How do conventional child-development theories blend with FNS practices?
Forest Schools and Child Development: How can playing outdoors meet the diverse needs of a growing child?
Disclaimer: This is both a FSPC
assignment and a informative post for people interested in this subject.
In this post I will briefly describe how Forest and Nature Schools (FNS) support childrens' development and tie it to conventional
theories on child development. I will do this by citing theorists such as
Gardner and Vygotsky. Since I am regularly asked if FNS are like Waldorf schools, I have added a small piece on comparing the two educational models. I hope it is helpful, enlightening or a thorough reminder of what
you already know about these well studied theories (the readings were a throwback to being in Elementary Education program!), bounced
off of my own observations working at Hand-in-Hand (a FNS).
-------------------------
(start of assignment)
Forest Nature Schools (FNS) make it
deliberately clear their intent is to support the whole child's growth through
unstructured, social play in a natural and outdoor setting. What is the whole child? It's the belief that learning should engage all areas of development – not
just language and math skills. Dynamic FNS provide all children at all ages the opportunity to develop their emotional, social,
intellectual, physical and spiritual selves – their whole self. Many programs
work hard to develop holistic growth within children, but methods used in FNS
are directed at meeting each area equally and naturally. By examining child
development theories and relating them to activities found at forest schools it's clear that Forest Schools support the whole child. Where children have
limitless possibilities and interactions through play they have meaningful
opportunities to learn about themselves and the world around them.
Shovels, buckets, water, gravel and friends: ingredients for limitless play ideas
Mathematic and linguistic skill debatably still hold the most value in modern schools. These academic skills have
their place, but their relevance is lost on a child; they offer only a slim
profile of the wide range of abilities children need for everyday life. Davis,
Christodoulou, Seider, and Gardner (2011) recognized that viewing intellect as
products on paper limits how we view the complex intelligences children (and
all people) possess and mature throughout their lives. They make the case for
Gardners theory of multiple intelligences which indicates academic testing “fails
to capture adequately the broad range of human cognition”(Davis et al., 2011, pg.
490). Instead there are eight distinct intelligences that everyone has, with varying degrees
of strength in each (as cited in Davis et al., 2011). It can be argued
that each of these intelligences can be expressed, challenged and
developed through forest school practices.
Play, being one of the most vital
components of FNS, has proven time and again to support the
whole child’s growth. One proponent of how play positively informs child development is is Lev Vygotsky (as cited in Child Development
Media [CDM], n.d.). In particular, Vygotsky suggests that when a child plays by imitating their culture, they build valuable social and language skills (as cited in CDM, n.d.). CDM (n.d) also writes that "scaffolding" is when a more proficient person guides a child to a new understanding or skill. This often happens during play, where teachers have the opportunity to add a depth to what the child is learning and engage more areas of development. Through child-led activities at FNS children are self-motivated to practice what they crave learning most. When they bump up against hurdles, they are gently mentored by FNS teachers.
When possibilities are endless, as they are in a forest, children intuitively strive to find fulfilling play - that which exercises the whole child. Below is one particularly strong example of when almost every aspect of the childrens' growth was witnessed being exercised and challenged!
One day three children made a pulley type
device where a bucket attached to a long rope was hung over a branch so the bucket
and its contents could be easily pulled up or brought down. This was fun, and
they were already practicing social (interpersonal and linguistic intelligence)
and physical (spatial and bodily-kinesthetic intelligence) skills by working
together and taking turns doing the work. They also build on their existing naturalist
intelligences to sort their choice of bucket contents from the sticks,
leaves etc found around them. Those are 5 of the 8 distinct intelligences touted by Gardner (as cited in Davis et al., 2011). When the bucket became lodged in a tree crook, suddenly their play became much more complex! Suddenly each
child was suggesting solutions to free the bucket, engaging a 6th
intelligence: logical-mathematical. Many other kids who were previously playing
elsewhere, became intrigued and wanted to help. Try as they might, the bucket
would not budge, and some of the children became frustrated. But determination
shone through and eventually a solution was found! Gardner would call this management of emotions an
aspect of intrapersonal intelligence (as cited in Davis et al., 2011).
The bucket problem – engaging the whole child
In child-led examples such as this, play is so meaningful to the children that it truly becomes serious work. From beginning to end the ideas, tools use, purpose, problem and solution were all child initiated. Only at a few key intervals did we (the teachers) make open ended suggestions like "What else could you use?" or "Did you hear what (another child) said?". Scaffolding in this manner provides children with nudges that further their problem solving skills along (CDM, n.d.). It is a FNS teacher's job to provide these nudges, not the solutions, so children have ample tools in their cognitive tool box to choose from.
Once you don the lens of a keen FNS educator and watch children at play outdoors, your view of what deep, holistic learning can look like will be forever transformed.
References
Child Development
Media. (n.d.). Play: The Work of Lev
Vygotsky. Retrieved from
Davis, K.,
Christodoulou, J., Seider, S., & Gardner, H. (2011). The Theory of Multiple
Intelligences. R.J. Sternberg & S.B. Kaufman (Eds.), Cambridge Handbook
of
Intelligence (pp. 485-503). Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University
Press..
Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2982593
International Association for Steiner / Waldorf Early Childhood Education. (n.d.)
Comments
Post a Comment