ARTICLES
DO CHILDREN
REALLY NEED NATURE EDUCATION?
It was
1960-something and it was third or fourth grade. The exact date
escapes me although I clearly remember the essence of the
experience. I grew up in Chatham Township in northern New
Jersey. Back then it was a rural town with chicken and dairy
farms, orchards and modest post-WWII homes. The town was poised
on the edge of encroaching suburbia and during the 20 years I
lived there it became consumed. Now I barely recognize my old
haunts.
Southern
Boulevard School was the only elementary school in town. It was
a large brick structure that still had reminders of an earlier
age when boys and girls were required to line up and enter the
school through their own entrances. Like many early-20th
century schools, it had big sweeping front steps and every year
students from each grade lined up on those steps when it was
their turn to sing in the Spring Concert. Directly across from
the school was Jay Road, a dead end street that led to the Great
Swamp. The “swamp” as we knew it had been saved from being
filled and turned into a jetport. It was a great conservation
victory – even at age nine we knew it because we had written
letters to the President urging him to save it.
It was a
spring day – probably late April before the bugs got bad. With
permission slips handed in, my teacher lined us up, walked us
past the principal’s office, down the sweeping front steps of
the school, along the sidewalk, across Southern Boulevard and
down Jay Road. There was incredible anticipation in the air.
Our neat school line became jumbled as footsteps quickened and
we approached the end of the road which led onto the swamp
trails. There was a small building there with stuffed animals
and some live animals, but to us, it was the joy of being
outdoors and exploring rather than being in class and sitting.
I have to tell you, it was the only thing that I remember about
that school year 40 years later. Why is that? Because it was
real. It meant something. It opened my eyes to a new world and
my teacher valued it enough to share it with us. And it laid a
foundation for continued observations and explorations. I don’t
remember exactly what we did, but it sure impressed me – so much
so that for the rest of my time in Chatham, I couldn’t be kept
out of the swamp. To this day that swamp continues to tug at
me.
I got to
know the swamp very well. Every once in a while my dad would
take the family down the high tension lines and we would walk
the utility “catwalks” above the algae-laden water. Our search
was for punks – cattails that is. As any swamp-goer knows, cut
the cattails when they have just turned brown, bring them home,
light them on fire and they smoked like crazy. The smoke
usually kept the mosquitoes away unless it was a really bad year
for them. My girlfriend Laura and I would spend countless hours
exploring sand-bottom streams, jumping from hummock to hummock
and never once was a thought given to the swamp being a
dangerous place.
Nowadays
it seems like fewer and fewer children experience the freeform
exploration that we took for granted. Teachers and parents I
have spoken to confirm this observation. True, there are real
and perceived concerns about letting children play outside
unsupervised as we did for hours and hours on end. There are
also many more distractions for children than there used to be.
If I was bored, it always seemed I only had two options – clean
my room or go outside and play. Rarely did I need to think more
than several split seconds to make that decision.
A recent
article on child obesity in the popular Parade magazine
cites that by the time a child reaches his or her teenage years
that child is spending approximately six hours a day glued to
some kind of screen – TV, computer, Play Station or other
electronic equipment. Some may say, “Wow, that is way less time
than I spend doing those things!” But with the development of
new, powerful and often exciting technologies, we are
encouraging a whole generation of sedentary beings. Kids aren’t
supposed to be sedentary – they are supposed to be exercising
those gross motor skills by jumping (over streams), climbing
(trees), running (through fields), skipping, playing tag and
jumping rope. Some might also say that these indoor,
electronic activities limit a child’s social contact thus
fostering isolationism. Indeed, teachers see more and more
children who do not play well together, are intolerant and
inflexible and have a difficult time staying focused. Habits
developed in childhood often become the essential fabric of our
personalities and the more entrenched they get; the harder it
becomes to alter these later in life.
Another
concern that takes the magic out of learning is the current
demands our Departments of Education have for testing. As a
result of the federal mandate No Child Left Behind (NCLB),
teachers find themselves spending increasing time preparing
their students on testing strategies rather than actually
facilitating learning. Although a laudable idea – we all want
children to succeed in school – NCLB focuses so much on testing
that students and teachers have little time to be creative. How
can we inspire young people to reach their potential when we are
really telling them that passing the test is the only way to be
successful? Recent research compiled by the National
Environmental Education and Training Foundation (2004) reveals
that the need for environmental education “is so keenly felt
that 95% of American adults (96% of parents) think environmental
education should be taught in the schools.” In reality,
though, schools across the country are removing environmental
classes with the same speed as they are removing the arts.
Actions speak louder than words. Consider these “subjects” to
be extraneous to the nucleus of a child’s education and they
become less important to the teachers, the parents and
consequently the children. Many would argue that these are the
very things that truly engage children in real learning. Time
in nature teaches patience, cultivates powers of observation and
heightens awareness of the world around us as well as awareness
of our own being.
So why
should we be concerned with this trend that is moving children
away from nature? Does it really make that much difference?
Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods notes
that “a widening circle of researchers believes that the loss of
natural habitat, or the disconnection from nature even when it
is available, has enormous implications for human health and
child development. They say the quality of exposure to nature
affects our health at an almost cellular level.” I don’t know
about you, but I know this to be a fact; I’ve felt it. When the
day isn’t going well or there are some particularly poignant
troubles brewing, I find myself drawn to nature – a walk to the
beach, a perch on a rock under a tree or a wander around the
wildlife gardens refocuses me on what is real.
I watch
my friends who have school-age children and observe how
programmed the children are – art classes one day, dance
another, computer another, gymnastics another and sports
throughout. But few build into these busy schedules “nature
time.” Many exist from day to day going from structured school
classes to structured activities with little down time for
children to fantasize, explore, discover, reflect and pretend.
As a young child I remember creating “houses” in the little
bluestem fields near my yard, careening down loose sand hills
into an abandoned sandpit, playing king (well maybe queen) of
the glacial erratic in the backyard and using mayapple leaves as
umbrellas on the walk home from school. Since my town had no
town center we spent a great deal of time unsupervised, moving
from friend’s house to friend’s house by foot or bicycle. Along
the way we saw things because we were outside. I knew when the
apple tree bloomed, when the cherries were just right for the
picking and the milkweed pod seeds were ready to be strewn to
the wind on their delicate parachutes. Recently, in response to
a question sent into her syndicated column, Dr. Joyce Brothers
noted that children should be able to spend time “observing the
wonders of nature, time looking at the sky without having to
analyze the contents of it, but simply daydreaming. Being out in
nature and spending a little free time there contributes to a
child's creativity.” (Star Ledger, April 17, 2006).
How will
today’s children be able to make educated decisions about their
quality of life and our environment if they have never had any
experience with it? Or worse yet, if they fear it? We exist
within the natural world – there is no getting around that. Our
natural, built, social, cultural and economic systems are
grounded in our relationship with nature. Environmental
education is all about providing experiences and building
awareness of the natural systems. But it also provides the
means for individuals to learn and practice skills that will
help them take informed action about environmental problems and
issues. If we don’t know that something exists, how can we
value it? If we don’t value natural world, why bother saving
it? Children learn by modeling. Be a nature mentor. And if you
can’t be the mentor yourself, make a point of getting your
children or grandchildren into a situation where someone else
can play that role.
Tim
Campbell, a 7th grade friend of mine says that his
school’s Vista program “helps him and his classmates not
only learn about the natural world but gives them a perspective
about that world that can’t be learned from books. ” And
besides, he says, “We do this every Friday for the entire year -
it’s fun, its hands-on and real.” I bet Tim will remember his 7th
grade Vista class well into the future even when he
forgets most everything else he did this year.
So here
is a challenge. To all of you who have used mayapple umbrellas,
squeezed mud through your toes or blown on dandelion seed heads,
go outside this weekend and take a kid with you. And to all of
you who haven’t done these things, well it is high time that you
give them a try. Actually try them with a child – I think you
will be surprised at how enjoyable the experience can be and how
wonderful it is to learn alongside your child.
- Dale
Rosselet, NJAS Vice-president for Education
(Reprinted from New Jersey Audubon, Autumn/Winter
2006-07)
2005
ANNUAL REPORT – DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Environmental education is a process; it is
a means to help people become more environmentally literate.
Environmental education does not persuade; it informs.
Environmental education is for all ages; it permeates though
actions taken in the home, those done at school and in our
workplaces; those accomplished at our places of worship and
throughout all levels of government. Environmental education
provides the means to understand basic ecological systems that
support life on earth; teaches the skills that an informed
citizen may need to make quality of life decisions, and provides
opportunities for people of all ages to develop behaviors that
benefit the environment.
In 2005, NJAS staff provided close to 3,000
quality environmental education programs. These ranged from
nature day camps to teacher professional development to weekend
adult workshops to programs for scouts and students to
nature-based festivals. Although each program had a slightly
different goal in mind, all employed experiential learning; they
provided direct contact with the environment to engage not only
the mind, but also the heart.
ADULT PROGRAMS
Over 37,000 adults were motivated to
participate in some of the most diverse environment-based
programming in the state. Each of our NJAS centers provided the
backdrop for a multitude of experiences including birding and
natural history field trips, domestic and foreign travel,
seminars, workshops and other programs. Adult participants took
a Natural Habitats Trolley Tour in Cape May to learn what
actions they could take to enhance personal or community open
space to benefit wildlife. They Tango[ed] with the
Timberdoodles to learn the life history of American Woodcock
and watch their fascinating courtship display at Plainsboro
Preserve. They joined Weis Ecology Center staff to learn about
the Highlands by exploring abandoned iron mines in Caving
101: the Ins and Outs.
TEACHER PROGRAMS
NJAS continued to take a leadership role in
providing environment-based professional development
opportunities for teachers throughout the state. Between NJAS
workshops, in-service professional development days and
conferences, our staff reached a total of 700 teachers serving
Pre-K through college-aged students. With budget cuts and gas
prices playing a major role in the ability of school districts
to take field trips, NJAS staff developed Audubon On Call,
a means for providing professional development on the school
grounds which focuses on the interdisciplinary nature of
ecological systems and how this fits into the school’s
curricula.
YOUTH PROGRAMS
Youth programs range from those designed to
engage young children like the Little Sprouts sessions at
Rancocas Nature Center to family-oriented programs such as
Skunk Cabbage Safari at Lorrimer Sanctuary. In addition,
our NJAS centers have ongoing relationships with school
districts to provide both onsite programs at our centers and
outreach/assembly programs at the schools. Staff round out
their day with after school scout programs; helping boy and girl
scouts achieve their badges in the environmental realm. All
together, 34,000 youth attended NJAS programs in 2005. Six of
our nine education centers as well as our new partner center in
Essex County, conduct summer camps. These range from weekly
nature day camps for younger children to overnight experiences
for teenagers. The first year of the Essex County camp served
91 five and six year olds from Clark School in East Orange. For
many, this experience was their first in nature and they went
from being afraid of the woods and all its inhabitants to
becoming nature ambassadors for new children attending the
program.
Of particular interest in 2005 was the
growth we experienced in the Youth Division of the World Series
of Birding (WSB). There were 23 teams in the three age groups
with over 140 youths from six states. In response to the event,
a young woman from Newark wrote a particularly poignant poem
about her impression of the experience.
"Birding"
As I faced the challenge
face to face
I stepped onto the grassy plain
Feeling the cool wind circling around me
Birds and soil were only to remain
Glancing upward at the
new born sun
Both feet were forced onto the ground
Never before had I felt such peace
Not knowing that tranquility could be found
With binoculars in my
hand, I accepted the challenge
Raising them high to reach my brown eyes
I became the Sherlock of the woods
I found everything Mother Nature tried to hide
Now it’s over, what am I
going to do?
Back to the violence that once surrounded me
Wishing that birding would never end
I lost that feeling to be free
By: Eshica Showell
NJAS accomplishes all of these programs
with a trained staff of 21 educators statewide. In addition,
and playing an essential support role in providing field trip
leadership, the Society has over 100 volunteer Associate
Naturalists. These individuals put countless hours into
planning and conducting many of our adult field trips and
natural history programs. Likewise, of the 80,000 people who
walked through our doors in 2005, their first contact was often
with a bookstore naturalist or a bookstore desk volunteer who
acts as receptionist for the center. These staff and volunteers
not only share their love of nature with visitors, but also
point people in the right direction for acquiring the skills and
tools they will need to discover nature on their own.
For additional information, call, write or email
NJAS Department
of Education
Center for Research and Education
600 Route 47 North
Cape May Court House, NJ 08210
(609) 861-0700
New Jersey Audubon Society (NJAS) is a statewide, not-for-profit, membership
organization committed to preserving New Jersey’s habitats and species
biodiversity. We invite your support through
membership and participation
in our programs.
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