Increasing nature connection in children:A mini review of interventions

Alexia Barrable - ORCID: 0000-0002-5352-8330 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5352-8330Half of the world’s population live in the urban environment. Lifestyle changes in the 20th century have led to spending more time indoors and less in nature. Due to safety concerns, longer hours in formal education, as well as lack of suitable outdoor environments, children in particular have been found to spend very little time outdoors. We have an opportunity, both timely and unique to have our children (re)connect with nature. Nature connection is a subjective state and trait that encompasses affective, cognitive, and experiential aspects in addition to being positively associated with wellbeing, and strong predictor of pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. This mini-review brings together recent studies that report on interventions to increase nature connection in children. Fourteen studies were identified through electronic searches of Web of Science, Scopus, PsychInfo, ERIC, and Google Scholar. The review aims to offer an overview of the interventions identified, provide a snapshot of the current state of the literature, briefly present themes and trends in the studies identified in relation to nature connection in young people, and propose potential guidelines for future work.https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.0049211pubpu

Shaping space and practice to support autonomy:Lessons from natural settings in Scotland

Alexia Barrable - ORCID: 0000-0002-5352-8330 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5352-8330In the present paper, I explore some of the concrete manifestation of autonomy support in natural childcare and early childhood education settings, under the organising framework of self-determination theory. More specifically, I present the ways in which early childhood educators shape the space of natural settings and use the affordances of the natural environment to promote autonomy in children aged 3–8 years. The practices presented are a result of direct observation in several Scotland-based outdoor settings, observations and organic conversations with educators in outdoor and forest kindergartens. Hopefully the practices and spaces presented in this paper can be of use by educators and setting managers who aim to support autonomous learning and intrinsic motivation in their pupils in outdoor natural early years’ settings.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-019-09305-x23pubpub

The Case for Nature Connectedness as a Distinct Goal of Early Childhood Education

Alexia Barrable - ORCID: 0000-0002-5352-8330 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5352-8330Item is not available in this repository.The importance of young children learning about the natural environment has been recognised in policy and curricular frameworks around the world. Moreover, there has been a call for children to spend more time outdoors and to reconnect with nature. However, the distinct construct of nature connectedness has not been examined in detail in relation to early childhood education. This article aims to bring together environmental psychology literature and early years’ policy in an attempt to make the case for nature connectedness becoming a distinct goal in early childhood curricular frameworks. Furthermore, it aims to highlight gaps in the research literature and offer clear directions for future research.https://naturalstart.org/sites/default/files/journal/8._barrable_formatted_0.pdf6pubpub

Green and Screen:Does Mobile Photography Enhance or Hinder Our Connection to Nature?

Alexia Barrable - ORCID: 0000-0002-5352-8330 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5352-8330Connection to nature, which describes the affective, experiential and cognitive aspects of our relationship with the natural world, has been positively associated with increased wellbeing, as well as pro-environmental beliefs and behaviours. It has also been identified as a worthwhile and distinct goal of education, both in terms of environmental education assessment, as well as in broader terms. This short article aims to explore the effect of using mobile technology to enhance our connection to nature, through a short-term intervention. A total of 57 undergraduates (age range 20 - 31) were randomised into two groups and undertook a short walk in urban nature, with the instruction to notice the beauty in nature and note three beautiful things. One of the groups was asked to record these beautiful things using mobile technology (photography, audio or video recording). Pre- and post-activity measures of the nature connection, using the Connection to Nature Scale (CNS) State were taken and analysed. Results showed that although the intervention had an overall positive effect on participants’ connection to nature, technology neither enhanced nor hindered it. Qualitative analysis of participants’ description of the activity shows a largely positive experience. Limitations of this small trial are presented, and the potential to build an application to engage young people with nature, for increased wellbeing and sustainability, is discussed as a future direction.https://www.digitalcultureandeducation.com/volume-12-212pubpub

Supporting child and family wellbeing through nature during the pandemic

Alexia Barrable - ORCID: 0000-0002-5352-8330 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5352-8330The global pandemic of COVID-19 poses many unprecedented challenges on our way of life. Since the introduction of social distancing measures as one of our biggest weapons in slowing the spread of disease and mitigating the effects on the health services, other challenges have been introduced. One of these is the challenge of supporting and maintaining wellbeing in children and families. A way to achieve this is through maintaining our contact and connection with the non-human natural world. Regular contact with the natural world has been found to have benefits for our mental and physical health. The aim of this paper is to identify how families can gain the benefits of nature engagement, in the instances where the access might be limited or non-existent Whilst we are able to identify a number of opportunities and mechanisms for nature contact and connection to promoting family wellbeing there are some methodological challenges remaining, given that a significant number of research papers exploring the affective influence of nature contact and connection focuses on adults. We also identify a number of areas where research would be beneficial to better understand the mediating influences on wellbeing from nature contact and connection.https://doi.org/10.26262/HJP.V18I2.804718pubpub

Protocol for a realist evaluation of interventions to increase nature connection in children

Alexia Barrable - ORCID: 0000-0002-5352-8330 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5352-8330Item is not available in this repository.pubpu

The relationship between autonomy support and structure in early childhood nature-based settings: Practices and challenges

Alexia Barrable - ORCID: 0000-0002-5352-8330 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5352-8330From a Self-Determination Theory perspective, children are expected to grow according to innate tendencies in supportive environments, such as nature-based educational settings. The role of the practitioner is generally viewed as facilitative in these contexts. We report findings from a qualitative study with a sample of 18 UK-based outdoor educational practitioners. We asked them to respond to four hypothetical situations with differing levels of required intervention. Our purpose was to examine the extent of autonomy support and structure that they would hypothetically provide to the children in each of these different scenarios, and even uncover possible tensions in the application of autonomy support and structure. Our analysis suggests that, in situations of low interventional requirement, practitioners could understate structure and autonomy support and, in situations of high interventional requirement, prioritize structure over autonomy support. The challenge for practitioners that was revealed in this research, as well its implications, are discussed.Open access funding provided by HEAL-Link Greece.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-023-09470-0pubpu