Report on Collected Ideas by Dana Friedman

Summary of Conversations

Based on the issues and ideas captured by the analysts in our small group discussions. All of the ideas presented were mentioned in two or more small groups.

Partners

• This is clearly work that must be done in collaboration.
• There’s room for everybody.
• Consider non-traditional sources.
• Try to find “common ground.”
• Use language carefully.
• We need to find motivational buttons for those we want to involve.
• Go to “them” and find the advocates.
• Work simultaneously with people from international, national, and local levels.
• Work across the generations: a message from those who had “free range” childhoods.
• Potential partners might include the following:

Beliefs and Principles (Gems)

• Think of “little nature,” e.g. learning by the yard, school yard habitat and “big nature,” e.g. environment, rain forest.
• Think about a future that’s a natural world vision.
• A garden grows more than just plants; it grows people.
• Nature is not an expensive destination.
• We cannot rely on the tourist approach to nature education and experiences.

Approaches to Children and Learning

• Children must love the earth before they save it.
• Children have rights instead of needs.
• Children are competent learners with natural curiosity.
• It is important to help children develop a belief that they are scientists.
• A child’s work is not a mess.
• Others must understand and value play in nature settings.
• Nature education is multi-sensory, multi-disciplinary, and an emergent curriculum – it starts where the child is ‘at.’
• There is no separation between the inside environment and the outside environment, like in Reggio.
• Developmentally appropriate nature education is play-based and child-centered.
• It is important for children to have time “dinking around.”
• If children are able to do things they generate, their attention spans are longer.
• Children need to have direct and constant experiences with nature.
• Progress reports and assessments are highly appropriate, but testing of young children is inappropriate.
• “Trust that the nature world is the most important thing in children’s lives.” (Robin Moore)
• The door opens out.

Advantages of Nature Education for Young Children

• By exposing children to nature, we’re giving them a gift of a faithful, life-long friend.
• It provides life-changing, shaping memories.
• It offers a sense of peace and reconnecting to nature.
• Nature has a therapeutic quality – it is calming.
• The natural world supports the development of caring, pro-social behavior.
• How we relate to nature gives us lessons about how we relate to each other.
• It can serve as a force for change, for peace.
• It fosters self-regulation and learning.
• Nature develops understanding of oneself.
• It brings out the best in children.
• Nature helps children with disabilities, particularly those with sensory integration deficit.
• Children’s pretend play outdoors in natural settings tends to be more complex/therapeutic than indoors.
• Play and interaction with the natural environment and materials helps develop cognitive, social and emotional skills.
• Nature is crucial for total development of the whole child, regardless of stage, ability or problem.
• Nature education is crucial for preserving of culture, community, learning, healthy being and world habitat.

Barriers

• Society is moving away from nature, while we are compelled to move back towards it.
• Urban areas are built for cars.
• Bigger homes, smaller yards in the suburbs.
• Landscaping trends contribute to the loss of childhood.
• Negative media messages.
• The appeal of technology.
• Aggressive marketing of commercial products.

Safety Fears

• Fear of harm to children; a risk-averse culture.
• Litigious tendencies.
• Some believe children should not engage in rambunctious/active play outdoors.
• Need to meet standards of safety that inhibit exploration, risk-taking and learning.

Pressure on Children

• Attitudes that question whether children have the right to be children.
• Children are too scheduled, structured and organized without free time to explore.
• The pressure on children of the ‘push down’ trend.

Unprepared Teachers

• Teachers are reluctant to take children outdoors.
• Teachers don’t know what to do with children outdoors.
• Educators do not have a passion for or experience of nature to impact children.
• There is too much adult control of curriculum.
• The early childhood field needs more respect and recognition.
• Low wages and turnover of early childhood staff must be addressed.

Strategies

• Create the next generation of life-long learners.
• Find strategies to get beyond preaching to the choir.
• Don’t think of your project as a final project.
• It’s always long term. Be patient.
• Learn from our mistakes, have an open mind and generate good feelings.
• Adults must model behavior towards the environment and each other.
• Reach outside our comfort zone to find the resources we need to move forward

Work With Parents

• Reach parents through their children.
• Use their talents and skills.
• Have parent-to-parent involvement.
• Be sensitive to their limited time.
• Develop greater sensory awareness and connections.
• Help them become aware of health, brain development and experiential learning.
• Use documentation to educate them.
• Use visuals and images rather than written instructions.
• Hold parent/child workshops.
• Change vocabulary, e.g. outdoor learning environment vs. playground.
• Develop a list of resources about the relationship between nature and brain development.
• Regularly communicate with families about what is being done in the classroom and how it is developmentally appropriate.
• Let them see things they can replicate.
• Provide them with practical ways to enjoy nature with their children.
• Let them come into the classroom and take pictures.
• Help them prepare daily rituals with nature.

Work With Professionals

• Use vision: Ask, “What do we want children to be like in the environment?
• Develop professional reading groups.
• Make early childhood training more inter-disciplinary and community-oriented.
• Mentor teachers.
• Offer pre-service training.
• Compensate teachers for professional development.
• Provide nature and environmental education for early childhood educators.
• Provide child development training to environmental educators.
• Create worldwide online course that looks at the common core values of nature education.
• Use internships, perhaps even prestigious.
• NAEYC should publish a nature issue.
• Create a professional journal on nature and young children.

Work With Programs

• Be intentional about the experiences of young children.
• Be as safe as necessary, not safe as possible.
• The focus should be on children from 0 to 8 years.
• Consider after-school programs.
• Locate programs near green space.
• Keep the natural native space intact and bring in natural elements.
• Local culture must be reflected in the classroom.
• Consider curricula, pedagogy, materials, and psychological environment of the classroom.
• Look at continuum from field trip to nature-based early childhood program.
• Create a role for environmental education specialists.
• We need to remember both affective and cognitive aspects of nature experiences.
• We need transactional/transformational play space.
• All the senses must be involved when creating nature education.
• Create playscapes that include a balance of planned and wild, green spaces.
• Design should include growing things and loose parts.
• Create environments that are fun, interesting, exciting and still be safe.
• Better to offer opportunities for learning, rather than push or require learning.
• Find authentic assessments.
• Recognize the importance of documentation.
• Create nature journals for children.
• An educator’s performance should be measured on how well children play.
• What we do must be practical and sustainable.
• Have storage spaces outside to avoid hauling materials and supporting spontaneous play.
• Have enough boots and mittens.
• Tell stories.
• Use good literature to explore nature.
• Use technology as a learning tool with supervision.
• Protect children from scary news about the environment, e.g. global warming.
• Listen to the child for guidance of their educational experience.
• Let the child be the teacher.
• Trust the child.

Work With Communities

• Conduct planning with broad input and listening.
• Listen to the values of the community.
• Identify or create locally customized pilot projects to foster nature education programs.
• Develop model sites to visit.
• Reflect the community’s context in outdoor space.
• Outline the collaborative process for bringing people together.
• Assemble multi-disciplinary teams to take action.
• Share stories of collaboration.
• Create a visual publication depicting transformational process.
• Develop a youth leadership council.
• Build in stewardship.
• Remind employers of corporate social responsibility.
• Create a list of questions to use with designers and planners (Idiot’s guide).
• Create tool box.
• Create physical pedestrian access to natural areas.
• Challenge licensing rules and regulations if necessary.
• Incorporate nature education into state quality rating systems for early childhood.
• Invite regulatory bodies to forums like this.
• Conduct “Ugliest Playground Contest” or “Extreme Makeover” of schools or centers.

Move Forward as an International Community

• Hold national conferences.
• Provide scholarships to these meetings.
• Develop a website of best practices, bibliographies, resources.
• Create speakers’ bureau.
• Conduct “train the trainer” models.
• Link to other national and international organizations.
• Share visual models.
• Conduct advocacy.
• Customize initiatives for urban communities and developing countries.

Conduct a Public Education Campaign

• Create the “elevator speech” with three key goals.
• Sell nature education to others.
• Use positive messages, rather than threats, e.g. toxic waste.
• Use positive language, e.g. cherish, adoration, amazement, joy, discovery, beauty.
• Select a credible messenger/spokesperson.
• Create public service announcements.
• Disseminate Suzuki’s speech.
• Create an international nature reality show with New Zealand co-hosts, Toni and Robin.

Use Research

• Develop research briefs to validate what we intuitively know.
• Encourage research at university level to investigate nature and brain development.
• Use scientific language to clarify importance of what children are doing.

When You Go Home

• Keep “noodling” and help sustain the network.
• Talk to at least three people about what you’ve learned.
• Think about your own assets; approach the challenge in a strength-based way.
• Remember: “People are always asking children what they want to be when they grow up…because they are looking for ideas.”