Ecological appreciation and learning children and young people essay

Introduction

The purpose in doing this research and expressed in this paper is to understand the context, from a child’s angle, of learning the outdoor playground with a particular focus on the contribution, in order to develop better participatory programs which relevant to healthy physical activities with ecological appreciation and learning. Play is an important part of a child’s life. Children’s playground can be seen as an artificial game space environment. It should meet the function and psychological requirements of children’s play behaviors. Outdoor play fosters opportunities for creativity, imagination, social connections, and learns to be more behaviors. Natural playscapes offer sensory stimulation and physical diversity which is critical for childhood experiences outdoors. Through careful design, constructed playscapes can be greened to simulate natural playscapes. Greening is the integration of natural elements and processes in a playscape. Children’s direct social and individual experiences in nature in early to middle childhood during the ” developmental window of opportunity” between the ages of three and twelve years help shape their environmental identity and guide their environmental actions. However, as times changed, the technology becomes more sophisticated, for example like cars, mobile phones, computers; not only that, the people’s desire is also difficult to satisfy, resulting in low levels of happiness in one’s life. People live under pressure (according to developing country) while the poor people that do not have enough strengths to compete in a competitive society will be disqualified, by then those people would be evolve into immoral person, for example like burglars, terrorists, drug addicts, killers and so on. More than ever before, young people are being severely and sometimes unfairly criticised for their aberrant behaviour. This can range from vandalism to random acts of violence and even murder. Much of this is inexcusable but poorly understood. Some of our best intellectual youngsters can succumb to the pressures to compete exerted by family, friends and society as a whole. In this ” hothouse” environment (Quart, 2006) many youngsters end up on drugs, prescribed or otherwise, in marauding gangs, or ultimately ” go postal” (Ames, 2007), kill and commit suicide. If all teens are thought of as assets in the making, rather than problems waiting to happen, then not only our own families but also society as a whole could be transformed. (Richard Lerner, 2007, p. 213)In the interest of this situation, the parents have alerted that the society have become more and more dangerous compare to the previous era, they cannot let go both of their hands or must keep an eye on their children every seconds. Negative publicity such as robbery, theft, rape cases and etc., have uninterrupted been reported in various media. Nowadays, the parents give electronic devices like iPad, iPods, and iPhone to their children but not truly sincere have a dialogue and understanding towards the child. Recent evidence suggesting that children now are not only less active, but they are less risk aware and demonstrate a decreased interest in the natural world, often favouring, instead, ” plugged-in” play environments (Louv, 2005; Gill, 2007, 2010; Honore, 2008). The literature reviews show a lack of cohesive research on the connection between children, outdoor play and the design of children’s playscapes. However, the broad collection of current resources have moments of overlap that illustrate the opportunity for the cohesion in future research on childhood connections to nature through outdoor play. Literature reviews provide a solid base for the creation of design guidelines which can foster childhood play experiences outdoors. Findings will be used to develop a set of guidelines for children’s landscapes to help provide opportunities which can take in strong child outdoor experience. There are 4 literature reviews: Chapter 1- What is play and how does it related to children, outdoor play, nature? Chapter 2- What is the importance for children to experience outdoor environment? Chapter 3- Why and how do we improve the design of outdoor playground for children? Chapter 4- How to design a better playground to attract children to go outdoor playground? The decrease of quality of interaction between children and outdoor environments has a negative impact on children’s health, learning and development. Play is important in childhood. The environment used for play is also an important part because different playscapes offer different opportunities. Outdoor play is pivotal in creating a link between nature and children. In addition, outdoor play has the ability to give children stimulation which the indoor play cannot achieve. We should think – as a society and as parents – about how to promote healthy, positive, admirable, and productive behaviors in our young people. And we need to find new vocabulary to talk about our young people. Let’s name the good things they can and should do. Let’s measure these good things. Let’s then find ways to make those good things more likely to be present in their lives. (Richard Lerner, The Good Teen, p. 10, 2007)Experiences in nature help to shape children’s conceptions and values. Various types of contact with nature play different roles. While each of these types of contact is important for children to develop an environmental consciousness and identity, direct experiences are most important for childhood exploration of natural elements.

Literature Review

Chapter 1- What is play? Play is one of the ways children about themselves, the people around them, their environment and their community. It is an important part of every child’s life and essential to their future development. Play fosters creativity, imagination, social connections and learned behaviors of children. It is the activity which can be defined as ” a range of voluntary, centrally motivated activities that are normally associated with pleasure and enjoyment.” *** (Ashley Parsons, taken from Garvey, Catherine. Play. The Developing Child Series. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990). Through play, children learn to explore the world around them, develop and practice skills they will use throughout their lives. Play is defined as behavior that is freely chosen, personally directed and inherently motivated. Children should be given the restriction of safety in a practicable and freedom way. In addition, children should be in control of how they play, but not criticize or scold them for example telling a child the ‘ right way’ to hold a paint brush will deny children many of these first hand experiences. Play is essential for physical, emotional and spiritual growth; intellectual and educational development; and social and behavioral skills of a child. A child’s capacity for positive development will be inhibited if denied access to a range of stimulating play opportunities. Play often, though not always, implies a sense of fun for the child. (http://www. valeofglamorgan. gov. uk/enjoying/leisure__activities/play/development/what_is_play. aspx)