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Early Childhood Development And Education Through Nature-Child Interactions: A Conceptual Paper

Year 2013, Volume: 4 Issue: 2, 1 - 10, 01.06.2013

İbrahim H. Acar

Abstract

The present paper addresses following research questions: RQ1: How does nature or nature-based activities help children’s cognitive development? RQ2: How does nature or nature-based activities help children’s social and prosocial behavior development? RQ3: How does nature or nature-based activities enhance children’s learning abilities? To address these research questions, this paper will explore how nature helps young children’s cognitive, social, prosocial behavior development through primary and secondary existing literature sources (Fraenkel, Wallen, & Hyun, 2012). This paper will also touch on how teachers influence children’s learning objectives through guiding children’s learning activities during nature-based activities. The present paper tends to explore child development through peer-child and child-teacher interactions throughout nature-based activities through the lens of Vygotsky’s (1978) Socio-Cultural Theory.

Keywords

Nature and Child Child Development Early Childhood Education

References

  • Acar, I. H., & Torquati, J. (2012, November). Prosocial Behavior Exhibited in Preschool-aged Children through Nature-based Activities. Paper session presented at the annual meeting of Midwestern Educational Research Association, Evanston, IL.
  • Allen, J. B., & Ferrand, J. L. (1999). Environmental Locus of Control, Sympathy, and Proenvironmental Behavior. Environment & Behavior, 31(3), 338-353.
  • Bailie, P. E. (2012). Connecting children to nature: A multiple case study of nature center Preschools (Doctoral dissertation, University of Nebraska-Lincoln). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/teachlearnstudent/24
  • Brown, S. (2009). Play: How It Shapes the brain, Opens the Imagination, and Ingvigorates the Soul. New York , NY: Penguin Group.
  • Chawla, L. (1998). Significant life experiences revisited: A review of research on sources of environmental sensitivity. The Journal of Environmental Education, 29(3), 11-21.
  • Cimprich, B. E. (1990). Attentional fatigue and restoration in individuals with cancer. Unpub-lished doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
  • Cheng, J. C.-H., & Monroe, M. C. (2012). Connection to nature: Children's affective attitude toward nature . Environment and Behavior, 44, 31-49. doi:10.1177/0013916510385082.
  • Cohen, S. (2001). Social Relationships and Susceptibility to the Common Cold. In C. D. Ryff, & B. H. Singer, Emotion, Social Relationships, and Health (pp. 221-242). New York, NY: Oxford University Press .
  • Coley, R., & Kuo, F. E. (1997). Where does community grow? The social context created by nature in urban public housing. Environment & Behavior, 29(4), 468.
  • Coplan, R. J., & Arbeau, K. A. (2009). Peer Interactions and Play in Early Childhood. In K. H. Rubin, W. M. Bukowski, & B. Laursen, Handbook of Peer Interactions, Relationships, and Groups (pp. 143-161). New York, NY: The Guilford Press .
  • Curtis, D., & Carter, M. (2005). Rethinking early childhood environments to enhance learning . Young Children, 60(3), 34-46.
  • Dobbs-Oates, J., Kaderavek, J. N., & Justice, L. M. (2011). Effective behavior management in preschool classrooms and children’s task orientation: Enhancing emergent literacy and language development. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 26, 420– 429. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2011.02.003.
  • Downer, J. T., Booren, L. M., Lima, O. K., Luckner, A. E., & Pianta, R. C. (2010). The Individualized Classroom Assessment Scoring System (inCLASS): Preliminary reliability and validity of a system for observing preschoolers' competence in classroom interaction. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 25 (1), 1-16.
  • Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., & Spinrad, T. L. (2006). Prosocial Development. In W. Damon, R. M. Lerner (Series Ed.), & N. Eisenberg (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol.3. Social, emotional, and personality development (pp. 6th ed., pp. 646-718). New York: Wiley.
  • Faber Taylor, A. & Kuo, F. E. (2006). Is contact with nature important for healthy child development? State of the evidence. In C. Spencer & M. Blades, (Eds.), Children and their environments. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 124-140.
  • Faber Taylor, A. F., Kuo, F., Sullivan, W. (2001) Coping with ADD: The Surprising Connection to Green Play Settings. Environment and Behavior, 33(1), 54.
  • Fraenkel, J. R., Wallen, N. E., & Hyun, H. H. (2012). How to design and evaluate research in education (8th editon). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
  • Grahn, P., Mårtensson, F., Lindblad, B., Nilsson,P., & Ekman, A. (1997). Ute på dagis [Outdoors at daycare]. Stad och Land [City and country], No. 145. Hässleholm, Sweden: Norra Skåne Offset.
  • Gopnik, A. (2009). The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us about Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux .
  • Hännikäinen, M., & Rasku-Puttonen, H. (2010). Promoting children’s participation: the role of teachers in preschool and primary school learning sessions. Early Years, 30(2), 147-160. doi: 1080/09575146.2010.485555.
  • Hartig, T., Mang, M., & Evans, G. W. (1991). Restorative effects of natural environment experiences. Environment and Behavior, 23, 3-26.
  • Hillman, M., Adams, J., & Whitelegg, J. (1990). One false move: A study of children's independent mobility. London: Policy Studies Institute .
  • Hovland, M. R., Gapp, S. C., & Theis, B. L. (2011). Look: Examining the concept of learning to at print . Reading Improvement, 48(3), 128-138.
  • Howes, C., & Ritchie, S. (2002). A Matter of Trust: Connecting Teachers and Learners in the Early Childhood Classroom . New York, NY: Teachers College Press .
  • Kahn, P. H., Jr. (1999). The human relationship with nature: Development and culture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • Kahn, Jr., P. H. (2002). Children’s affiliations with nature: Structure, development, and the problem of environmental generational amnesia. In P.H. Kahn, Jr. and S.R.
  • Kellert (Eds.), 2002, Children and Nature: Psychological, sociocultural, and evolutionary investigations. (pp. 93-116). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • Kaplan, R. (1973). Some psychological benefits of gardening. Environment and Behavior, 5 (2), 145-162.
  • Kellert, S. R. (1993). The biological basis for human values of nature. In E.O. Wilson & S. R. Kellert (Eds.), 1993, The biophilia hypothesis. (pp. 31-41). Washington DC: Island Press.
  • Kellert, S. R. (2005). Building for Life: Designing and Understanding the Human-Nature Connection. Washington, DC: Island Press.
  • Kozulin, A. (1987). The concepts of activity in Soviet psychology: Vygotsky, his disciples, and critics. In H. Daniels (Ed.), An Introduction Vygotsky. (pp. 101-125). New York: Routledge.
  • Kuo, F. E., Bacaicoa, M., & Sullivan, W.C. (1998). Transforming inner-city landscapes: Trees, sense of safety, and preference. Environment and Behavior, 30, 28-59.
  • Lee, Y., Kinzie, M. B., & Whittaker, J. V. (2012). Impact of online support for teachers’ open-ended questioning in pre-k science activities. Teaching & Teacher Education, 28(4), 568-577. doi:1016/j.tate.2012.01.002.
  • Louv, R. (2008). Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books.
  • Mashburn, A. J., Pianta, R. C., Hamre, B. K., Downer, J. T., Barbarin, O. A., Bryant, D., . . . Early, D. M. (2008). Measures of classroom quality in prekindergarten and children’s development of academic, language, and social skills. Child Development, 79(3), 732-749. doi: 10.1111/j.1467862008.01154.x.
  • Milteer, R. M., & Ginsburg, K. R. (2011). The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development abd Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bond: Focus on Children in Poverty. Pediatrics, 204-213.
  • Mussen, P., & Eisenber-Berg, N. (1977). Roots of Caring, Sharing, and Helping. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Company .
  • Pianta, R. C. (1999). Enhancing Relationships between Children and Teachers . Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
  • Pianta, R. C., La Paro, K. M., & Hamre, B. K. (2008). Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.
  • Poresky, R. H. (1990). The young children's empathy measure: Reliability, validity, and effects of companion animal bonding. Psychological Reports, 66, 931-936.
  • Rogoff, B. (1990). Apprenticeship in thinking: Cognitive development in social context. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Schulz, L. E., & Bonawitz, E. (2007). Serious fun: Preschoolers engage in more exploratory play when evidence is confounded. Developmental Psychology,43(4), 1045-1050. doi:10.1037/0012164.1045
  • Schultz, W. (2002). Inclusion with nature: The psychology of human-nature relations. In P.
  • Schumck & W. P. Schultz (Eds.), Psychology of sustainable development (pp. 61-78). Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publisher. Spivak, A. L., & Howes, C. (2011). Social and Relational Factors in Early Education and Prosocial Actions of Children of Diverse Ethnocultural Communities. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 57(1), 1-24.
  • Tarim, K. (2009). The effects of cooperative learning on preschoolers’ mathematics problem-solving ability. Educational Studies In Mathematics, 72(3), 325-340. doi:10.1007/s10649-009-9197-x.
  • Taylor, A.F.,Wiley, A.,Kuo,F. E.,& Sullivan,W. C. (1998). Growing up in the inner city: Green spaces as places to grow. Environment and Behavior, 30, 3-27. Sayfa 10

Early Childhood Development And Education Through Nature-Child Interactions: A Conceptual Paper

Year 2013, Volume: 4 Issue: 2, 1 - 10, 01.06.2013

İbrahim H. Acar

Abstract

Keywords

-

References

  • Acar, I. H., & Torquati, J. (2012, November). Prosocial Behavior Exhibited in Preschool-aged Children through Nature-based Activities. Paper session presented at the annual meeting of Midwestern Educational Research Association, Evanston, IL.
  • Allen, J. B., & Ferrand, J. L. (1999). Environmental Locus of Control, Sympathy, and Proenvironmental Behavior. Environment & Behavior, 31(3), 338-353.
  • Bailie, P. E. (2012). Connecting children to nature: A multiple case study of nature center Preschools (Doctoral dissertation, University of Nebraska-Lincoln). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/teachlearnstudent/24
  • Brown, S. (2009). Play: How It Shapes the brain, Opens the Imagination, and Ingvigorates the Soul. New York , NY: Penguin Group.
  • Chawla, L. (1998). Significant life experiences revisited: A review of research on sources of environmental sensitivity. The Journal of Environmental Education, 29(3), 11-21.
  • Cimprich, B. E. (1990). Attentional fatigue and restoration in individuals with cancer. Unpub-lished doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
  • Cheng, J. C.-H., & Monroe, M. C. (2012). Connection to nature: Children's affective attitude toward nature . Environment and Behavior, 44, 31-49. doi:10.1177/0013916510385082.
  • Cohen, S. (2001). Social Relationships and Susceptibility to the Common Cold. In C. D. Ryff, & B. H. Singer, Emotion, Social Relationships, and Health (pp. 221-242). New York, NY: Oxford University Press .
  • Coley, R., & Kuo, F. E. (1997). Where does community grow? The social context created by nature in urban public housing. Environment & Behavior, 29(4), 468.
  • Coplan, R. J., & Arbeau, K. A. (2009). Peer Interactions and Play in Early Childhood. In K. H. Rubin, W. M. Bukowski, & B. Laursen, Handbook of Peer Interactions, Relationships, and Groups (pp. 143-161). New York, NY: The Guilford Press .
  • Curtis, D., & Carter, M. (2005). Rethinking early childhood environments to enhance learning . Young Children, 60(3), 34-46.
  • Dobbs-Oates, J., Kaderavek, J. N., & Justice, L. M. (2011). Effective behavior management in preschool classrooms and children’s task orientation: Enhancing emergent literacy and language development. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 26, 420– 429. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2011.02.003.
  • Downer, J. T., Booren, L. M., Lima, O. K., Luckner, A. E., & Pianta, R. C. (2010). The Individualized Classroom Assessment Scoring System (inCLASS): Preliminary reliability and validity of a system for observing preschoolers' competence in classroom interaction. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 25 (1), 1-16.
  • Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., & Spinrad, T. L. (2006). Prosocial Development. In W. Damon, R. M. Lerner (Series Ed.), & N. Eisenberg (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol.3. Social, emotional, and personality development (pp. 6th ed., pp. 646-718). New York: Wiley.
  • Faber Taylor, A. & Kuo, F. E. (2006). Is contact with nature important for healthy child development? State of the evidence. In C. Spencer & M. Blades, (Eds.), Children and their environments. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 124-140.
  • Faber Taylor, A. F., Kuo, F., Sullivan, W. (2001) Coping with ADD: The Surprising Connection to Green Play Settings. Environment and Behavior, 33(1), 54.
  • Fraenkel, J. R., Wallen, N. E., & Hyun, H. H. (2012). How to design and evaluate research in education (8th editon). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
  • Grahn, P., Mårtensson, F., Lindblad, B., Nilsson,P., & Ekman, A. (1997). Ute på dagis [Outdoors at daycare]. Stad och Land [City and country], No. 145. Hässleholm, Sweden: Norra Skåne Offset.
  • Gopnik, A. (2009). The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us about Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux .
  • Hännikäinen, M., & Rasku-Puttonen, H. (2010). Promoting children’s participation: the role of teachers in preschool and primary school learning sessions. Early Years, 30(2), 147-160. doi: 1080/09575146.2010.485555.
  • Hartig, T., Mang, M., & Evans, G. W. (1991). Restorative effects of natural environment experiences. Environment and Behavior, 23, 3-26.
  • Hillman, M., Adams, J., & Whitelegg, J. (1990). One false move: A study of children's independent mobility. London: Policy Studies Institute .
  • Hovland, M. R., Gapp, S. C., & Theis, B. L. (2011). Look: Examining the concept of learning to at print . Reading Improvement, 48(3), 128-138.
  • Howes, C., & Ritchie, S. (2002). A Matter of Trust: Connecting Teachers and Learners in the Early Childhood Classroom . New York, NY: Teachers College Press .
  • Kahn, P. H., Jr. (1999). The human relationship with nature: Development and culture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • Kahn, Jr., P. H. (2002). Children’s affiliations with nature: Structure, development, and the problem of environmental generational amnesia. In P.H. Kahn, Jr. and S.R.
  • Kellert (Eds.), 2002, Children and Nature: Psychological, sociocultural, and evolutionary investigations. (pp. 93-116). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • Kaplan, R. (1973). Some psychological benefits of gardening. Environment and Behavior, 5 (2), 145-162.
  • Kellert, S. R. (1993). The biological basis for human values of nature. In E.O. Wilson & S. R. Kellert (Eds.), 1993, The biophilia hypothesis. (pp. 31-41). Washington DC: Island Press.
  • Kellert, S. R. (2005). Building for Life: Designing and Understanding the Human-Nature Connection. Washington, DC: Island Press.
  • Kozulin, A. (1987). The concepts of activity in Soviet psychology: Vygotsky, his disciples, and critics. In H. Daniels (Ed.), An Introduction Vygotsky. (pp. 101-125). New York: Routledge.
  • Kuo, F. E., Bacaicoa, M., & Sullivan, W.C. (1998). Transforming inner-city landscapes: Trees, sense of safety, and preference. Environment and Behavior, 30, 28-59.
  • Lee, Y., Kinzie, M. B., & Whittaker, J. V. (2012). Impact of online support for teachers’ open-ended questioning in pre-k science activities. Teaching & Teacher Education, 28(4), 568-577. doi:1016/j.tate.2012.01.002.
  • Louv, R. (2008). Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books.
  • Mashburn, A. J., Pianta, R. C., Hamre, B. K., Downer, J. T., Barbarin, O. A., Bryant, D., . . . Early, D. M. (2008). Measures of classroom quality in prekindergarten and children’s development of academic, language, and social skills. Child Development, 79(3), 732-749. doi: 10.1111/j.1467862008.01154.x.
  • Milteer, R. M., & Ginsburg, K. R. (2011). The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development abd Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bond: Focus on Children in Poverty. Pediatrics, 204-213.
  • Mussen, P., & Eisenber-Berg, N. (1977). Roots of Caring, Sharing, and Helping. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Company .
  • Pianta, R. C. (1999). Enhancing Relationships between Children and Teachers . Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
  • Pianta, R. C., La Paro, K. M., & Hamre, B. K. (2008). Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.
  • Poresky, R. H. (1990). The young children's empathy measure: Reliability, validity, and effects of companion animal bonding. Psychological Reports, 66, 931-936.
  • Rogoff, B. (1990). Apprenticeship in thinking: Cognitive development in social context. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Schulz, L. E., & Bonawitz, E. (2007). Serious fun: Preschoolers engage in more exploratory play when evidence is confounded. Developmental Psychology,43(4), 1045-1050. doi:10.1037/0012164.1045
  • Schultz, W. (2002). Inclusion with nature: The psychology of human-nature relations. In P.
  • Schumck & W. P. Schultz (Eds.), Psychology of sustainable development (pp. 61-78). Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publisher. Spivak, A. L., & Howes, C. (2011). Social and Relational Factors in Early Education and Prosocial Actions of Children of Diverse Ethnocultural Communities. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 57(1), 1-24.
  • Tarim, K. (2009). The effects of cooperative learning on preschoolers’ mathematics problem-solving ability. Educational Studies In Mathematics, 72(3), 325-340. doi:10.1007/s10649-009-9197-x.
  • Taylor, A.F.,Wiley, A.,Kuo,F. E.,& Sullivan,W. C. (1998). Growing up in the inner city: Green spaces as places to grow. Environment and Behavior, 30, 3-27. Sayfa 10
There are 46 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language Turkish
Journal Section Articles
Authors

İbrahim H. Acar This is me

Publication Date June 1, 2013
Published in Issue Year 2013 Volume: 4 Issue: 2

Cite

APA Acar, İ. H. (2013). Early Childhood Development And Education Through Nature-Child Interactions: A Conceptual Paper. International Journal of Educational Researchers, 4(2), 1-10.