Cameras can help children notice natureResearch focusing on the way children notice features of the natural world is limited. This study is based on the understanding that deeper insights into these differences might be helpful in promoting children’s connectedness with nature. The act of noticing, as described in this paper, is dependent on material interactions between the body and the physical world, but also on shared recognitions with other people. Noticing, then, is considered to be “a social practice, a skill acquired through sensing phenomena in a social way.”
This study explored the social aspects of how young people and adults noticed environmental features on urban waterways in the city of Leicester in the U.K. Fragments of film produced by young people and recordings from body-mounted cameras were used as sources of data. The young people (age 11-14) – all of Somali heritage – were participating in the Leicester Young Ecology Adventurers (LYEA) program which included opportunities for canoeing and exploring waterways around the city. Most of the youth participants lived in a relatively deprived part of the city. Three fragments of film – with total footage amounting to two hours and 48 minutes – were analyzed for this study. These fragments focused on noticing a heron, ducks, and a dead rat. The analysis included attention to multifaceted styles of noticing on the part of the participating youth and adult staff. Special attention was given to how children influenced each other’s noticing of natural features of the waterways and how noticing was socially produced between children and adults. The role of the camera in young people’s noticing of natural features was also examined.
Children’s “noticings” of heron and ducks reflected somewhat positively on the waterway spaces that were sometimes characterized as unpleasant. The instructor’s response in the noticing of the heron reinforced this positive view. The children’s noticings of the dead rat, however, were accompanied by turning away behaviors and exclamations of disgust. The adults elevated this disgust through both actions and words. While the adults sometimes reinforced and sometimes dismissed the young people’s noticing of natural features, the way the adults and young people interacted did not reflect “expert” and “novice” categories. This approach seemed to encourage “learning to notice,” as it gave the young people the opportunity to “develop their own noticings and narratives for others.” The camera also played an important role in promoting the young people’s noticing of natural features. In some instances – such as viewing the heron from a distance – the camera actually became “an agent in noticing.”
This research highlights “the social, intersubjective practices of noticing, and the significant role of technologies as key actors.” It also offers some insights into how adults can support children’s developing sense of intersubjective noticing.
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