Nature Deficit Disorder

By following links I found on the NACC site, I found two really great resource pages:

The first of the two is Education.com’s Nature deficit disorder page, http://www.education.com/topic/nature-deficit-disorder/.  This page is full of links to articles, tips, and explanations regarding the dangers posed by the modern child’s stronger connection to electronics than to nature. 

The second website I found is called Science for Citizens, http://scienceforcitizens.net/.  This site provides links to worldwide science projects that all citizens can become involved with.  There are projects such as tracking wildlife, seasonal changes, rainfall, water observations, astrology and many more.  I, in fact, signed up for budwatch – where people can observe and log the seasonal changes in trees, and WildObs, where people can use their phones to track wildlife spotting.  Doing these projects is an incentive to observe nature closely, to connect nature and technology, and to help scientists collect data in ways previously impossible – on a worldwide basis.  I am very excited about the possibilities of using these citizen projects within my classroom, with my family, and personally.  A project such as budwatch only requires some time outside each day to observe changes in trees – but it is a great incentive to make this time outside a priority.

I think that nature education definitely adds to quality in daycare because so many children are missing out on a connection with nature in their lives.  Still, while some programs provide children with safe green spaces to explore, others have playgrounds with no green spaces and still others do not even have playgrounds.  It seems that if there was a national standard of nature education, this could help solve the problem of Nature Deficit Disorder.

Early childhood is the absolute best time to start children’s connection with nature.  This is the window of time within which children need to be exposed to the natural world – because it is during this critical period that children feel natural about their part in the natural world.  Young children feel natural picking up bugs, changing the flow of rivers, picking up sticks and chasing seagulls.  At a certain age, without exposure, the easy feeling of being a part of the natural world disappears without exposure, and a sense of fear takes its place.  Early childhood cannot be regained once it is lost – so children must experience the world during this time. 

Works Cited

Nature defecit Disorder. (2011). Retrieved April 9, 2011, from Education.com: http://www.education.com/topic/nature-deficit-disorder/

ScienceForCitizens.net. (2010). Retrieved April 9, 2011, from http://scienceforcitizens.net/