No Child Left Inside-Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder

Welcome Activity Choose an animal and imitate its movements, behaviors, and personalities When you meet another animal take turns guessing each other’s animal form.• When you’ve met at least 3 animals, return to your seat.

No Child Left InsideSaving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder Eric Krawczyk, MA, LPC, BCPCC

Workshop ObjectivesParticipants will: understand some of the history and researchcontributing to NDD• be introduced to nature connection and its benefits• learn about and experience activities that prevent NDD• look at a new way to assess healthy connections• integrate knowledge into personal next steps

The Book That Launched a Movement“Nature-deficit disorder is not an official diagnosis but a way of viewing the problem, and describes the human costs of alienation from nature, among them: diminished use of thesenses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical andemotional illnesses. The disorder can be detected in individuals, families, and communities.” — Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods

What is Nature Deficit DisorderI like to play indoors better cause thats where all the electrical outlets are. -a fourth-grader in San Diego Unplug

Causes of NDD*New media and natural resource technologies*Economic growth & prosperity*City/residential planning*High stakes testing in schools*Loss of place-based knowledge from occupational migration*Personal/family cultural changes- time, pleasure, and fear

What Research Says: The DeficitChildren are spending 40 to 65 hours or more a week attached to electronic media.Fewer than 1 in 5 children walk or ride a bike to school.Childhood obesity has increased from 4% in the 1960s to about 20% today.Children have less time for unstructured, creative play in the outdoors than ever before in human history.

Research• Preschoolers in a cross-sectional study spent 89% of their days at daycare centers doing sedentary activity. When even outdoors, kids spent 56% of their time in sedentary activity. (Brown WH, et al "Physical activity in preschools" Child Dev 2009)• Dr. Paul Dykema has practiced general Pediatrics for nearly 45 years, giving him a longitudinal view of the health of American children. The Michigan pediatrician states that, “among the most striking changes I have observed over my career are the rise of obesity, type 2 Diabetes, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), anxiety and depression.” He continues, “There are many factors contributing to the increase of these disorders in children but it is apparent that the lack of outdoor, unstructured and imaginative play is a significant contributor.” (Children & Nature Network 2010 Report Progress, Initiatives, Studies, Tools, Networks, and Innovation. Cheryl Charles Richard Louv Sara St. Antoine. C&NN. October 2010) Young people ages 8-18 spend more than 7 1⁄2 hours a day on smart phones and computers and watching television—over 53 hours a week plugged into electronic media. (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005)

Research• Opportunity for recess has declined in many schools. Yet children who have more time for recess in school are better behaved and learn more. (Barros, Silver, and Stein, “School Recess and Group Classroom Behavior,” Pediatrics, February 2009) Eighty-five percent of mothers said TV and computer games were the number one reason for the lack of outdoor play; 82% identified crime and safety concerns as factors that prevent their children from playing outdoors. (Clements, “An Investigation of the Status of Outdoor Play,” Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 2004)• Compared to the 1970s, children now spend 50% less time in unstructured outdoor activities. (Juster et al. “Major Changes Have Taken Place in How Children and Teens Spend Their Time,” 2004) Children ages 10 to 16 now spend, on average, only 12.6 minutes per day in vigorous physical activity. Yet they spend an average of 10.4 waking hours each day relatively motionless. (Strauss et al., “Psychosocial Correlates of Physical Activity in Healthy Children,” 2001)

Healing the broken bond Healing the broken bond between our young and nature is in everyone’s self-interest, not only because aesthetics or justice demand it, but also because our mental, physical and spiritual health depend upon it. Richard Louv Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder On Education

What is Nature Connection?Experiences that:*encompass core routines*instill wonder and foster curiosity *take place in outdoor settingsranging from backyards toneighborhoods to city parks towilderness *take the shape of guided activitiesas well as unstructured nature playin children’s everyday lives

BenefitsHappier: Nature play increases self esteem,improves psychological health and reduces stress.Children learn self-discipline and are more cooperativeHealthier: Nature play improves physical conditioningand reduces obesity. Physicians are even prescribing it.Smarter: Nature play stimulates creativity andimproves problem solving. Children do better in school.Burdette, Hillary L., M.D., M.S.; and Robert C. Whitaker, M.D, M.P.H. "Resurrecting Free Play in Young Children: Looking Beyond Fitness and Fatness to Attention, Affiliation and Affect." © 2005 American Medical Association.

Benefit ResearchProximity to, views of, and daily exposure to natural settings has been associated withchildren’s ability to focus and enhances cognitive abilities (Wells, 2000).Children who experience school grounds with diverse natural settings are more physicallyactive, more aware of nutrition and more civil to one another (Bell and Dyment, 2006).The more vegetation a child had in their neighborhood, the lower their body weight changes.The researchers also found that children in more vegetated settings were less likely to have ahigher BMI over 2 years as compared to children in less vegetated settings. (Bell, J. F., Wilson, J. S., & Liu,G. C. (2008). Neighborhood greenness and 2-year changes in Body Mass Index of children and youth. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 35(6), 547-553)In two recent nationwide surveys in Holland, people who lived within one to three kilometers ofgreen space reported significantly better health than those without such access, afterresearchers controlled for socioeconomic status, age, and other factors (de Vries et al., 2003;Maas et al., 2006) Studies of students in California and nationwide showed that schools that used outdoorclassrooms and other forms of nature-based experiential education were associated withsignificant student gains in social studies, science, language arts, and math. (U.S.’s State Educationand Environment Roundtable)

Research on ADHD Twenty minutes in a park setting was“Overall, our findings sufficient to elevate attentionindicate that exposure performance relative to the sameto ordinary natural amount of time in other settings.settings in the course These findings indicate thatof common after- environments can enhance attentionschool and weekend not only in the general population butactivities may be also in ADHD populations. "Doses ofwidely effective in nature" might serve as a safe,reducing attention inexpensive, widely accessible newdeficit symptoms in tool in the tool kit for managingchildren.” ADHD symptoms.Kuo FE, Taylor AF. A potential natural treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity AF. Kuo FE, Taylor disorder: evidence from a national study. Am J Public Health. 2004;94(9):158 Children with attention deficits concentrate better after walk in the park.

Effects on the SpiritTo be spiritual is to be constantly amazed.“As a parent, you don’t encourage children to experience nature because it’spretty, but because your children are exposed to something larger and longerstanding than their immediate human existence.” (Paul Gorman, founder of theNational Religious Partnership for the Environment)Support has come from the Sierra Club to the 700 Club — including religious leaders, liberaland conservative, who understand that all spiritual life begins with a sense of wonder, and thatone of the first windows to wonder is the natural world. “Christians should take the lead in re-connecting with nature and disconnecting from machines,” writes R. Albert Mohler Jr.,president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the flagship school of the SouthernBaptist Convention. Wonder is necessary to spiritual growth

INDICATORS OF PROGRESS:*Nature-Deficit Disorder moves into the public vernacular*Physicians are recommending time in nature for children’s healthy development*Illinois Governor Quinn re-opens state parks and cites Last Child in the Woods*National parks and state parks across North America launch campaigns to connectfamilies to nature; visits grow*Sesame Street changes its set for the first time in 40 years—to include nature!*Nature-focused preschools, other nature-themed schools, and school gardens are growing*The White House launches America’s Great Outdoors Campaign and the First Ladycreates “Let’s Move Outside!”*Networks of young Natural Leaders and Natural Teachers are spreading*Across North America and now in Europe and Australia, families are banding together tocreate family nature clubs*A growing number of state and regional children and nature campaigns are self-organizing and growing, demonstrating a movement moves!

No Child Left Inside Act 2011‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after thedate of enactment of the No Child Left Inside Act of2011, a State educational agency shall, (A) submit anenvironmental literacy plan for prekindergartenthrough grade 12 to the Secretary for peer review andapproval that will ensure that elementary andsecondary school students in the State areenvironmentally literate and (B) begin theimplementation of such plan in the State.”

The Environmental Literacy Plan must:“(1) Prepare students to understand, analyze, andaddress the major environmental challenges facing thestudents’ State and the United States.”(2) Provide field experiences as part of the regularschool curriculum and create programs that contributeto healthy lifestyles through outdoor recreation andsound nutrition.

Local Responses• Mountain Roots’ Farm To School: Reconnecting kids to the land by teaching kids what good, nutritious food tastes like, why it is good for them, where it comes from, and how it is grown.• Green Souls Nature Club: offers multi- generational programs and events that strengthen nature connections with ourselves, others, and our souls while building ecological, social and cultural resilience in Gunnison

The decline in children’s experience of nature will not change until a fundamental shift occurs in the attitudes and practices of developers, designers, educators, political leaders, and ordinary citizens. The enormous challenge facing us is how to minimize and mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of the modern built environment and how to provide more positive opportunities for contact with nature among children and adults as an integral part of everyday life.– Dr. Stephen R. Kellert, Building for Life

Jon Young on NDD

Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with NatureA radical approach that usesno textbooks or tests, butsimply starts at the roots ofnature education by engagingpeople in direct experiencewith the plants and animalsjust beyond the edge of theirback yards.Good medicine for NDD andmuch cheaper thanpharmaceuticals

Some Core Routines of Nature Connection

Core Routines DescribedOur beliefs and behaviors are areflection of our brainpatterning.Need to shift our routines inorder to reconnect, recover andrestore our awarenessAwakens habits of SensoryAwareness, cultivatesKnowledge of Place, andconnects people to the NaturalWorld

What About You?What do you remember loving to do as a child?What were you favorite games to play?What did you do for fun with your friends?What were your favorite toys?What captured your curiosity?What stories and songs made up your world?Who were your favorite grownup playmates?What Child Passions do you still enjoy?Which Child Passions do the children in your life enjoy?

More Infowww.childrenandnature.orgwww.wildernessawareness.orgwww.natureskills.comwww.wherewarriorsrise.comwww.wildernesstransitions.comwww.gunnisoncreationcare.com

Thank you!

Genuine Measurement of Learning Indicators of Awareness Common Sense Aliveness & Agility Inquisitive Focus Caring and Tending Service to the Community Awe and Reverence Self-Sufficiency Quiet Mind

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No Child Left Inside-Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder

by krawczyk80 on May 26, 2012

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No Child Left Inside-Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder Presentation Transcript