, ) to lower allergy rates (Chawla, ).…”

Section: (Re)thinking (Re)connection: Childhoods–natures and Nexus Thmentioning

confidence: 99%

(Re)thinking (re)connection: Young people, “natures” and the water–energy–food nexus in São Paulo State, Brazil

Kraftl

Balestieri

Campos

et al. 2018

Trans Inst British Geog

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This paper critically analyses pervasive contemporary discourses that call for children and young people to be “reconnected” with nature and natural resources. Simultaneously, it reflects on emerging forms of nexus thinking and policy that seek to identify and govern connections between diverse sectors, and especially water, energy and food. Both of these fields of scholarship are concerned with connections, of different kinds, and at different spatial scales. Based on a large‐scale, mixed‐method research project in São Paulo State, Brazil, this paper explores how these rather different literatures could be combined in order to (re)think notions of (re)connection that operate across different spatial, political and material registers. Through research with Brazilian professionals and young people about their experiences of, and learning about, the water–energy–food nexus, the paper makes several substantive contributions to scholarship on childhood, youth, environmental education and nexus thinking. Centrally, it is argued that, rather than dispense with them, there are manifold possibilities for expanding and complicating notions of (re)connection, which rely on a more nuanced analysis of the logistical, technical, social and political contexts in which nexuses are constituted. Thus, our work flips dominant forms of nexus thinking by privileging a “bottom‐up” analysis of (especially) young people's everyday, embodied engagements with water, food and energy. Our resultant findings indicated that young people are “connected” with natures and with the water–energy–food nexus, in both fairly conventional ways and in ways that significantly extend beyond contemporary discourses about childhoods–natures (and particularly in articulating the importance of care and community). Consequently, the nexus approach that is advocated in this paper could enable more nuanced, politically aware conceptualisations of (re)connection, both within and beyond scholarship on childhoods–natures and nexus thinking.

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“…Despite two decades of environmental education, it is reported that many children fear actually being in nature (Fagerstam 2012). Most students experience nature vicariously through reading, television, and the classroom (Kellert 1996).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Depictions of sustainability in children’s books

Muthukrishnan

Kelley

2016

Environ Dev Sustain

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Images in children's books can leave a more lasting impression in young learners' minds than text. Therefore, it is important for children's books to use images as a teaching tool, especially regarding global issues such as environmental sustainability. This study examined how the images in nonfiction children's books approach the topic of sustainability and whether these images support the overall goals of environmental education. We selected seven easy-to-access trade books which yielded 384 images for analysis. Two coders analyzed the images according to the following categories: (a) gender and age, (b) actions of people, (c) depictions of nature, (d) depictions of objects, (e) structures, and (f) habitation. Results show that nearly half of the images (48 %) depicted non-natural objects (16 %) or humans (31 %). One half of the images portrayed humans as consumers. Gender bias was evident, with 33 % of females portrayed as consumers and only 16 % of males portrayed as consumers. Similarly, 12 % of the images with males showed them engaged in recycling behavior, while only 4 % of the images showed females recycling. Of the 32 % of images depicting nature, individual plants rather than ecosystems were portrayed. Depictions of man-made systems predominated the images, a surprising finding. No images established the connection between consumerism and the depletion of natural resources or pollution, and further sustainable actions or lifestyles were not portrayed, implying that consumption is a societal norm. We conclude with recommendations for the use of images in children's literature focusing on environmental education and sustainability.

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Children and Young People's Experience of the Natural World: Teachers' Perceptions and Observations

Cited by 28 publications

References 34 publications

Biophilia and Biophobia as Emotional Attribution to Nature in Children of 5 Years Old

Biophilia and Biophobia as Emotional Attribution to Nature in Children of 5 Years Old

(Re)thinking (re)connection: Young people, “natures” and the water–energy–food nexus in São Paulo State, Brazil

Depictions of sustainability in children’s books

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