Trends Of Children’s Experiences With Nature And Their Connectedness To Nature
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Date
2018-01
Authors
Mustapa, Nor Diyana
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
Connectedness to nature (CTN) during childhood plays an important role to influence children‟s attitudes and behaviour towards nature as a child now and later as an adult. The most significant factor that contributes to children‟s CTN is their experiences with nature, especially direct experiences. However, rapid urbanization, modernization, parental restrictions, and quality of the outdoor environment have reduced children‟s direct experiences with nature. Children obtain nature experiences mostly through indirect experiences, which may not have the same quality as direct experiences. This study aims to investigate the trends of children‟s experiences with nature, the levels of their CTN and the effects of different types of experiences with nature on their CTN. A sequential mixed method research design was employed to achieve these aims. This study involved 760 children aged 10-11 years old from 20 schools (urban and rural) in Kedah and Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. Questionnaires were used for the quantitative part (n=760), whereas focus group discussions and drawing activities were used for the qualitative part (n=72). Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, and qualitative data were analysed using content analysis. There are several major findings of this study. First, the findings confirm that direct experiences among children have decreased. Second, this study has demonstrated that indirect experiences make a greater contribution to children‟s CTN compared to direct experiences. Even though direct experiences make little contribution, the study has indicated that the reduction in direct experiences is having an adverse effect on children‟s CTN. Third, physical factors and social factors have been found to play an important role to influence the way children experience nature, which subsequently influences their CTN.
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Keywords
Trends of children’s experiences with nature , their connectedness to nature