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Hard-rooted to nature: rediscovering the forgotten forest in science education

Learners are more disconnected from the natural environment than ever before. Science education occurs predominantly in classrooms and laboratories, settings that rationalize and deconstruct the natural world in a Cartesian–Newtonian paradigm. This often negates humans’ relationality and interdepend...

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Autor principal: Beavington, Lee
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Netherlands 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8414949/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34493946
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11422-021-10078-0
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author Beavington, Lee
author_facet Beavington, Lee
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description Learners are more disconnected from the natural environment than ever before. Science education occurs predominantly in classrooms and laboratories, settings that rationalize and deconstruct the natural world in a Cartesian–Newtonian paradigm. This often negates humans’ relationality and interdependence with other life phenomena and furthermore negates nonhuman agency. I examine the alienation from the natural world in a screen-dominated society, review ecopsychology studies that show the effect of nature on human mental and physiological health, and address the limitations of anthropocentric arguments for reconnecting students with nature. Examples of learning about microbes in a biology laboratory, and the importance of what I call wild fascination, as methods to reconnect with our “forgotten forest” are discussed. Finally, I argue that environmental outdoor education is not only vital to foster an ecocentric ethic, but that it is a necessity for ensuring a sustainable future for the biotic community.
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spelling pubmed-84149492021-09-03 Hard-rooted to nature: rediscovering the forgotten forest in science education Beavington, Lee Cult Stud Sci Educ Original Paper Learners are more disconnected from the natural environment than ever before. Science education occurs predominantly in classrooms and laboratories, settings that rationalize and deconstruct the natural world in a Cartesian–Newtonian paradigm. This often negates humans’ relationality and interdependence with other life phenomena and furthermore negates nonhuman agency. I examine the alienation from the natural world in a screen-dominated society, review ecopsychology studies that show the effect of nature on human mental and physiological health, and address the limitations of anthropocentric arguments for reconnecting students with nature. Examples of learning about microbes in a biology laboratory, and the importance of what I call wild fascination, as methods to reconnect with our “forgotten forest” are discussed. Finally, I argue that environmental outdoor education is not only vital to foster an ecocentric ethic, but that it is a necessity for ensuring a sustainable future for the biotic community. Springer Netherlands 2021-09-03 2021 /pmc/articles/PMC8414949/ /pubmed/34493946 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11422-021-10078-0 Text en © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2021 This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
spellingShingle Original Paper
Beavington, Lee
Hard-rooted to nature: rediscovering the forgotten forest in science education
title Hard-rooted to nature: rediscovering the forgotten forest in science education
title_full Hard-rooted to nature: rediscovering the forgotten forest in science education
title_fullStr Hard-rooted to nature: rediscovering the forgotten forest in science education
title_full_unstemmed Hard-rooted to nature: rediscovering the forgotten forest in science education
title_short Hard-rooted to nature: rediscovering the forgotten forest in science education
title_sort hard-rooted to nature: rediscovering the forgotten forest in science education
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8414949/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34493946
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11422-021-10078-0
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