Education News
Research & Studies
Buffalo News – June 27, 2008
Decline in School Recess Continues
By Mark Sommer
Despite research showing that unstructured play is important to healthy childhood development, the amount of time that schools allow for recess continues to decline. One reason for the decline is the increased emphasis on standardized testing. Other factors include limited budgets for safe playground equipment, concerns about lawsuits from playground injuries, and fears of bullying.
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National
New York Times – May 12, 2008
Why Are Schools Designed Like Prisons?
By Allison Arieff
In an opinion piece for the New York Times website, writer and editor Allison Arieff laments the way that school design tends to inhibit outdoor activity as children get older. “What if we looked beyond the notion of schools as institutions,” she writes, “and thought about them more as laboratories for creativity, exploration, and innovation?”
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Commentary
Toronto Star – January 19, 2008
Island School Impresses Noted Wildlife Artist
By Robert Bateman
Renowned wildlife artist Robert Bateman writes in the Toronto Star of his visit to the Island School in the Bahamas, where American high-school students spend a semester without junk food, Internet access, or cell phones. Each day starts with a swim and a run, and students camp, kayak, and take part in marine research.
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Local | Campaign/Initiative
Boston Globe – December 31, 2007
Boston Globe Focuses on Children and Nature Movement
By Peter Dizikes
A recent front-page article in the Boston Globe provides an overview of the children and nature movement at the local and national levels. Entitled “Nature Nurtures Learning,” the article examines the efforts of one Boston elementary school to integrate nature studies into its curriculum, and quotes a noted pediatrician, the biologist E.O. Wilson, author Richard Louv, and others on the benefits of such a curriculum.
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Local | Access
KQED Radio – November 20, 2007
KQED Radio Features a Local Cure for Nature-Deficit Disorder
By Gabriella Quiros
A new program in San Francisco is introducing the city’s low-income youth to the pleasures of camping outdoors—without leaving the city itself. Developed by a collection of nonprofits, Camping at the Presidio aims to overcome the barriers that traditionally keep urban youth from visiting national parks: costs and a lack of exposure to camping. Eligible groups sleep overnight in a grove of eucalyptus trees, right within the city limits.
Quest is a TV, radio, Web, and education series by KQED that explores science, the environment, and nature in Northern California.
National | Legislation/Policy
The San Francisco Examiner – July 17, 2007
U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes proposes bill to integrate environmental education into NCLB
By Carolyn Peirce
Building Bridges to the Outdoors will be holding its second year of weeklong Environmental Leadership trainings this week in conjunction with the Sierra Student Coalition (SSC). The leadership training program introduces, inspires and educates youth, especially under-represented minorities, about the significant and contemporary environmental issues facing their local communities.
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Commentary | Review
The World Future Society ranks nature-deficit disorder #5
Children today are spending less time in direct contact with nature than did previous generations. The impacts are showing up not only in their lack of physical fitness, but also in the growing prevalence of hyperactivity and attention deficit.
International
Ross-shire Journal – June 05, 2008
Free Play Gets a Boost in Scotland
Advocates for unstructured play are celebrating the opening of a new play area in the Scottish Highlands. Funded in part by the local government, the play area, which is part of a primary school, was designed to encourage children to use their imaginations. In addition to a set of extra-large dominoes, an obstacle course that children can build themselves, and a special area for water play, there is a quiet area where children can sit on oversized outdoor cushions surrounded by flower and vegetable tubs. [+]
State
Sacramento Bee – May 28, 2008
Virtual Field Trips Take Hold in California
By Laurel Rosenhall
In California schools, the traditional field trip to a state park or other destination so that children can learn firsthand about the natural world is being replaced by the virtual field trip, which uses videoconferencing to beam nature lessons into the classroom. These virtual experiences, supporters say, are better than the alternative: no field trips at all.
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National | Campaign/Initiative
Washington Post – April 17, 2008
Washington Post: Inside the Capitol, the Great Outdoors
By Moira E. McLaughlin
When a group of fifth-graders showed up to tour the Capitol recently with an alligator, two leopard cubs, and assorted other animals in tow, even the Washington Post took notice. The students were at the Capitol to show support for the No Child Left Inside Act, which would fund environmental education programs if passed.
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Allies
(Cedar Rapids) Gazette – April 12, 2008
One Farmer’s Efforts to Connect Kids with Nature
By Orlan Love
Dick Jensen, an Iowa farmer with a love for nature, has made it his mission to teach young people about the joys and the value of spending time outdoors. In 1990 he started welcoming youth groups to his farm; in 2000 he began building a two-mile nature trail on his property; and in 2006 he founded Take a Kid Outdoors, a nonprofit educational organization that has since benefited hundreds of youngsters already.
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State
Salt Lake Tribune – March 19, 2008
High Demand for Nature Education in Four Corners
By Tom Wharton
Interest in outdoor education in the Four Corners region is on the upswing, with field schools and nature programs in places like Zion and Albuquerque reporting a high demand for their offerings. The director of the Canyonlands Field Institute in Moab credits “a national groundswell of getting youth outdoors” for the increased interest.
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Allies
The (Polk County) Ledger – March 08, 2008
To Revive Hunting, States Turn to the Classroom
By Ian Urbina
West Virginia is the latest state to pass legislation aimed at attracting young people to hunting. The new law will allow hunting education classes in schools where at least 20 students express an interest such classes. Though some parents are not pleased, others welcome the new law. In the words of one hunting advocate, “While the soccer mom watches her son or daughter play a sport, hunting involves both parent and child learning and experiencing together.”
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C&NN has designated April "Children & Nature Awareness Month." As part of this effort, we invited network members (like you) to list their April programs and share their strategies for building public awareness. Find out what's happening in your community on the C&NN Movement Map.
As part of our ongoing efforts to build the movement, the Children & Nature Network has published two new resources for leaders, organizers, and participants at the local, national, and international levels:
An annotated bibliography of 20 premier studies focusing on the children and nature connection.
