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Academic Research Series - Child Resiliency
Research Overview
Original Paper Title: Comparing the Impact of Nature, Blended, and Traditional Preschools on Children’s Resilience - Some Nature May Be Better Than None
Authors: Julie Ernst, Hannah Jukett and David Sobel
Journal of publication: Frontiers in Psychology
Year of publication: 2021
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.724340
Resilience, a critical life skill that helps us navigate life’s hurdles, is foundational to child development - it’s about bouncing back from adversity and adapting to challenges. In today's rapidly evolving world, we see more and more social issues unfolding, and young children increasingly face psychological challenges, such as stress, anxiety, and depression. It is more crucial than ever to start cultivating resilience early on so our children can thrive in this ever changing world.
You might ask then, how do we foster resiliency and raise resilient children? Recent research suggests that nature might just be our answer. A study published in Frontiers in Psychology in 2021 compared children attending different preschool environments - nature, blended, and traditional - and found that even a sprinkle of nature in early education can bolster children’s initiative, self-regulation, and attachment - all key components of psychological resilience. This study not only challenges conventional educational models, but also underscores the indispensable role of nature in nurturing resilient, competent, and caring individuals from an early age.
What questions did the researchers try to answer?
The study set out to address these three key research questions:
Do children in nature preschools exhibit higher levels of initiative compared to their peers in blended and traditional preschool classes?
Do children in nature preschools demonstrate greater self-regulation compared to their peers in blended and traditional preschool classes?
Do children in nature preschools show stronger attachment compared to their peers in blended and traditional preschool classes?
What do all these terms mean?
Child Resiliency: the ability of a child to recover from difficulties or adapt to challenging situations.
Initiative: a child’s ability to use independent thought and action to meet his or her needs. It fosters independence, confidence, and the willingness to explore and learn new things
Self-regulation: a child’s ability to express emotions and successfully manage behaviours. Developing self-regulation is key to managing emotions, handling stress, and behaving appropriately in different settings.
Attachment: the emotional bond a child forms with caregivers and peers. It’s crucial for a child’s emotional and social development, and lays the foundation for trust, security, and relationships in their life.
Nature preschool: these classes spent most of the time outdoors in natural settings (3-5h), and primarily uses child-directed activities, based on the interests of the children.
Traditional preschool: these classes focus on more academic skills, such as early literacy and math skills, using a combination of teacher-directed instruction and child-directed play. Depending on weather, they spend about half an hour in outdoor play.
Blended preschool: these classes focus on teaching academic skills while also balancing child-directed play. They spend about an hour outdoors playing or in teacher-guided learning.
How was the research conducted?
The researchers compared children attending different preschool settings in the same district in a Midwest suburban area in the United States. They assessed children’s initiative, self-regulation, and attachment using the Devereux early Childhood Assessment for Preschoolers Second Edition (DECA-P2). The children’s teachers filled out the questionnaires for each child at the beginning and the end of the school year. The study also accounted for gender and amount of time spent in preschool.
What did they find?
There were no differences in children’s protective factors across the three preschool settings at the beginning of the school year when controlling for gender.
Nature preschoolers showed a significantly higher initiative score compared to children in the other two preschool settings, and the difference between the blended and traditional preschool settings was not significant.
Nature preschools demonstrated more impact on children’s self-regulation development than traditional settings, but the difference between nature preschools and blended preschools was not significant.
Both nature and blended preschool settings showed more positive outcomes on child attachment compared to traditional preschools, and there was no significant difference between the nature and blended preschool groups.
Overall, when considering total protective factors associated with resilience, nature preschools exhibited the most significant positive impact, followed by blended settings, with traditional preschools showing the least impact.
What does this all mean?
This study’s findings indicate that preschools with a nature-based curriculum can significantly influence children’s development of protective factors associated with resilience. Even the incorporation of some nature-based elements proved to have a positive effect on children’s protective factors related to resilience. These findings suggest that exposure to nature-based education in early education plays a vital role in developing resilience in young children.
Direct insights for your decision-making
For Parents: Encourage outdoor play and interaction with nature. Even simple activities like exploring a garden or park can contribute to your child's resilience development. Try to seek out educational settings that provide more outdoor unstructured play time and follow a child-led curriculum.
For Educators: Incorporate more nature-based activities in your curriculum. This doesn't necessarily require a complete overhaul; even periodic outdoor learning sessions or allowing children to freely explore can be beneficial for their development.
For Policy Makers: Recognize the value of nature-based education. Support and fund programs that integrate natural environments into early childhood education, as they can positively impact children’s development.
Wrapping up
this research illustrates the crucial role of nature-based education in fostering resilience in young children. As we confront a world brimming with challenges, it's imperative to recognize the profound impact of nature-based learning. For parents, educators, and policymakers, the message is clear: Embracing the outdoors in early education isn't just a choice, it's a necessity for nurturing robust, resilient young minds.
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