Connecting Children to Nature

A 2010-14 breakdown by the U.S. Forest Service of visitors to national forests and wilderness areas shows a low percentage of diverse populations getting outdoors:

* American Indian or Alaska Native = 2.3% national forests and 1.7% wilderness;

* Asian = 2.3% national forests and 3.1% wilderness;

* Black or African-American = 1.2% national forests and 0.7% wilderness;

* Hawaiian or Pacific Islander = 1.2% national forests and 0.7% wilderness;

* White = 94.9% national forest and 95.6% wilderness;

* Spanish, Hispanic or Latino = 5.5% national forest and 5.9% wilderness.

Inside the Outdoors (ITO) is doing its part to change that by offering multicultural education to provide K-12 students and families from diverse communities with an equal opportunity to learn in a unique outdoor environment.  Inside the Outdoors Foundation supports these programs by providing sponsorships to 60% of the participants through grant acquired funding from corporate and private funders, foundations and contracts.

Richard Louv, Co-founder and Chairman Emeritus, Children & Nature Network and author of, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder and The Nature Principle: Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age, in his commentary on The New Nature Movement, wrote “Natural places can give people a sense of peace, meaning, security, not only in wilderness, but in the most densely populated urban neighborhood. I’ve called this phenomenon human/nature social capital.”

Inside the Outdoors programs (Field Trips: 15 locations, Traveling Scientist: 18 programs, Service-Learning: variety and Community Events & Volunteer Days: multiple) support and provide multicultural education in the following ways:

        Creating a welcoming, inclusive environment

• Participation creates a common ground by providing experiences that are new to everyone regardless of their cultural background
• Staff foster an atmosphere of cooperation and tolerance
• Students are expected to show respect for the earth, living things they encounter through an ITO program, and also for each other as individuals
• ITO staff are diverse in gender, age and cultural background
• Long-term partnerships with Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and Los Angeles County schools increase parent confidence and student participation
• ITO materials reflect a diverse population

Incorporating educational best practices for English learners and diverse cultures

• Hands-on, minds-on curriculum addresses multiple learning styles: kinesthetic, tactile, visual, auditory, musical
• Scaffolding: connecting the learning to students’ prior knowledge and experience
• Cooperative learning and peer-to-peer teaching involve all students
• EPR – Every Pupil Responds: students are encouraged to “show” their answer as a group using hand signs
• “Wait time” for responses is built into questions to allow all students time to process the question and come up with an answer
• Curricular materials are designed to reflect a diverse population and use visuals to complement the words used 

Creating multiple access points for community engagement

• Field Trips and Community Events are held in a wide variety of locations, allowing each participant to access environmental education in the way that is most convenient and compelling to them
• ITO aggressively pursues funding to keep costs down and reach out to low income students
• Service-Learning changes education into action and brings it back to the families and communities
• Collaboration with Orange County schools with diverse multicultural populations of students and educators increase ITO’s ability to provide relevant content

Research confirms what we already know… experiences outdoors have a positive impact on the development of the whole child.  Dr. Lawrence Rosen, an integrative pediatrician and founder of one of the country’s first “green” pediatric practices, The Whole Child Center, published an article in Mind Body Green titled, 7 Science-Backed Reasons To Get Your Kids Outside, which provides compelling insight from encouraging exercise to reducing anxiety, building a sense of community and deeper connections with family to increased intelligence.  The reason that excites us most is that childhood exposure to natural settings is associated with a greater interest in environmental stewardship — and ultimately with pursuing professional careers and adult hobbies connected to nature and the environment.