Natural England Update

Here’s a further update from Natural England by way of relevant evidence and reports, policy agenda developments, large scale delivery sector initiatives, resources and news items from the UK and abroad, with a focus on schools, education and learning. This supports the Strategic Research Network for People and Nature to develop better coherence and collaboration in research and to improve links between research, policy and practice in these areas.

The Growth of Forest School: A Review of the Evidence Base
D Egan, SM Egan, T Brophy – Irish Journal of Early Childhood Studies
The authors then examine the research base for the purported benefits of FS, consider weaknesses of the evidence base and discuss other criticisms that have been levelled at FS. While the prima facie research provides support for the benefits of forest schooling, the conclusions that can be drawn from the research may be limited due to the identified weaknesses of some of the research to date and a somewhat under-developed theoretical framework. The authors conclude that additional studies of high quality are required in order to understand the place of FS in the spectrum of pedagogical frameworks, and the potential of FS in the context of the current discourse on wellbeing in education

Growing nature connection through greening schoolyards: preschool teachers’ response to ecosystem services innovations
P Askerlund, E Almers, M Tuvendal, S Waite – Education
This article reports how Swedish teachers’ aims and practices were modified by an ecosystem services development project that introduced insect hotels, bird boxes and planting to ten preschool yards. Teachers’ understanding of ecosystem services, human–nature relationships and the impact of these on nature connectedness showed that their conceptualisations of human–nature relationships were shifting and complex, reflecting overlapping ideas about what schoolyard ecosystem services might mean to/for young children and how children’s connection with nature might best be supported. 

Survey Instruments for Assessing Environmental Education Outcomes
Chapter in Advancing Environmental Education Practice

Children’s interactions with relatively wild nature associated with more relational behavior: A model of child-nature interaction in a forest preschool
T Weiss, PH Kahn Jr, LW Lam – Journal of Environmental Psychology
Using a randomized time-sampling methodology, we conducted an observational study of 49 children in a forest preschool. Video data was collected over 35 weeks. We then tested our hypothesis that relatively wild areas of this environment would be positively associated with child-nature behaviors that were more relational – that is, behaviors demonstrating a bond with nature or respect, including the ability to cohabitate with other lifeforms, and to promote the well-being of nature. Results confirmed this hypothesis.

Connection to nature is associated with social-emotional learning of children
K Lanza, M Alcazar, B Chen, HW Kohl III – Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology
Nature connection had a significant positive association with overall SEL skills
Nature connection related to self-awareness, self-management, relationship skills
Connection to Nature Index and Inclusion of Nature in Self had a low correlation

A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF OUTDOOR ADVENTURE EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN SCHOOLS
G Katulis, RP Valickienė – Social Inquiry into Well-Being
We systematically reviewed quantitative research of OAE programs in schools regarding outcomes, program types, and methodology.These results reveal methodological limitations such as no control group, vague program description, and questionable time of measurements. The reviewed research measured 16 different outcomes and revealed ambiguous results. OAE shows the potential to improve cohesion in student groups and students’ self-efficacy; however, more rigorous research with classes that remain intact after the program ends is needed. Overall, OAE programs may benefit various aspects of a pupil’s life, but it is crucial to have a clear direction of where the program leads.

Is naturalness associated with positive learning outcomes during environmental education field trips?
L Kiewra, RB Powell, MJ Stern, T Hemby, MH Browning – The Journal of Environmental Education
We collected surveys immediately following 283 U.S.-based environmental education (EE) field trip programs for youth and used land cover data to examine the relationship between levels of naturalness, defined as the percentage of natural land cover of the EE field trip site, and student learning outcomes. We also examined whether differences in levels of naturalness between students’ day-to-day environment and the field trip setting were related to student learning outcomes. When controlling for grade and race, both levels of naturalness and novel levels of naturalness accounted for approximately 4% of the variance in student outcomes suggesting that other field trip characteristics are more influential.