Nature-based practices may help children from disadvantaged backgrounds develop self-regulation and attention skillsSelf-regulation (SR) refers to the ability to regulate one's own thoughts, behaviors and feelings adaptively to a given situation. This skill – a critically important aspect of early childhood development – is a major contributor to success in school and to well-being across the lifespan. This study investigated the impact of nature-based practices on the self-regulation of young children, with particular interest in preschoolers from lower SES backgrounds.
Nine preschool programs within the same local geographic area participated in the study: three private programs serving mostly higher-income families and six public school programs serving more children from low SES families. The public preschool programs – all within the same school district – used an integrated model where students participating in differently-funded initiatives (federal Head Start, state-level school readiness, voluntary prekindergarten, and special education programming) attended the same classrooms. A total of 115 children (age 3-5) participated in the study. For purposes of the study, the participating programs were divided into three categories –“Nature,” “Blended,” and “Less Nature” – based on the degree to which nature-based practices were incorporated. The “Nature” programs included a focus on unstructured nature play and/or loosely guided, playful outdoor learning to promote desired outcomes. Activities in the “Less Nature” programs were usually teacher-directed and focused on early academics and kindergarten readiness. The “Blended” programs offered some unstructured nature play opportunities, but had a greater emphasis on kindergarten readiness and early academics than the “Nature” programs. Several strategies were used in determining degree of “nature-ness.” The first strategy involved numeric scoring based on a 13-point Preschool “Nature-ness” Categorization Rubric. This scoring was completed by the teachers in the participating schools. The second strategy was based on the school district’s early education coordinator review of the rubric’s scoring. Two of the nine programs were designated as "Nature"; three as "Blended"; and four as "Less Nature." Self-regulation assessments of all the participating children were conducted at the beginning and end of the school year. Tools used for these assessments consisted of The Preschool Self-Regulation Assessment (measuring cold and hot executive control) and the PSRA Assessor Report (PSRA-AR) (measuring attention/impulse control). Cold Executive Control (CEC) involves cognitively mediated processes; Hot Executive Control (HOC) measures affectively or motivationally mediated processes.
Assessment results showed that the three preschool approaches (based on level of “nature-ness), as well as the two preschool types (private and public), were of similar effectiveness in terms of CEC and attention/impulse control. However, for both outcomes, despite statistical non-significance, visual inspection of the results suggested that there may actually be an interaction between preschool type and socio-economic status; additional specific analysis were conducted to explore this possibility. The results of these follow-up tests suggested that the children in the public preschool where a "Nature" approach was used had significantly higher HEC posttest levels and attention/impulse control than preschoolers in the “Less Nature” public preschool programs; for the attention/impulse control outcome they also had higher posttest levels than preschoolers in the public “Blended” programs.
This research suggests that incorporating nature-based practices into preschool was effective for supporting HEC and attention/impulse control among lower SES children in public preschool. The results also suggest that “children can spend a significant amount of their preschool day in unstructured nature play and still be cognitively and socially emotionally ‘ready for school’.”
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