This report provides a description and evaluation of “Sensory Tours” -- a participatory research method designed to capture young children's unique perspectives of being in and interacting with the natural environment. The project engaged thirty-one children (ages 3-6) as active researchers in recording their activities in a patch of forest near their school and having follow-up discussions with them about the meaning of their experiences.
The children wore small cameras while engaged in free play and exploration in the forest during eleven different sessions of approximately one hour in length over 10 weeks time. This method of collecting data gave children control over what was recorded. The children were also engaged as co-researchers during seven classroom visits in which the video recordings were used to stimulate discussions. These discussions gave children an opportunity to interpret their own experiences.
The researchers found the Sensory Tour method successful in engaging young children in collecting meaningful aspects of their experiences. It was also effective in stimulating discussions with the children which, in turn, provided opportunities to gain new understandings of how children experience their environment.
Advantages of using the Sensory Tour method in research with children include the fact that it is unobtrusive and enjoyable. It can also capture interactions that traditional videotaping methods can't. Using wearable cameras with young children, however, includes some disadvantages. Ensuring the right fit and angle of the cameras proved to be challenging; and there were times when children engaged in rough play with the cameras.
Overall, evidence from this study indicates that Sensory Tours is an effective method for engaging children in collecting and analyzing data of their own experiences. It also provides deeper and more authentic insights into how children see, interpret, and interact with their environments.
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