Nature-deficit Disorder Research Articles

An Exploration of Pre-Service Teachers' Experiences in Outdoor ‘Places’ and Intentions for Teaching in the Outdoors

This study explores pre-service teachers' past interactions with ‘place’ in outdoor settings and how these experiences contribute to their current perceptions of the importance of taking their own students into the outdoors. Specifically, the researchers were interested in investigating if current pre-service teachers are part of the ‘nature-deficit disorder' generation described by Louv in his book, Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder (2005), as a generation of children growing up without direct experiences in nature. Study participants included 148 undergraduate pre-service elementary teachers enrolled in science teaching methods instructional courses at an urban college in the Northeastern United States and two suburban universities in the Southeastern United States. Participants wrote essay responses after reading Louv's Last Child in the Woods in which they were asked to relate the reading to their own past experiences and their ideas about elementary science education. Results indicate that a large majority of participants (97%) describe significant youth experiences in the outdoors, view nature as important in varying ways (89.9%), and express a desire to expose their own students to the outdoors (65.5%). Key findings are illustrated with direct quotations from the pre-service teachers' essay responses, as they write vividly of their interactions in outdoor places, referred to as ‘place meanings'. Implications are presented for teacher educators working with pre-service teachers to build upon their outdoor experiences and prepare them for implementing nature-based instruction.

Ecoliteracy for ecology and ecologists: eroded underpinnings

Ecoliteracy for ecology and ecologists: eroded underpinnings

Sharing Postcards about Where We Live: Early Childhood Environmental Understanding

Louv's 2005 book, Last Child in the Woods, highlights the growing divide between children and their local, natural environments, which he referred to as nature deficit disorder. Yet, children today are the ones who will be responsible for the maintenance of a sustainable future. In the early years of life, attitudes are formative, and so this is a time when understanding and habits of sustainability are best developed. This action research study, conducted in kindergarten/pre-Preparatory (ages 4-5) classes in Australia and in Canada, utilised postcard creating and sharing in an online environment to facilitate environmental understanding in young children. Using arts-based methods of drawing and storytelling, children in Australia created postcards for their peers in Canada, constructing their knowledge and understanding about local and foreign environments in the process. Children were engaged in the learning process through sending and receiving postcards to their overseas peers, and this form of pedagogy was developed through action research cycles. Researchers and teachers trialed various arts-based pedagogies during this process. Children's postcards (artefacts) along with semi-structured interviews, observations, and critical reflections were collected as data and analysed using emergent coding and content/interpretive/developmental analysis of drawings. By implementing an authentic task (drawing postcards and storytelling) and refining our pedagogical practices, we developed an approach that encouraged children to: (1) share their understandings in a confident, engaged, and deep manner with their peers, and (2) generate rich, cross-cultural representations, understandings, concerns, and perceptions of their local, natural environments from two different locations. The study concluded that arts-based pedagogy can support young children to further their knowledge of environmental and conservation issues, encompassing a range of different perspectives and possible solutions to their own and others' environmental concerns.

Technology and Psychology—Natural Enemies or Just Plain Natural?

EcopsychologyVol. 5, No. 4 Brief Essays on Revisioning EcopsychologyTechnology and Psychology—Natural Enemies or Just Plain Natural?Beth KarlinBeth KarlinSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:31 Dec 2013https://doi.org/10.1089/eco.2013.0081AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB Permissions & CitationsPermissionsDownload CitationsTrack CitationsAdd to favorites Back To Publication ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail View article"Technology and Psychology—Natural Enemies or Just Plain Natural?." Ecopsychology, 5(4), pp. 217–218FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited byAt the Intersection of Technology and Nature: The Potential for a Bright Green Future Jason A. Kaufman and G. David McNay1 December 2017 | Ecopsychology, Vol. 9, No. 4Pumping Up the Citizen Muscle Bootcamp: Improving User Experience in Online LearningRevisioning Ecopsychology: Perspectives from the Community Peter H. Kahn31 December 2013 | Ecopsychology, Vol. 5, No. 4 Volume 5Issue 4Dec 2013 InformationCopyright 2013, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.To cite this article:Beth Karlin.Technology and Psychology—Natural Enemies or Just Plain Natural?.Ecopsychology.Dec 2013.217-218.http://doi.org/10.1089/eco.2013.0081Published in Volume: 5 Issue 4: December 31, 2013PDF download

The Impact of Companion Animals on Social Capital and Community Violence: Setting Research, Policy and Program Agendas

The term social capital has been used to describe the networks and other forces that build social cohesion, personal investment, reciprocity, civic engagement, and interpersonal trust among residents in a community. With the exception of three Australian reports describing positive associations between companion animal ownership and social capital, the literature has neglected to include the presence or absence of companion animal residents of communities as factors that could potentially affect social capital and serve as protective factors for community well-being. Companion animals are present in significantly large numbers in most communities, where they have considerable economic impact and provide emotional and physiologic health benefits and social support to their owners. Companion animals may mitigate the stresses of urban living and counteract what has been called “nature-deficit disorder.” Conversely, they may also be the victims of cruelty, abuse and neglect which can adversely affect the quality of life and social capital of a community. Efforts to measure the impact of companion animals on social capital are constrained by a lack of accurate data on companion animal populations and by gaps in our knowledge of attitudes toward companion animal ownership, particularly in communities of color. An agenda for research, public policy and programmatic activities to address these gaps is proposed to help determine whether the resilience and protective factors which companion animals can offer individuals extend to community populations as well.

Nature-deficit disorder: evidence, dosage, and treatment

Claims have long been made of the health-promoting effects of contact with ‘nature’, but these claims have only recently been subjected to rigorous scientific testing. A strong body of evidence is now in hand. An array of studies ranging from rigorous experiments to large-scale epidemiological work has tied nature to health for outcomes ranging from childhood obesity, to immune functioning and rates of physician-diagnosed disease in adults, to longevity in older adults. Moreover, enough evidence has accumulated to begin to answer key questions about the dosage of nature needed to promote health. Do all forms of nature seem to help? Do small bits of nature help, or is some minimum level required for an effect? Similarly, to what extent is an explicit focus on nature necessary – are effects limited to fishing, hiking, gardening, and the like? The evidence to date suggests, broadly, that total exposure is important; all forms and quantities of exposure are helpful; and the greener the better. From these insights into dosage, nine recommendations are drawn for addressing nature deficits at the population level: green everyday places and views; bring green spaces closer; bring green activities and events closer; make spaces and programs fit nearby users; make green spaces serve multiple activities and uses; support longer visits; reconsider barriers to use; help people start green activities; and help people continue green activities.

The Misdiagnosis: Rethinking “Nature-deficit Disorder”

This study examines and critiques “nature-deficit disorder” (NDD), Richard Louv's popular theory of how and why children are alienated from nature. Specifically, I explore NDD within the context of one forest conservation education program that aligns with and operationalizes Louv's message. Underlying Louv's and forest educators' discourses are culturally specific assumptions about human-nature relationships. Both evoke a fall-recovery narrative—that children are separated from nature and must return—and promote science and naming to reconnect. I argue that, in the absence of deeper cultural examination and alternative practices, NDD is a misdiagnosis—a problematic contemporary environmental discourse that can obscure and mistreat the problem. I call on adults to rethink human-nature disconnectedness by returning to the psyche, digging deeper to the problem's cultural roots, and using nontraditional communication practices such as emotional expression and non-naming.

Saving nature in the Anthropocene

This essay reviews six books broadly addressing the Anthropocene—the recent epoch in which humans play a dominant role on the face of the earth. Concepts of nature are still significant in contemporary American environmentalism despite its increasing diversity of issues, and no matter what the Anthropocene's challenges to naturalness nor what level of comfort or discomfort these works display regarding the Anthropocene, they largely retain some notion of nature. For balance, three books are included that generally speak positively of the Anthropocene and three that express various concerns: the former include Love Your Monsters: Postenvironmentalism and the Anthropocene (2011), Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World (2011), and Living Through the End of Nature (2010); and the latter include Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet (2010), The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder (2011), and Authenticity in Nature: Making Choices About the Naturalness of Ecosystems (2011). The latter group continues to distinguish nature from culture in the Anthropocene, thus effectively counting to two, whereas most among the former tend to count to one in celebrating a cultured nature. Embrace of the Anthropocene could, however, lead to counting beyond two by letting go of nature (and culture) as metaphysical categories qua moral shortcuts. The science and politics of living well in this enduring age of the Anthropocene may require attention less to generalities of nature than the interwoven details that constitute our environment.

Earthkeeping in the City

The practice of brownfield rehabilitation for community use by a church in a context of urban poverty in Glasgow, Scotland is explored through action research to assess its capacity for practical and spiritual grassroots empowerment within the Pentecostal/charismatic tradition. The schema offered is one way of modelling a socially and environmentally engaged learning and empowerment cycle oriented towards creation care and the land, evidencing potential as (1) a missional approach with rich scope for connecting church, community and scripture in new ways, (2) a way of enabling young people in urban contexts to overcome nature-deficit disorder, (3) a tool for political empowerment or “avant-gardening” (Lam-bourne-Wilson), (4) insurgent planning from the margins (Sandercock), and (5) an example of Pentecostal conscientisation broadly affirming of Bridges Johns’ approach, but modulated contextually to serve the need for a Pentecostal/charismatic eco-theology.

‘Nature deficit disorder’ and its effect on childhood obesity

‘Nature deficit disorder’ and its effect on childhood obesity

P05.17. Addressing nature deficit disorder: a mixed methods study of social well-being among young adults attending a wilderness science camp

Purpose An increasingly ‘screen-based’ culture raises concerns for the health and well-being of America’ sy outh. We investigated whether nature-based experiences affected the social well-being of young adults attending a threeweek wilderness camp. Methods Online surveys (pre, post) were administered. We used paired t-tests (N=35) to analyze differences in social well-being as measured by Ryff’s Positive Relations with Others subscale. In situ interviews (n=20) explored relationships between the camp experience, nature, and well-being. Interviewees were selected to produce a maximum variation sample along dimensions of gender, previous nature experiences, and nature connectedness. Analysis of interviews identified elements of social connection and the role played by nature. Results Quantitative assessment of social well-being showed no significant change (74.17+/-12.39 vs. 77.40+/-13.28, p=0.066). Interview results, however, strongly emphasized social relationships describing the process of making friends, the importance of being part of a group, and how the wilderness environment facilitated connection. Making friends was enhanced by spending time together, listening to each other, and developing intimacy. Being part of a group included subthemes of a sense of community, engaging in group play, working together as a team, and the bonding effect of shared experiences. The natural environment specifically enhanced these processes through loss of ego, breaking down barriers, and limited distractions. This facilitated deeper relationships than would occur in urban surroundings, and afforded social-relatedness (i.e., acceptance and help), positive feelings (i.e., enjoyment, reward, and love), and a sense of interdependence with others (i.e. learning/teaching, having an impact, and making long-term commitments). Conclusion

P04.85. Addressing nature deficit disorder: a quantitative survey study of multidimensional aspects of well-being among young adults at a wilderness camp

Purpose The health and well-being of America’s youth is increasingly in jeopardy due to a‘screen-based’ culture that decreases exposure to the natural world. We hypothesized that interactions with nature would promote physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual well-being. To investigate this claim, we surveyed young adults at a three-week science and wilderness camp in rural West Virginia. Methods Online surveys were administered pre-camp to both campers and staff (n=46; 65% female, 35% staff, 18-31 years old, 51% from suburban/urban areas). Scales measuring nature experience were modified from previous research in camp settings. Validated, reliable instruments measured physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual components of well-being, as well as nature connection. Completed post-camp surveys (n=36) were matched with pre-camp data and differences investigated using paired samples t-tests. Results Statistically significant differences between pre- and postcamp experiences of the participants were identified on all nature-related measures: exposure (p<0.001), knowledge (p=0.018), skills (p<0.001), leadership willingness in a natural setting (p<0.001), sense of connection to nature (p<0.001), and sense of connection to place (p=0.001). All scores showed an increase post-camp. Several holistic well-being outcome measures also significantly improved: sense of wholeness (p=0.012), positive emotions (p<0.001), and experiences of transcendence (p=0.002) increased, while perceived stress (p=0.020) and negative emotions (p=0.003) decreased. However, physical activity level (p=0.084) and several psychological measures, including resilience (p=0.083), psychological well-being (p=0.943), self-esteem (p=0.950), self-awareness (p=0.200), and reflection (p=0.129), did not change. Conclusion

Enhancing college students’ environmental sensibilities through online nature journaling

The increasing alienation of today’s children from the environment has been termed ‘nature-deficit disorder’. Research suggests this disconnect can adversely impact young people’s physical and psychological well-being. This paper explores whether online multimedia journaling about nature can increase the amount of time students spend outdoors, enhancing their environmental awareness and changing their nature-related perceptions. Students in a 60-person introductory environmental studies course at a large midwestern public university in the United States completed weekly online multimedia nature journals for one semester. A survey assessed their experiences. The median survey respondent spent an additional 11–20 minutes outdoors weekly. Seventy-four percent of respondents said that the project increased their awareness of nature, 68% said it changed the way they thought about nature, and 56% said it increased their interest in spending time outdoors. Though these findings are promising, there are some theoretical reasons for questioning their depth and duration.

Child's Play: Nature-Deficit Disorder and Mark Twain's Mississippi River Youth

Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods (2006), believes that a majority of children—he means children in the US—suffer from nature-deficit disorder. “The (second) frontier— which existed in the family farm, the woods at the end of the road, the national parks and in our hearts—is itself disappearing or changing beyond recognition” (4). Structured games and circumscribed play have replaced the freedom, fantasy, privacy, and healing that Louv believes children earlier found in their outdoor explorations. He fears that these constructs will teach children that in unruly nature risks abound, ghosts reside, while in chalked and manicured outdoor play, a medical or legal remedy exists for every mistake (131). “The urge to affiliate with other forms of life” that E. O. Wilson calls biophilia (qtd. in Louv 43), when absent or distorted, may result in what countercultural historian of ecopsychology Theodore Roszak calls “dysfunctional biological relations” (qtd. in Louv 44). Roszak claims that the condition is serious and prevalent enough to warrant inclusion in the American Psychology Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (Louv 43–44). Introducing the collection Ecopsychology, Jungian James Hillman observes that the discipline of psychology could continue to seek subjectivity in human nature alone, making the “cut” between human and not human at the skin or it could instead “venture to the interior in a less literal manner: no cuts. The interior would be anywhere . . . . [Psychologists would be] admitting [as did

Who's afraid of the big bad woods? Fear and learning disabled children's access to local nature

Children's access to the natural environment has been an issue of interest in policy and the media in recent years, with headline grabbing phrases such as “nature deficit disorder” (Louv, R., 2008. Last child in the woods: saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. Algonquin: New York) being applied to the consequences of contemporary children's absence from natural environments. This paper presents some of the initial findings of a research project seeking to address learning disabled children's relationship with the natural environment. Through conducting inclusive and direct research with learning disabled children,1 this paper presents unique findings concerning the accessibility of natural environments, particularly focusing on the perceived vulnerability of learning disabled children, and the supposed dangers of and in natural spaces. This discussion provides an alternative perspective from a usually silent group, which should be given weight in local environment management policies. The work also has value for the broader social science community, in illustrating the potential for the direct involvement of learning disabled children in research.

The nature principle: human restoration and the end of nature-deficit disorder

The nature principle: human restoration and the end of nature-deficit disorder

Addressing Nature Deficit Disorder Through Primitive Camping Experiences

Today's youth suffer from Nature Deficit Disorder, a condition that has been connected to ADHD, shortage of creativity, and general lack of knowledge about the outdoors. A team of educators and specialists are addressing this issue with primitive camping. County educators were trained using experiential learning and train-the-trainer techniques. Through these methods, educators are now confident about teaching and leading primitive camping experiences. The ultimate result from the project is 4-H educators taking more youth camping and getting them out-of-doors. Primitive camping experiences can help youth overcome Nature Deficit Disorder and its associated symptoms.

The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature Deficit Disorder

434 Children, Youth and Environments Vol. 21 No. 2 (Winter 2011) ISSN: 1546-2250 The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature Deficit Disorder Louv, Richard (2011). Chapel Hill, N.C: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill; 317 pages. $24.95. ISBN 9781565125810. Richard Louv’s eight books show a long history of concern for the quality of life of families in the United States, with particular concern for the problems and possibilities that communities and families present to their children. His seventh book, Last Child in the Woods, articulated a concern for children’s declining access to free play outdoors in natural areas. It became a bestseller, resonating with readers to a degree that took him by surprise, being translated into ten languages, and sparking an international movement to “leave no child inside.” As Louv has commented, it is rare for a journalist and author to find that his writings place him in a public spotlight, but Louv has seized the occasion by co-founding the Children and Nature Network (www.childrenandnature.org) and planning strategically with affiliated organizations to initiate, in his words, a “self-generating social movement” that reaches across political divisions to integrate access to natural habitats and biodiversity into children’s environments at all scales. The Nature Principle, Louv’s most recent book, reports on his experiences since the publication of Last Child in the Woods, as he has met people and toured programs engaged in similar work. The book also builds on the Children and Nature Network’s annotated bibliographies of research that document how children benefit from contact with nature. In a third strand, it shares his personal relationship with nature as a basis for family bonds and personal refuge—first when he was a boy and young man before and after his father’s mental breakdown and suicide, and later as a place for connection with his own wife and sons. During the course of the eventful years since the publication of his bestseller, Louv’s interests have broadened to include international initiatives and the importance of connections with nature for adults as well as children. 435 Louv builds his case that the “Nature Principle” can create conditions where people of all ages can live “most fully, smartly, happily.” He argues that although computer technologies can serve social networking and enhance our understanding of the natural world, the more that we rely on cyberspace, the more we need multisensory, full-bodied connection with the natural world to join us directly to the web of life that is greater than any human invention, on which our existence and well being continue to depend. He also advances the argument that access to nature is a human right—admitting the hesitation of many environmentalists to make this claim, since human interactions with nature have been so often destructive. Louv maintains that we need to move beyond the division between humans and nature that has been perpetuated both by the doctrine of human dominion over nature and by many environmental organizations’ definition of nature as wilderness that needs to be protected from people. Through the programs and initiatives that he describes, he suggests how people and nature can be brought together in ways that benefit all species. The Nature Principle is a quilt work of personal voices, program descriptions, and brief research summaries. It draws on newspaper columns and entries for the Children and Nature Network that Louv has written over the years. As a result, it has an episodic quality, but as the chapters unfold, it develops Louv’s wide-ranging vision of how people can create a more balanced world where their daily lives can be as immersed in nature as they are in technology. As Louv defines it, the Nature Principle “holds that a reconnection to the natural world is fundamental to human health, well-being, spirit and survival” (3). He describes it as “an amalgam of converging theories and trends as well as a reconciliation with old truths” (3). Therefore it cannot be explained in a few words, like the concept of “nature deficit disorder” that communicates the message of Last Child in the Woods for many people. The Nature Principle...

Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature

355 Children, Youth and Environments Vol. 21 No. 1 (2011) ISSN: 1546-2250 Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature Young, Jan and Haas, Ellen and McGown, Evan (2010). Shelton, WA: OWLink Media; $34.95. ISBN 1579940250. Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature is a wonderful book and activity guide. The foreword is by Richard Louv, who brought to light the fact that many children suffer from nature-deficit disorder in his book, Last Child in the Woods. He notes simply and eloquently, “We need to restore the broken bond between children and nature. The status quo isn't working.” I loved Coyote's Guide because of its numerous suggestions for having fun in nature while learning about her magnificence. The section entitled, “How to Use This Book,” lays out a clear and succinct guide for those “who work with kids of all ages, from one to a hundred.” Part One is the Mentor's Manual, which lays out the principles of Coyote Mentoring. Part Two is the Activity Guide, which outlines games and other exercises that put the guide into practice. At the end of the book is a list of invaluable sources including a list of suggested readings and affiliated programs. As someone who has studied coyotes for more than four decades, I can see why these amazing and adaptable carnivores are a great model for getting everyone interested in what's “out there,” just waiting to be understood and appreciated. Coyotes are nature's most cunning and adaptable tricksters who frequently leave their comfort zones to see what's happening in their surroundings. To quote the authors, this book is titled as it is “because it entices each of us off our beaten path, to experiment with creative approaches, to do something different from what's generally being tried. Coyote goads us to be willing to have a true sense of play and abandon, knowing that this new, uncharted way will truly be the only way out.” I have also worked with children and youth as part of Jane Goodall's global Roots and Shoots programs (http://www.rootsandshoots.org/) and feel comfortable saying that if there ever was a book showing clearly how important it is to get out into nature that should be shared worldwide, this is the one. It is perfect for discussions and hands-on activities so that children and youth, as well as adults, can easily come to appreciate the world around us and expand our compassion footprint to include all other animals, plants, and various habitats. My own book, Kids & Nature: Drawings from the Hands and Hearts of Children and Youth—published with the help of the Children, Youth and Environments Center at the University of Colorado (Boulder)—shows how youngsters naturally connect with all aspects of nature. Children are curious naturalists and in many ways formal, classroom education dulls their senses unless they are afforded the opportunity to spend a good deal of time outdoors, exploring, 356 playing, and simply observing and absorbing the many gifts that nature offers, just like coyotes and other wild animals do. This experience has to be fun and informal—no textbooks or tests— and a good teacher and this book are wonderful guides for showing how the magnificent webs of nature are all around us every second of every day and how easy it is to enjoy them. Children and youth are ambassadors for the future. We must teach them well so they learn how to make the planet a more peaceful and compassionate place for animals and humans, and to keep their dreams alive in a challenging world. We all benefit and feel better when we treat other animals and nature well. By showing children the power of compassion and empathy as they connect with nature, we can also learn a lot from them. It is a two-way street filled with inspiration and hope. Read this book over and over again and share its important messages. As David Sobel notes on the cover, “This is nature education as it should be—mysterious, timeless, hopeful, evocative, and playful.” And, as Richard Louv writes, “this guide should become an essential resource for… anyone...

Developing Trends and Issues in U.S. Outdoor and Adventure-Based Programming

This paper explores trends and issues in outdoor and adventure-based programming in the United States. Many of the trends and issues hold valuable lessons for practitioners and scholars worldwide. The trends and issues included were gathered through interviews with a panel of professionals, checked throughout multiple regional, national and international conferences over a two-year period and supported from the literature. The specific trends and issues discussed are: a) cultural diversity and changing demographics; b) nature-deficit disorder; c) older adult participation; d) public land access; e) professionalization of outdoor leaders, and f) program outcome accountability through evidence-based research.