Julianne Smith

Education with an Environmental Initiative

For most adults, time in nature is a cherished relic of their childhood, but is that going to be true for the children born into today’s technological world?  

       The past decade or so has seen a decrease in children’s exposure to nature on a daily basis.  Children are spending a lot of scheduled time indoors at school or at extra-curricular activities and in the home on technology.  In 2001, Hofferth and Sadberg found that children ages 3-12 spend only 1% of their weekly time outdoors (Project Learning Tree 2010).  This loss of a everyday exposure to the environment is correlated to increases in child health risks such as obesity as well as child mental health disorders such as ADD (one of the leading childhood disorders and roadblocks to academic achievement).  Interestingly enough, the potentially negative impact of lack of nature in a child’s life is matched in power by the positive impact the existence of a personal relationship between nature and a child can have.  On a very basic level, exposure to the environment (plants, fields, parks, beaches, and even animals) during school has been known to decrease the symptoms of ADHD/ADD, increase performance across a variety of subjects (english, math, science), and decrease behavioral issues in students.   

If you’d like to learn more about the theories and factors surrounding the environment’s impact on children, I highly suggest reading (or skimming) Richard Louv’s (2005) book Last Child In the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.  It’s chock full of the statistics, anecdotes, and experiments to back-up all the (now cited) claims I made in the above paragraph. 

Since children spend a large portion of their time in schools, it is a good place to begin the integration of nature into a child’s life.  The inclusion of nature and the environment in the school setting, can have a profound impact on the learning experience of a child.  Furthermore, it’s pretty realistically viable especially with educational reform currently a talking point in the country.  Teachers can expose students to nature through:

Theoretical curriculum- books, stories, videos, etc...

Experiential curriculum- having a class pet, observing the real   

        metamorphosis of caterpillar to butterfly, estimating   

        and counting the number of seeds in a pumpkin, scavenger hunts, 

        gardening, and field trips to zoos or parks. And 

        let’s not forget everyone’s favorite thing: FOOD. An educator could 

        easily teach students about where food comes 

        from, nutrition, and portion control all while helping them to make a 

        salad or a smoothie.  

Discussion-based activities- develop story telling abilities by sharing 

        their sensory, emotional, and mental experiences of nature.

   

The most important thing to notice is that environmental curriculum is not a separate subject, but one integrated through out all the existing subjects taught to children in school.  The possibilities are really endless!

There are many ways that environmental curriculum can be incorporated into the educational system theoretically, but is it practical?  The educational setting in America is diverse.  There are schools with farms and mountains behind them and others with blacktops and skyscrapers.  Despite this disparity of resources, all nature... is nature.  A tree is as much a tree in Brooklyn as it is in Maine.  We need to teach children to value all nature, but especially the nature around them.  Having curriculum that hits close to home will encourage students to take an interest in their own communities. 

Writing this blog, I wondered if the subject was as relevant to the sociology of families and education as I initially thought it was, but I really believe that the integration of nature into the lives of our children can have a ripple effect across all of the issues we have talked about in class (race, class, gender, the changing family structure, health and cost of healthcare, resiliency).  There are local and national groups working towards this re-integration of nature into human life, and much of it can begin with the youth.  With education reform a controversial subject at the moment, what better time to sneak in the discussion of environment in the educational system?  It could change the way we structure curriculum, student interaction, and school buildings themselves! 

Here’s a local organization dedicated to the integration of nature in the school setting right here in Cambridge!  

Check out the curriculum for an environmentally integrated school system here!

Here’s a PDF full of ideas for parents trying to reconnect to nature with their kids!

And if you're looking to get a little lost in nature, but stuck in the city check out the Alewife Reservation right off the red line or the Aboretum in Jamaica Plain.

And finally, questions to consider:

1. Do you think experience with the natural world is important to a child’s development and health?  Do think the current pattern of natural play and learning is sufficient?  You may use your own experience with nature as an example.
2. Should there be an environmental initiative at all school levels?  Should it just be one at home? Should it be one at all?
3. What are some barriers to having an environmental initiative in school curriculum
4. What are some ways the natural environment may link to other discussions we’ve had in class?

References:

Louv, R. (2009). Do Our Kids Have Nature-Deficit Disorder?. Educational Leadership, 67(4), 24-30

Project Learning Tree. (2010). Why environment education is important. Retrieved from http://www.plt.org/why-environmental-education-is-important