With Nature: An Ethnographic Study of Child-Nature Connectedness in an Outdoor Preschool

Abstract

The emerging field of nature-based education holds great promise, with research highlighting its benefits in early childhood (Chawla, 2015; Merrick, 2019; Sobel et al., 2015). Recent studies explored the ways in which children interact with nature (Beery et al., 2020; Kahn, 2022), and others have linked time spent in nature to pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors (Chawla, 1999; Otto & Pensini, 2017; Wells & Lekies, 2006), and health and wellbeing (Bratman et al., 2012; Carr et al., 2017; Liu et al., 2022). My dissertation presents a yearlong ethnographic study in a nature-immersion preschool with children ages 3–5. Using observations, photos, artifact collection, and standardized video collection, I examined the emergence of children’s physical, cognitive, and emotional entanglements with multispecies beings and systems in an all-outdoor preschool. Through embedded participation, I fostered a collaborative research environment with educators, children, and families. This study provides insight into child-nature relationships, how nature-immersion programs support them, and how educators can recognize and nurture children’s ecological connections. The immediate goal of this study is to provide an in-depth analysis of child-nature connectedness, identify ways in which child-nature relationships are facilitated in a nature-immersion preschool program, and report its journey over the school year. The long-term goal of this research project is to inform the ways educators and researchers come to understand children’s relationships with nature and the features of nature-immersion learning environments that facilitate this learning.