We explored factors affecting outdoor classroom design by assessing attitudes and drawings from 73 sixth graders from a single middle school. Females had more favorable attitudes about the value of outdoor classrooms, were more motivated to build an outdoor classroom, and had stronger attitudes about outdoor classrooms benefiting wildlife.…

People who regard nature as important and personally meaningful are often compelled to conserve it. This compulsion is increasingly vital in a world where global climate and biodiversity crises are worsening, with younger generations set to bear most of the resulting ecological burden. By understanding why children and adolescents value nature, we…

Early childhood is an important time for building children's affinity with nature and the environment. Early childhood professionals play a crucial role in developing young children's understanding of the natural world. Over the past 50 years, there has been a movement in early childhood education and care contexts to provide young children with…

Children's connection to nature increasingly is of interest in education, psychology, urban planning, and other related fields. Research findings emphasize the central importance of early connections due to resulting benefits for environmental awareness, knowledge, social-emotional learning, health, and wellbeing. To more clearly conceptualize the…

"We really need to get the government involved," said one student, holding his graph up to USDA scientist Steve Seefeldt. Dr. Steve studies methods to control "invasive" plants, plants that have been introduced to an area by humans and have potential to spread rapidly and negatively affect ecosystems. The first grader and his…

The National Wildlife Federation's Schoolyard Habitat (SYH) program was a partnership with AISD from 2010-2012. A total of 18 outdoor learning habitats were created on AISD elementary and middle school campuses, and a demonstration habitat was created at the AISD Science and Health Resource Center (SHRC). The purpose of the SYHs is to provide…

Even though students see plants all around them, they tend to ignore them. Animal studies usually get all the "press." As a naturalist, children's book author, and coordinator for an educational science website for teachers, the author knows from personal experience that observing and charting plant growth can be as intriguing as observing…

Invasive species, commonly known as "invasives," are nonnative plants, animals, and microbes that completely take over and change an established ecosystem. The consequences of invasives' spread are significant. In fact, many of the species that appear on the Endangered Species list are threatened by invasives. Therefore, the topic of invasive…

Students love learning outdoors, but how do you ensure they are absorbing the science and gaining skills as they do so? The authors found a way--a fourth-grade classroom teacher, a gifted/science resource teacher, and a group of fourth graders--embarked on a yearlong study of birds and the plants they depend on. They used their school yard as the…

This article presents a snapshot of the authors' first restoration project with young children which grew out of a fourth- and fifth-grade forestry curriculum. The restoration project was part of a long-term plan for enhancing the wild areas of the campus for wildlife habitat and for educational use. It is a native oak woodland and riparian…

Recreational areas in the form of State parks and forests bear a close relationship to the welfare of the boys and girls of America. This bulletin is in accord with the plan of the bureau to offer, from time to time, to the elementary schools of the country certain subjects of study in the form of new materials of instructions so prepared that…