Abstract
At the end of his book, ‘Last Child in the Woods’, Louv (2005, cited in Kellert, Heerwagen & Mador, 2008, p.154) stated “it is evident that we are at a turning point in history where opportunities for children to explore the natural world, until recently taken for granted, must now be intentionally created”. This statement was intended to communicate to the generalpublic a disturbing reality – the growing disconnect between children and their local, natural environments. Sorin (2004) explains that children, particularly young children do not always have the words to describe what they see think or feel. Collage, an arts-based methodology has been found to reflect the ways in which our worlds are experienced (Butler-Kisber & Poldma, 2009). This paper explores a researcher’s investigation of young children’s (7-9 years) ‘special places’- better known as place attachments, using a qualitative, arts-based methodology. Methods of data collection and analysis will be discussed, as well as results that highlight the potential of the Arts to be used as research tools.
Highlights
At the end of his book, ‘Last Child in the Woods’, Louv (2005, cited in Kellert, Heerwagen & Mador, 2008, p.154) stated “it is evident that we are at a turning point in history where opportunities for children to explore the natural world, until recently taken for granted, must be intentionally created”
Research indicates the cause of this growing divide is denied opportunities for children to play in the natural environment as their predecessors had, with outdoor play declining by 50 percent in the last fifteen years (Hofferth, 2001, cited in Blizard & Schuster, 2007)
Factors previous studies have identified as impacting on the formation of place attachments include: direct experiences with nature (Barraza, 1999; Ewert, Place & Sibthorp, 2005; Wilson, 1997); familial role models (Chawla, 2007); stories attached to place (Blizard & Schuster, 2007); and the physical affordances assigned to place (Steadman, 2003)
Summary
At the end of his book, ‘Last Child in the Woods’, Louv (2005, cited in Kellert, Heerwagen & Mador, 2008, p.154) stated “it is evident that we are at a turning point in history where opportunities for children to explore the natural world, until recently taken for granted, must be intentionally created”. The researcher’s methods of data collection and analysis will be discussed, as well as findings that highlight the place attachments of these children, and the value of the Arts as a research tool. Research Background and Methodology: The research question of this study “What evidence of place attachments do young children represent using the Arts (collage/ stories)” was formulated based on a curiosity for implementation of Arts-based methodologies as research tools.
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