Saturday, July 27, 2024

Outdoors Optimism: The Rising Relevance of Nature Schooling for Adolescents

 We live in a digital world. As a result, there has been a drastic divide between young people and their natural surroundings, as they are glued to their screens and remain confined to urban construction. Given that technology is only going to advance and assume an even greater role in our lives, the time that individuals spend online is only going to increase, thereby inducing a myriad of developmental and psychological problems.

 In this light, there is a new movement on the horizon that insists on the critical importance of nature schooling for children and teenagers. Realizing how mass-produced technology has negatively impacted the well-being of teenagers, in terms of how they remain constantly plugged-in to some electronic device, this movement seeks to return teenagers back to nature by making them spend a greater amount of time outdoors. The benefits propounded by this movement include enhanced physical and mental health, greater engagement with our natural environment, and a more robust development of our sensor, cognitive, and motor skills.

 Countering the indoor-ification of early childhood and adolescence, wherein individuals remain preoccupied with concerns such as academics, testing, and technology, nature schooling is an alternative method of education that insists that teenagers spend a healthy amount of time of their daily schedules outside in nature. As such, such schooling types incorporate natural awareness into their curriculum about the arts, sciences, mathematics, language skills, and music training pedagogies.

 Such a pedagogy is driven by the core principle that reading, comprehension, and other critical thinking and metacognitive skills are better developed if the children indulge in meaning-making in the outside world, and develop an awareness of how they engage with the world using different senses and faculties through interactive experiences. Not only is this great for perceptual development, but it also allows individuals to expand their horizons by immersing themselves in diverse natural habitats and communities, such as gardens, fields, riversides, hillsides, etc. Further, such schooling is also incredibly helpful in cultivating social skills in teenagers, including cooperation, communication, collaboration, empathy, and a sense of belonging.

As physical, mental, academic, and environmental challenges continue to mount copious levels of stress and anxiety on teenagers, by embracing natural schooling, they can thrive into resilient individuals who are equipped to take care of their well-being.

Sources

  1. https://hikeandlearn.org/education/earthkeeper-nature-school/what-is-a-nature-school/
  2. https://mamateaches.com/what-is-nature-schooling/  ​

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