In Search of Understanding the Process of Engagement With Nature and the Possible Learning Experiences in an Urban Kindergarten Classroom

• In Event: Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: Environments: Indoors and Outdoors

Abstract

Considering the value of engagement with nature in childhood and the many complex ways to experience nature in a school setting, this paper reports on some of the findings of a qualitative grounded theory study, which examined the process of children’s engagement with nature in an urban kindergarten classroom. The study explored how this process enabled the children to construct and co-construct their own understanding and knowledge of the natural world. The findings indicate the significant impact of the learners’ sense of agency, a sustained social context to exchange thoughts and knowledge, and access to familiar natural environment on the children’s depth of engagement and their emotional and aesthetic as well as cognitive development in and through nature.

Author

• Farveh Ghafouri, University of Toronto - OISE