Seeing the Forest and the Trees: A Multi-dimensional Exploration into Children's Experiences with Nature

This dissertation reports on a review of literature and empirical research that explored children's experiences with nature. This dissertation addressed four research questions: (1) How do children aged six to ten years experience nature in a botanic garden setting? What sensory, affective, cognitive and behavioral dimensions of this experience can be identified and explored? (2) What meanings, do children attach to their experiences in nature? (3) What are the broader social and cultural factors affecting a child's experiencing of nature that can be identified? and (4) Through methodological triangulation with drawings, clay sculptures and photographs, how well do sand trays appear to be an effective and appropriate tool for children to communicate their constructions of meaning of experiences with nature?;This dissertation reports qualitative data collected from five children aged 8-10 years during a 5-day camp experience in a botanic garden. Four data collection methods were used in this study: clay sculptures, drawings, photographs, and sand tray pictures. To answer Question 4 advantages and disadvantages of each method were examined. The use of sand trays for research was established as a particularly effective method in this study of children's subjective experiences with nature.;Optimal arousal theory and Russell's circumplex model of emotion framed the investigation into Question 1 that focused primarily on children's experiences and demonstrated that children are attracted to experiences that provide pleasurable sensations and tend to avoid experiences that afford displeasurable sensations. Findings also demonstrated that children seek out optimally challenging and novel experiences. The broader socio-cultural contexts of these children's experiences were examined to answer Questions 2 and 3. Three relational themes emerged in this study: (1) children feeling protective toward nature (2) children feeling fearful of nature, and (3) children feeling either a part of or apart from nature. These themes were discussed using a theoretical framework that blends Vygotsky's socio-cultural development theory and activity theory and Gibson's theory of affordances. Findings here contribute to a more integrated understanding of how ecological psychology theory and social psychological theory can inform our understanding of children's relationships with nature.