Engaging in more sensitive interactions in the natural environment aims to promote connections between children and nature. With more than 4 years experience within early childhood education, I have found a tremendous amount of positive outcomes regarding children 's development when they are heavily exposed to the outdoor environment. I became a member of a service where I had commenced my childcare career, and worked there for 3 and a half years. The centre has an incredibly organic outdoor area which incorporated different textures, Australian flora, animals, along with wonderful play equipment; and for me, this set a benchmark. I then chose to move into casual work and became familiar with many different services across Sydney for over a year now. With only one prior service to compare, I found myself continually …show more content…
This begged me to question whether children 's development, and their learning and behaviour was affected by the level of nature that is provided in learning spaces; and whether a lack of nature has a negative effect on these same areas.
In researching this topic, I find a pleasing amount of literature relating to the positive affects the natural environment can have in early childhood which is no surprise. These describe the benefits that nature has on children 's physical development, health and connecting children with plants, animals and the earth. There is not however, a great deal of literature on whether there are negative affects if not exposed to a great deal of nature in the early years, and any barriers that cause a lack of nature being presented. The early years learning framework practices learning through play and using learning environments that allow children to thrive (Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR], 2009, pp. 15-16). Theorist Malaguzzi who established the Reggio Emilia
In chapter eight of Drunk Tank Pink, Adam Alter talks about locations and how the environment affected people’s daily lives. The chapter began by describing experiments involving people who grew up in different environments and how the different environments affected their behavior to certain situations. Those experiments had results proposing the idea that living in crowded areas would inhibit generosity and living in noisy places would hinder intellectual growth, and vice versa. Chapter eight also included experiments that were affiliated with nature; the researchers observed that people’s stress levels decreased and their health improved when some form of nature such as trees and grass were present. Some experiments focused on how the legibility
Ecology in early childhood education means the study of the relationships and interactions between human groups and their surrounding conditions that impact on the child’s development and learning. Any changes to the surrounding conditions start from the most intimate home ecological system moving outward to the larger school system and the most expansive system which is society and culture. Each of these systems inevitably interacts with and influences each other and every aspect of the child’s life. According to famous psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, ‘he divided the person's environment into five different levels: the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, the macrosystem, and the chronosystem’ (Study.com
I believe this because I think that often parents might take more interest in Forest Schools and outdoor play as their children are more enthusiastic and encouraging after attending. Parents can often see more risks when their children play outside apposed to inside a classroom, therefore Forest Schools can show parents another side of play which I believe is important. While in placement we took the children on a school trip to a local woodland, they all found it very exciting and they began collecting leaves and pebbles. We reminded the children to stay hydrated as it was a hot day - when the parents came to collect the children, one child asked his father if they could go again and reminded him that if it was a hot day they must make sure they have water. I think that shows how educational and stimulating it can be for a child, just by playing outside in a different
Environment says a lot about identity, past, and future. Primary environment has the most effect on shaping a child. According to a US National Library of Medicine research study, ”The physical environment and child development: An international review” it says, “What we do know suggests that the physical environment experienced by children impacts their cognitive and socioemotional development across the lifespan, from the prenatal period through adulthood.” In children this is especially important because a child develops most between the ages of two and five. There are three key elements that contribute to a healthy physical for young children, an adequate standard of living (mainly sufficient food, clothing, and housing), healthcare, and safety from injury, violence, and environmental hazards. In The Other Wes Moore, Wes(a) had
The developing person is effected by much more than their immediate situation, therefore Bronfenbrenner developed a theory that encompasses all of the surroundings that may influence a child and emphasizes the importance of the mutual relationships between each of these environments (Bristor, 2010). The interaction between surroundings is just as important as the environments themselves as these connections and transactions result in change and alteration in both the individual and their surroundings. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory accentuates the family as the most important environmental influence on the child as family members have a direct effect on the child through care, education and support as well as serve as links to other environments to the child such as school or the community (Bristor, 2010).
Children can greatly benefit from having chances to create connections to the real world in their play space, waiting for the fruit on the fruit trees to ripen or continuously checking to see if their seeds have sprouted all provide both connections to the real world ,as well as expanding developmental skills and knowledge. An ideal learning environment for children does not necessarily need to cost a lot of money to establish and maintain, using items found out the natural environment can often spark creativity and connections with children. Children don't need to always be surrounded by the newest and fanciest plastic toys, natural ideas such as wood blocks can but used instead of lego pieces or rocks for painting on, items such as those can be cheap easily found and yet still provide children with the same if not more developmental skills and learning. From young age children need to be presented with opportunities to take safe risks in order for them to grow and
Richard Louv, the author of, “Last Child in the Woods: Saving our children from nature deficit-disorder,” talks about nature and its benefits to a healthy development. Time Experiencing with nature allows people to have healthy development since it promotes creativity and imagination. It does not take more than a couple of steps outside to see nature. It is all around us. It can even be right outside our window. Leaving the blinds open can bring peace of mind, just by viewing it. As people experience time with nature, no matter the age, they develop greater creativity and imagination. It is like people today fear nature.
When selecting childcare for your child the foundation of early learning has offered some tips that they believe will be helpful in the process. The foundation says that parents have always known that good early experience was important for their child. Now scientist and researchers are confirming how critical these first years of life are to your child’s healthy development (Selecting child care, 2002). Because the brain matures in the world rather than in the womb, the brain growth and development of infants and young children is deeply affected by their earliest experiences. In a childcare environment the relationship your child has with the caregiver will also affect how that child feels about himself and the world around him and as he grows up (Selecting child care, 2002). I ...
Take the Goodwille public school, for example. The school has been a part of the Forest Hills public school district, since 1999. Its primary focus has been, to incorporate the environment into a child’s education. The following statement was pulled from their website, and discussed that the main goal of the schools was to, “use a natural setting to generate an environment that will allow students to feel connected to the natural world” (Goodwillie, 2014). That public school, has dedicated its entire education, to allowing children to feel comfortable with nature. It has not wanted children to fear it, but actually enjoy
As we have been learning this semester in class, the experiences and ecological settings in which a child grows up in are important in giving each child their uniqueness. According to Bronfenbrenner, the degree to which individuals realize their potentials and develop their abilities is determined by interactions and experiences (Berns, 2016). It is evident that these interactions and experiences can come from different sources. In order to understand how a child’s development is influenced by their environment, it is important to know how their biological, social, and psychological characteristics are shaped
My family and I rarely went on outings; my parents were always busy or at work. Likewise, family trips or vacations were something my parents could not afford. The first time I ever fully experienced the beauty of nature was when I went on a week long trip with my fifth grade class to an outdoor school. This was the first time I went on a real hike and the first time I was really in the middle of nature. Walking through the forest, listening to the birds chirp and the graceful movement of the leaves in the wind changed my perspective. That week, I realized how much beauty there was to discover on Earth. My relationship with the environment started during that trip in fifth grade as I realized that the world is such an immense place full of things to admire and unearth. It was something wholly new to me. I fell in love with the
Growing up in a massive neighborhood magnificent. My neighborhood flooded with kids around my age to hang out with. Occupying the edge of this neighborhood was a large park where the neighborhood’s kids and I would spend most of our time eliminating their boredom. When this park would not satisfy our needs, there were
Child growth and development is a process that consists of some building blocks, which are components that combine in an infinite number of ways (Cherry, n.d.). As a result of the variations of building blocks in a child’s development, educators, psychologists, and philosophers have been constantly engaged in the debate of nature versus nurture debate. Many researchers agree that child development is a complex interaction between his/her genetic background (nature) and his/her environment (nurture). In essence, some developmental aspects are strongly affected by biology whereas other aspects are influenced by environmental factors. From the onset of an individu...
Is it right that future generations, who have committed no crimes, be forced to live in a contaminated environment with freshwater depletion, polluted air, global warming and biodiversity reduction just because our present generation has caused the damage? Should our future children be ensured an ecologically healthy environment? I think they should. I strongly believe that protecting the environment is extremely important. We are all part of the environment; Earth is what we all share in common. It is our home and we are obliged to preserve it. As someone who is aware, who cares and who is concerned, I’d like to help you understand why protecting our environment is vital. I believe that protecting the environment is essential for healthy living, in creating a healthful environment for our future generation and last but not least, the Earth is our one and only home.
The environment that a child is surrounded by and the things that the child sees around him/her has a huge influence on their early learning (Raja, 2017). According to Bronfenbrenner which views a child’s development in context of the system of relationships that are found in the environment of that child (Ryan, 2001). Bronfenbrenner’s theory states that there are different “layers” of his or her environment which all influence that child’s development, looking just at the close/immediate environment has no relevance thus, we need to look at a child’s outside/larger environment as well. This includes different systems such