Art-based environmental education can provide empowering opportunities for children to make their own ecological discoveriesArt-based environmental education (AEE) blends art education and environmental education to help children learn about the natural environment. Through this approach, the arts are used to facilitate children’s connection to the environment by helping children observe, interpret, and share new understandings about the natural world. This study explored children’s experiences of AEE during a forest school-inspired art-based environmental education camp.
Twenty children (age 8–10 years) attending a week-long art-based environmental educational summer camp in a low socio-economic community in the Southeastern U.S. participated in the study. The children were entering the third and fourth grades at a nearby school. The camp was developed as a partnership between a university and a non-profit art organization. During the week, the children attended camp for eight hours a day at an 864-acre property owned by the university. Camp programming followed the forest school model and aimed to support connections between art and ecology. Daily activities encouraged children to explore the natural environment and engage in hands-on learning and free play in nature. Children created art as they learned about ecology by “inventing their own methods for scientific observation and data collection.” Each child kept a sketchbook for the duration of the camp that was used for drawing, painting, writing, and recording their experiences. A qualitative case study research design was utilized to explore the interconnectivity between art and ecology. Data sources included the researcher's field notes, program artifacts (including photos of children’s activities and artwork created by children), and interviews with children. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes across data sources.
Findings were focused on three central areas: (1) children as scientists/artists, (2) making discoveries through collaborative efforts, and (3) the interconnections of art and science. The camp’s child-centered approach empowered the children to see themselves as scientists and artists. Children’s active roles as scientists/artists were evident as they directed their own inquiries and discoveries. Making discoveries became a collaborative effort among children, and also between children and nature as they began to perceive themselves as part of nature. During the week, children experienced nature together and new understandings emerged through collaboration. As children worked in their sketchbooks, “they discussed and designed theories, assisted each other with drawing, and reinvented ideas simultaneously.” The final finding focused on the concurrent learning that occurred in science and art, which was “so entwined it could not be made into separate subjects.” Integrating art and ecology, while supporting children’s interactions with nature, resulted in a “symbiotic relationship that engaged learning.”
Overall, the combined forest school and AEE approach enhanced learning by providing an empowering experience in which children directed their interactions with nature, supporting their creativity, autonomy, collaboration and critical thinking. The opportunity to freely explore nature was central to children's experience and the researcher contends that the symbiotic relationship which emerged between art and ecology would not be possible within a traditional classroom.
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