Environmental Education Is Not Always Implemented Within Schools

The evolution of children’s participation in the outdoors has changed drastically. This generation’s parents and grandparents grew up in a time where the woods and open fields were the only playground they had. Believe it or not, nature plays a very crucial role in people’s lives, emotionally. But this is becoming a problem because people are straying from nature. Things like Nature Deficit Disorder started popping up when people realized that nature wasn’t just an extra component of life, but a crucial one. Nature plays a big role in peoples stress releif and happiness. I will also give examples of ways for families and children to get outdoors feel safe. People who spend a lot of time in the outdoors experience and share the positive affects of it. Although, some of the factors keeping people the the outdoors are the social issues that teach children and parents that nature isn’t safe.

“The most practical and the most feasible solution offered, and the one on which this paper will center, involves the schoolyard. The schoolyard habitat movement, which promotes the “greening” of school grounds, is quickly gaining international recognition and legitimacy.” This quote touches on the fact that currently our schools need to “greened” meaning nature needs to be implemented not on the sidelines of fields but rather right in the center for kids to explore. There are many studied showing how children’s connection with nature at a young age helps them have a strong connection with nature along with having better health and lesser chances of depression. There are many organizations such as the National Wildlife Federation, Council for Environmental Education, American Forest Foundation, Britain-based Learning through Landscapes, Canadian-based Evergreen, and Swedish-based Skolans Uterum, that have all expresses interest in helping out with this cause. A theory that is very interesting that relates to this issue is a theory by Edward Wilson from Harvard. He had a theory that he named biophilia. Basically what this theory was about was that all people are simply drawn to nature by their very instinct. This quote has a lot of truth to it. Almost all

Natural outdoor environment has positive effects on children's social development and motor skills development.Outdoor play is less structured so it gives children more opportunity to discover, learn about different textures, sounds and children also gain important physical skills.Children feel more free and they use their whole bodies to explore.Natural environments stimulate children's imagination and engage their sense of curiosity.

“Outdoor education is in line with current thinking, but also echo’s the philosophy of the McMillan sisters. Practitioners today should be aware of the opportunities afforded by outdoor provision, not only in terms of developing children’s learning, but also with positive benefits to their health” (Cooper 2004)

When exploring water and gardens, it is important to apply the EYLF to children’s learning and development. Outcome two, children are connected with and contribute to their world allows children to develop a sense of belonging to groups and communities, respond to diversity with respect, be aware of fairness, and show respect for the environment (DEEWR, 2009). By developing these outcomes children begin to broaden their understanding of the world they live in. This can be explored by providing children with opportunities to explore the environment through gardening or water play and promote positive responses

We know that a rich and varied environment supports children’s learning and development. It gives them the confidence to explore and learn in secure and safe, yet challenging, indoor and outdoor spaces.

environment are the views of a child, letting them lead communication and following their interest,

What Louv adds is a focus on the restorative qualities of nature for children. He recommends that we reacquaint our children and ourselves with nature through hiking, fishing, bird-watching and disorganized, creative play. By doing so, he argues, we may lessen the frequency and severity of emotional and mental ailments and come to recognize the importance of preserving nature. At times Louv seems to conflate physical activity (a game of freeze tag) with nature play (building a tree fort), and it is hard to know which benefits children

Nature should play a massive role in a kid’s life. Even though, in today’s society, it is hard to do so. Being

Everyone in my generation has probably grown up seeing ads or watching videos about pollution or about the environment in general, so much, to the point that these constant reminders about protecting our planet are already part of the norm for us. While these reminders have had positive effects, like how more and more people have become informed of the Earth’s condition, many people, myself included, still remain indifferent to the threats our environment faces. I won’t lie; I’m no saint or crusader for the cause, but every now and then certain videos or articles strike a chord within me and makes me reflect on the way how I’ve been living affects the environment. One such article was the one we read last week in class, “The Sixth Extinction” by Elizabeth Kolbert in the Upfront magazine.

Finding ways to keep students interested in schoolwork and increasing their cognitive abilities has been a constant struggle for teachers. It is common knowledge that when a child’s interest wanes, it becomes harder for them to learn and retain knowledge on the subject. One tool that can be used to combat this issue would be the use of an outdoor classroom or learning outdoors. During the late 60’s and 70’s outdoor education was highly recommended in curriculum guidelines to enrich educational experiences, but later declined in the 80’s (Eaton, 1998). Today, outdoor education only plays a small role in children’s education experiences, despite the benefits it could provide. Teachers should take advantage of outdoor education to increase children’s cognitive skills, provide physical and emotional benefits, and decrease the bio phobia many children seemed to have developed.

There are a whole lot of programs or curriculums out there that try to talk about the environmental and academic needs of children. In this paper, I will try my best to discuss the five components of the

The Council for Learning Outside the Classroom (2017) believes that outdoor learning is a powerful tool that is proven to raise achievement, improve social, emotional and personal development and contributes to the health and well-being of children and young people. There is no doubt that children will learn better if they are given space to discover and explore for themselves. The Northern Ireland Curriculum: Primary (2007, p.44) states that outdoor learning has an important role in the emotional development of children where they are “free to run, shout and play exuberantly.” Children can learn about important

This should be firmly implanted in a child’s mind so that he may constantly be aware that man has a special responsibility to protect Nature. Students should be made aware of their responsibility and duty towards protecting nature and prevent its wanton destruction which unfortunately seems to be order of the day. Some simple practices like encouraging planting of trees periodically in their neighbourhood, watering the plants and nurturing them, digging pits for rain water harvesting should be taught. These and other would foster in a child caring and sharing attitude towards nature and life on earth and a deep appearance of the flora and fauna.

As a 17-year old teenager going to high school, contrary to the environmental activist, David Suzuki’s, remarks about the ignorance of humans about nature, I receive much information about these kinds of problems at my school, from dedicated assemblies, eco fairs and special days that address our responsibility to deal with nature in a more responsible fashion. Yet, when the school day is over, all of the information seeps out of the roof of the school; plastic water bottles are still found in the corners of hallways and leftover Tim Hortons cups are still present in the desks of my former Business class. Even when I step inside the door of my house, the disconnection from nature is apparent. Most of my time at home is spent looking at a screen and doing homework and the only sign of nature would be the fly