Program on the Environment

Children today spend less time playing outside than previous generations. Sedentary indoor lifestyles are associated with mental and physical health problems which continue into adulthood. The aim of this study is to explore the impacts of environmental education on elementary school children. The Seward Park Audubon Center runs an environmental education program called Nature Connection (NC). During my internship with NC I shadowed in-class visits and field trips to develop my teaching toolkit and observe how lessons and activities were organized and directed. Moreover, I interacted with students to facilitate learning, inquiry, and wonder. Eventually I taught whole lessons as the main educator. In addition to teaching I developed seven themes as potential outcomes of environmental education based on findings from a relevant literature review. I used these themes to analyze a collection of field-trip reflection sheets from students and teachers. I tallied words and quotes which exemplified one or more of my themes in order to understand the impact that NC had on students. Acknowledging outside factors such as inclement weather, student aptitude towards writing, and sample size, I found three main themes to be restored mental health, a strengthened connection to nature, and feelings of higher energy and vitality. Based on my findings I believe that environmental education promotes positive mental and physical health in addition to becoming the foundation of a lifelong relationship to nature. This relationship will impact their personal choices and advocacy for environmental policy for the rest of their lives.