Ecological Identity, Empathy, and Experiential Learning: A Young Child's Explorations of a Nearby River

Abstract

This article uses an unconventional format to explore the role of parent and nature and the development of a young child's ecological identity. It follows journal entries from a mother observing her young son, Julian, as he explores, interacts with, and learns from the Stawamus River on the west coast of British Columbia. By creating questions, discussing and analysing these written observations, we explore the role of parenting and nature and the implications this might have for environmental education. Some of the ideas explored in this article include early ecological identity, empathy, relational existence, experiential learning, and affordances in the natural world. We further suggest that nature and parent working together might become key educators for a child.

Childhood nature connection and constructive hope: A review of research on connecting with nature and coping with environmental loss

“…She often mimicked the animal movements she observed, and she soaked in names for natural objects. Humphreys and Blenkinsop (2018) shared episodes in a little boy's interactions with a wild river in British Columbia, between the ages of 1½ to about 2½, as his mother allowed him to encounter the river and its creatures on his own terms. In her guide to young children's development in nature, Wilson (2018) considers experiences like these—when adults respect a child's interests and feelings in nature—formative ways to foster an ecological identity.…”

“…All but three measures (Cheng & Monroe, 2012; Giusti, Svane, et al, 2014; Sobko et al., 2018) exclude empathy for nature from connection. Ethnographic accounts show that when children are outdoors in nature, they are simultaneously connecting with nature and learning about the natural world; and when people around them encourage empathy and care for plants, animals and their habitats, children exhibit these emotions and behaviours (Elliot et al., 2014; Green, 2018; Humphreys & Blenkinsop, 2018; Pelo, 2018). In the unity of children's lived experience in nature, connection, knowledge, empathy and responsible action may co‐develop.…”

Extracurricular Environmental Activities in Moroccan Middle Schools: Opportunities and Challenges to Promoting Effective Environmental Education

“…It contains variables such as ownership of environmental issues, motivation and desire for action for the environment, self-confidence, and belief in the utility of pro-environmental action. Also, having a significant previous experience in EE (Chawla & Cushing, 2007;Humphreys & Blenkinsop, 2018;Hungerford & Volk, 1990) combined with the presence of infrastructure and organizations adequate for environmental actions all constitute a favorable ambient climate that facilitates the development of proenvironmental behavior. Some authors (Chawla & Cushing, 2007;Kapyla & Wahlstrom, 2000;Rickinson, 2001;Rickinson et al, 2004;Zelezny, 1999) have established a direct link between environmental behavior and the student's integration into an effective educational program related to the environment.…”

Scoping review of children’s and youth’s outdoor play publications in Canada

“…Seven studies covered Canadian and international participants, [19][20][21][22][23][24][25] and a Canadian and American research team analyzed data from international participants in one study. 26 Sample sizes varied widely, depending on the study design, from one parent's observations of their son playing outdoors 27 to 999 951 data points on unintentional injuries among children and youth collected from linked health and administrative databases. 28 Outdoor play themes Figure 3 shows the distribution of included articles according to these priority themes and year of publication.…”