Test results show that children attending preschools providing rich opportunities for nature engagement have weak affinity for natureThe Reggio-Emilia approach to early childhood education includes an emphasis on the environment as a “third educator”. Related pedagogical practices include attempts to increase nature exposure for children. Thus, children attending a Reggio-Emilia-inspired program are likely to have multiple opportunities for engagement with nature. This study investigated preschool children’s emotional, cognitive, and attitudinal affinity with nature after being enrolled in a Reggio-Emilia preschool for at least 1 year.
Twenty children from two Reggio-Emilia-inspired childcare centers in Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada) participated in this study. Children at both centers spend almost 3 hours per day in outdoor nature-related environments and are provided with rich indoor nature exposures. Researchers met one-on-one with the participating children to administer the “Games Testing for Emotional, Cognitive and Attitudinal Affinity with the Biosphere,” an instrument developed by Giusti and his colleagues for assessing children’s affinity for nature. The Games Testing (GT) process includes three phases – one focusing on children’s emotional affinity with nature; one measuring children’s environmental awareness; and one focusing on children’s attitudinal affinity with nature.
Results of the first phase of the GT assessment indicated that the participating children were not emotionally affiliated with nature. This result differs from the results of Giusti and colleagues who found that children with nature-rich routines show strong empathic concerns towards nature and are sensitive towards harmful environmental behaviors. Other research, too, provides evidence of young children having strong positive emotional relationships with nature. Results of the second phase of the GT assessment indicated that most of the participating preschoolers lacked an understanding of the interconnections between human needs and natural sources. While children’s responses to one part of the second phase showed a moderately strong affinity for nature, the responses were anthropocentric. Their concerns about all types of pollution, for example, focused on people, especially themselves. During the third phase of the GT assessment, children were asked about where they usually play, their preferred playing areas, and where they feel safe and free to play. An analysis of their responses provided insights into the children’s attitudinal affinity with nature. Participating children indicated that they most preferred to play in an outdoor setting, with playground and farm being the top choices. Actual play for this group of children, however, occurred most often on playgrounds and never on farms. Inside play was also highly valued by the children. Eight of the twenty children said that they play most inside with toys, and six indicated that playing with toys inside was their preferred location. Some of the children’s responses indicated that fear of animals and of getting lost or injured may influence their preferences and choices about where they play. The children reported feeling safer and more free in indoor versus outdoor environments and on playgrounds versus in natural environments.
The overall results of this study suggest that, although the preschools where the children attended provided various opportunities for exposure to nature, the children’s emotional, cognitive and attitudinal affinity with nature was weak. These results differ from previous research with different groups of children. It's possible that the Games Testing procedure may not have been an appropriate tool for measuring the preschoolers’ affinity for nature. It's thus “highly recommended that the Giusti et al. (2014) instrument be further tested for its’ appropriateness for various settings, ages, and cultures.”
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