Treesearch

In a study of the benefits of various summer programs, especially those involving wilderness experiences, the use of pretests for all the groups made possible evaluation of the degree of self-selection as well. Similar tests 6 months later showed the influences of the summer programs themselves. The results suggest that even a relatively short encounter with the out-of-doors results in pervasive changes, the most striking of which relate to increased competence in skills required in the woods.

Straightforward observation of children in their everyday environments is a more appropriate method of discovering the meaning of their relationships to nature than complex methodologies or reductionist commonsense thinking. Observational study requires an explicit conceptual framework and adherence to procedures that allow scientific inference. Error may come from those being studied, the investigator, or the sampling procedure. Systematic observation is one of the most useful ways of learning about the complex interrelationships of a child's world.

A young child has keen senses, but his world is not thereby more filled with sensory values than that of an adult. To enjoy the physical environment fully the mere capacity to experience stimuli is not enough; it must be complemented by appreciation, which is an intellectual activity. A young child's experiences of nature are often more intense than those of an adult. Among the reasons for this are synesthesia and the child's ability to isolate experience from its distracting social, theoretical, and practical contexts. However, the isolation also causes impoverishment. Remembrance, which...

Paul Shepard presents a dazzling array of profound ideas about the nature of the relationship between early developmental stages and places experienced in a variety of cultures. Shepard's analysis is related to the schema presented in Spivack's (1973) paper, in which he identifies some basic requirements of the human species and the environmental conditions necessary to meet those requirements. Spivack lists human requirements such as eating, mating, and sleeping, along with the essential environmental forms for the activities. These analyses by Shepard and Spivack serve to remind us that...

When we engage in restoring childhood to some place in our thinking and recognize that childhood has significance in the development of the adult, its all right to talk generally about "childhood" and the "child." But as a theoretical concept, "the Child" is a fiction. We do not know enough about what children, as biologically given creatures, will do at different stages in development or under different cultural circumstances. Much of what is "known" is based on inadequate evidence from widely scattered sources. We can't take what we find out about children in one culture and combine it...

All peoples known to science have a concept of "nature" which forms part of the world-view of the culture. The relative importance of "nature" differs among cultures. In our own Western culture, ideas of "nature" are mentioned from the earliest written records, and are related to concepts of the autonomous individual and of hierarachy and order. At certain times these concepts have had particular usefulness in achievement of personal emotional balance. These values should be explored and defined, that they may be made more widely available.

This paper questions the assumption that young children need exposure to natural environments for healthy psychological development. Preliminary investigation of the environmental perceptions of 4-year-olds suggests that the distinction between natural and man-made milieux is insignificant to preschoolers, and that they find both kinds of environments similarly fascinating. Both offer rich potential for collecting treasures - an important preschool criterion of environmental satisfaction. The behavioral environments of parent and child are markedly different in the same physical setting.

This paper is the result of my personal experiences in Philadelphia's predominantly black public schools, both as a white parent of three children and as a volunteer teacher. It mentions the benefits to our white middle-class children from their 12 years in these schools, but also describes the far-different treatment of their black classmates - much of which is unsuspected by educators who could make necessary changes. This paper suggests a solution that could be implemeted in a matter of months with little effort and no financial cost.

This paper presents a "social systems" orientation for integrating the diverse aspects of environment, culture, and individual behavior. It suggests that a wide range of variables, including the physical environment, cultural and social processes, environmental perceptions and cognitions, behavior, and products of behavior, are connected in a complex, interacting system. Attention is paid to cultural factors that affect the way in which the environment is perceived, used, and modified. A broad variety of topics are touched upon, including ecological factors that affect the functional...

Aspects of perceptual development in children are reviewed, and implications drawn for nurturing spatial abilities in urban environments. Emphasis is placed on the visual complexities of man-made urban surroundings, and their utilization in training. Further, attention is drawn to the individual child's imagination as a resource in developing his perceptual capabilities and flexibility of thought.