Experiencing nature and children’s conceptualizations of the natural world

Collado, Sílvia; Íñiguez-Rueda, Lupicinio; Corraliza, José Antonio

doi:10.1080/14733285.2016.1190812

Cited by 45 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 26 publications

(40 reference statements)

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“…Many children in our study expressed strong positive feelings about spending time in the forest garden, and some of them also talked in more general terms about their appreciation of spending time in 'nature'. Research shows that students' perceptions of the term 'nature' depend on socioeconomic factors, gender, previous experiences of nature, age/cognitive development and influences from media (Collado, Íñiguez-Rueda, & Corraliza, 2016;Rickinson, 2001). Children mostly see themselves as separate from the natural world (Payne, 1998;Phenice & Griffore, 2003), but at the same time, they often have a clear sense of the connection between themselves, natural processes and other aspects of the natural world (Bonnett & Williams, 1998).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing ecological literacy in a forest garden: children’s perspectives

Hammarsten

Askerlund

Almers

et al. 2018

Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning

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Today, cities become more dense, green spaces disappear and children spend less time outdoors. Research suggests that these conditions create health problems and lack of ecological literacy. To reverse such trends, localities are creating urban green spaces for children to visit during school time. Drawing on ideas in ecological literacy, this study investigates school children's perspectives on a forest garden, a type of outdoor educational setting previously only scarcely researched. Data were collected through walk-and-talk conversations and informal interviews with 28 children aged 7 to 9. Many children in the study expressed strong positive feelings about the forest garden, the organized and spontaneous activities there, and caring for the organisms living there. We observed three aspects of learning in the data, potentially beneficial for the development of children's ecological literacy: practical competence, learning how to co-exist and care, and biological knowledge and ecological understanding.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing ecological literacy in a forest garden: children’s perspectives

Hammarsten

Askerlund

Almers

et al. 2018

Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning

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“…The possible positive impact of direct and visual contact with non-human animals on people’s pro-environmentalism also needs further consideration [see Young et al (2018) for a review]. Finally, the word nature can have different meanings for people from different cultures (Wohlwill, 1983; Collado et al, 2016; Profice, 2018) and as such the definition of experiences in nature should take into account participants’ cultural background. For instance, some people may consider humans are part of nature while others may not (Wohlwill, 1983; Mayer and Frantz, 2004) and differences in the esthetic perception of nature have consequences for biodiversity protection (Williams and Cary, 2002).…”

Section: Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experiences in Nature and Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors: Setting the Ground for Future Research

2019

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There is empirical evidence suggesting a positive link between direct experiences in nature and people’s environmental attitudes (EA) and behaviors (EB). This has led researchers to encourage more frequent contact with nature, especially during childhood, as a way of increasing pro-environmentalism (i.e., pro-EA and pro-EB). However, the association between experiences in nature and EA/EB is complex, and specific guidelines for people’s everyday contact with nature cannot be provided. This article offers an overview of the research conducted until know about the relation between experiences in nature and pro-environmentalism, and opens up new inquiries for future research. We begin with an introduction to people’s current tendency toward an alienation from the natural world and set out the objectives of the article. It is followed by three main sections. The first one reports on what experiences in nature refer to, how and where they occur. The second section describes the different approaches used to investigate and interpret the experiences in nature-EA and EB relation. The last section provides suggestions for future research. We close by making some final remarks about the importance of (re)stablishing a greater interaction with nature for people’s pro-EA and EB.

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“…daily life) for 8-to 16-year-old children (see also Elliot et al, 2014). Collado, Íñiguez-Rueda and Corraliza (2016) studied the effects of children's daily experiences of nature on their conceptualization of the natural world. They found that children from rural settings, who had more direct experience with nature, were more likely to engage in conversations about nature than children from urban environments (see also Genovart, Tavecchia, Enseñat, & Laiolo, 2013).…”

Section: 'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant Yourself Where Language Blooms: Direct Experience of Nature Changes How Parents and Children Talk about Nature

Cameron-Faulkner¹,

Macdonald²,

Serratrice³

et al. 2017

Children, Youth and Environments

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The current study investigated the affordances of direct and indirect experience of nature on parent-child talk. Parents and children produced a wider range of nature words when exploring a park (direct experience) than when exploring a thematicallymatched indoor visitor center (indirect experience). Parents and children also produced more plant-related nature word types when exploring the park compared to the visitor center. Direct experience of nature increases the diversity and specificity of parent-child talk about nature, and mitigates the phenomenon of 'plant blindness' (cf. Wandersee & Schussler, 1999). Direct experience of nature provides an optimal context for children to learn the language of nature and consequently to cultivate children's status as custodians of the natural world.

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Experiencing nature and children’s conceptualizations of the natural world

Cited by 45 publications

References 26 publications

Developing ecological literacy in a forest garden: children’s perspectives

Developing ecological literacy in a forest garden: children’s perspectives

Experiences in Nature and Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors: Setting the Ground for Future Research

Plant Yourself Where Language Blooms: Direct Experience of Nature Changes How Parents and Children Talk about Nature

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