Children’s connection to nature as fostered through residential environmental education programs: Key variables explored through surveys and field journals

Abstract

Children’s connection to nature increasingly is of interest in education, psychology, urban planning, and other related fields. Research findings emphasize the central importance of early connections due to resulting benefits for environmental awareness, knowledge, social-emotional learning, health, and wellbeing. To more clearly conceptualize the process by which connection to nature occurs, we studied fifth-grade students (n = 317) from three California schools (12 classrooms) participating in a four-day residential field-study program in different times of the year. The most revealing finding was the influence of weather on developing connection to nature. On average, students participating during inclement weather had significantly lower connection to nature scores on the post-experience than on the pre-experience measures. This insight into the influence of weather led to suggestions about program design, planning, and management of expectations. Although mild weather did not cause an issue for participants, severe weather interfered with developing and maintaining strongly connected nature-related relationships, suggesting that field studies be undertaken with caution during extreme weather.