TO TRANSMIT LOVE FOR THE WORLD TO CHILDREN
TO TRANSMIT LOVE FOR THE WORLD TO CHILDREN
TO TRANSMIT LOVE FOR THE WORLD TO CHILDREN Extensive research into the development and experiences of children in early childhood has shown that these:
- They all have the same learning method, which corresponds to their development stages, which follows an ordered sequence throughout their life cycle. All areas of development – physical, emotional, social, linguistic and cognitive – change in a predictable way.
- They form their values in the first years of life.
The way children learn is completely different from that of adults.
To be effective, environmental education needs to be designed to meet the child’s developmental needs, interests, skills and learning method. Small children are very active pupils!
The best method of learning is through play and interactive and practical discovery, not that aimed at imparting knowledge. Young children have a natural curiosity that requires direct sensory experience rather than conceptual generalization.
To be effective and engage children, their experiences must be immersive and open.
When it comes to environmental education, the best learning environments are outdoor natural landscapes where children have unmediated opportunities for adventure and self-initiated play, exploration and discovery.
“Childhood has its own way of seeing, thinking and feeling and nothing is crazier than trying to replace our way with theirs.” Jean Jacques Rousseau
Children experience nature differently than adults. Adults usually see it as the background of what they are doing, as an aesthetic visual experience. Children experience nature not as a background for events, but rather as a stimulator and experiential component of their activities. They explore its possibilities, what it allows them to do, they judge nature not by its aesthetics but by the possibility of interaction with it.
Children have an innate tendency to bond with nature, this tendency is called biophilia.
In order for the natural inclination to biophilia in children to develop, they must be offered appropriate development opportunities to learn about the environment based on solid principles of development and learning.
If children’s natural attraction to nature is not given the opportunity to thrive in their early years, biophilia could lead to biophobia . Biophobia is an aversion to nature that ranges from discomfort in natural places to contempt for anything that is not man-made, managed or air-conditioned. Biophobia also manifests itself in considering nature as nothing more than a disposable resource.
Poet John Burroughs declared that “knowledge without love will not cling. But if love comes first, knowledge will surely be the natural consequence ”.
The problem that arises with observing most environmental education programs is that they are aimed at imparting knowledge and responsibility before children have been allowed to develop a loving relationship with nature. We must allow children to develop their biophilia, their love for the Earth, before asking them to know it academically and become its custodians.
One of the main criticisms of environmental education programs is that they approach nature from the perspective of an adult, rather than from the perspective of a child, and that there is a teaching method that is too abstract. Children don’t even begin to develop abstract reasoning skills until the age of nine!
One result of trying to teach young children abstract concepts such as rainforest destruction, acid rain, ozone depletion, and whaling is dissociation . When we ask children to deal with problems beyond their cognitive abilities, they can become anxious and develop phobias. In the case of environmental problems, biophobia – the fear of nature and ecological problems or even the fear of open spaces – can develop. Studying deforestation and species extinction may be appropriate starting in middle school, but is developmentally inadequate for younger children.
It is during early childhood that children’s experiences shape basic values, attitudes and orientation towards the world, values that they will carry throughout their lives. Positive interactions with nature allow children to feel comfortable with it, to develop empathy and to love it. No one can love what he does not know knows through an intimate association. Not only are experiences in nature important, but it is the task of adults, both parents and teachers, to educate children to enjoy and respect it.
Research confirms that empathy and love for nature and, consequently, positive environmental behaviors and attitudes, derive from the regular contact and play of children in its midst. Recent research suggests that the opportunity for children under the age of 11 to explore wild and natural environments is particularly important for developing their biophilic tendencies and that the ideal games are those of early childhood, such as chasing frogs in a stream or fireflies at night. Such informal exploration stimulates the genuine interest in the environment that is necessary for the success of more structured environmental education programs.
There are three fundamental phases for the development of environmental values by children and for their environmental education:
- Early childhood (from 3/4 to 7 years)
- Primary / secondary school (7 to 11 years)
- Adolescence (12 to 17 years old)
Early Childhood – Empathy
During early childhood, the main focus of environmental education should be the development of empathy between the child and nature. In addition to opportunities to explore and play in nature, one of the best ways to foster empathy is to cultivate relationships with animals . This includes exposure to animals found in nature, both real and imagined.
Young children are implicitly attracted to animals and especially puppies.
Animals are an endless source of wonder to them and foster in children a caring attitude and a sense of responsibility towards living beings.
Babies interact instinctively and naturally with animals, talk to them and develop emotional relationships. Little known fact about children and animals : Studies on the dreams of children under the age of 6 reveal that about 90% of their dreams are about animals.
Endangered species are not suitable for this age. Rather, the common, everyday species that fill backyards, neighborhoods, and communities are the appropriate developmental choice, as children can relate to them.
The relationship between children and animals must be cultivated with contact but also with stories, songs and other experiences. Developing emotional connectivity with the natural world is the essential foundation for the next stages of environmental education.
One of the best examples of early childhood environmental education are “outdoor preschools for all seasons” and preschools in the forest or woods. Since the 1990s, in Germany, there are over 700 Waldkindergärtens created by parents and educators where children aged 3 to 6 can spend the whole day outdoors (except for extreme weather conditions). Nurseries in the woods and forests are found in many other countries including Scotland, Scandinavia, Switzerland and Austria (some even in Italy).
Primary / Secondary School – Exploration
Exploring the world around us and understanding our place within it should be the primary goal of the “bond with the earth” of environmental education . This includes opportunities to explore and experience the wild and semi-wild nature found around the neighborhoods where children live. Activities appropriate to development include the creation of small imaginary worlds, the collection and search of treasures, the investigation of waterways and paths, the exploration of the landscape (natural landscapes untouched by man), the care of animals and gardening.
Plants are of considerable interest in children when they are part of a wild habitat.
Adolescence – Social Action
Social action begins around the age of 12 and extends beyond the age of 17. As children begin to discover the “self” in adolescence and feel their connection to society, they are naturally inclined to want to save the world, provided they have had the opportunity in their early years to develop empathy and explore. the nature. Their environmental conservation aims should be focused on the local level, where they can relate to the results, rather than in some distant unknown rainforest.
The world once offered children thousands of nature’s delights to which they had free access. They may explore and interact with the natural world with little or no restrictions or supervision!
The lives of today’s children are much more structured, supervised and programmed with few opportunities to explore and interact with nature. The physical boundaries of the children have shrunk. Childhood and unsupervised play in nature are no longer synonymous.
Today, most children live what one play authority has called a childhood of imprisonment . Children are disconnected from nature.
Kindergarten and primary school have the opportunity to help fill the void in children’s lives of regular access to nature. With outdoor programs in the outdoors, schools can help our children grow and become responsible stewards of the earth.
To achieve this, children need a regular contract with nature, where they can explore and bond with nature. Instead of playgrounds, children must be offered natural environments (the wilder the better) where they can interact with nature and the animals and insects that inhabit them. Children must have daily access to natural outdoor environments for long periods of time.
Early childhood schools, educators and teachers must break free from the paradigm of offering children indoor games and learning and building outdoor playgrounds and, instead, allow children to recover the magic that is their right to birth – the ability to play and learn outdoors through exploration, discovery and the power of their imagination in close contact with nature . It is only through such positive experiences in nature that children will develop their love for it and the desire to protect it for future generations .
“We cannot in any way help children learn to love and preserve this planet if we do not give them direct experiences with the miracles and blessings of nature.”
Anita Olds
BY RANDY WHITE AND VICKI L. STOECKLIN
© 2008 White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group
Translated from the Community Playthings blog
Randy White and Vicki L. Stoecklin are respectively CEO and Director of Education & Child Development of White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group, a company based in Kansas City, Missouri, specializing in the design of indoor learning, play and leisure environments. and outdoor for children.
