Browsing by Subject "nature preschool"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Nature Preschools as Promoters of Physical Activity
    (2021-12-15) Bruno, Alexis L
    Preschools and other early childhood education and care settings are influential in the promotion of physical activity (PA) for young children. This study utilized the Yamax Digiwalker pedometer and a quasi-experimental design to quantitatively explore the influence of nature preschools on the PA of 154 preschool-aged children. Results suggest that nature preschools support sufficient PA; furthermore, participants were able to achieve recommended PA during cold and wet months through unstructured nature play. These findings suggest that nature preschool offers another method for increasing PA, even during winter months. The results also point to the important role unstructured play has in children's overall well-being. Implications for practice and further research are discussed.
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    Nature-Based Early Learning and Preschoolers' Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary: An Exploratory Study
    (2024-08) Stelley, Hannah M
    This study examined how nature-based practices affect preschoolers’ receptive and expressive vocabulary. The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the Expressive Vocabulary Test were administered to 134 children from 11 preschool classes at the beginning and end of the 2022-2023 preschool year. Results suggest that nature-based practices that are integrated into preschool programs support significant vocabulary growth, but that effectiveness varies by public versus private setting and children’s socioeconomic status. This study adds to the literature surrounding effective practices for supporting vocabulary development. It also adds to the growing body of research that incorporates the impact of nature play on children’s overall development and school readiness.
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    Perceptions of Continued Resilience Development in Nature Preschool Alumni
    (2024-12) Kroll, Melanie Rose
    This study explored the perceptions of educators, parents, and children who attended a nature-based preschool in Minnesota on how resilience continues to develop in youth as they enter middle childhood. Parents explored what attributes associated with resilience their children demonstrate, ways these are encouraged outside the nature-based school, and reflected on what role nature may play in their family. Youth participants reflected on the resources they used when faced with challenging or adverse experiences. Through thematic analysis, common traits identified by parents include confidence, leadership, empathy, self-regulation, and problem solving. Youth demonstrated a familiarity with place, reliance on self-regulation tools, and trust in their family, friends, and more-than-human companions. The Lead Guide identified programmatic features which instilled a sense of security, belonging, and independence among preschoolers and centered connections to the more-than-human world. Examined together, the perceptions of participants highlight the role of connection, safety, and independent exploration as factors which promote resilience within youth.
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    Rooted in Community: Toward A Grounded Theory of Empathy Development in Nature Preschools
    (2023-05) Underwood, Claire C
    Empathy is core to what makes us human and early childhood is considered an important period for nurturing empathy. A recent quantitative study has found nature preschools to be effective in the context of fostering empathy in young children (Ernst et al., 2022). While these results are promising, more research is needed, particularly to understand how nature preschools foster the development of empathy in the children they serve, hence the study at hand. The purpose of this study was to explore nature preschool teachers’ experiences of empathy development in young children in the context of nature preschools and to develop a grounded theory-based conceptual model to explain the findings. Following data analysis using the grounded theory coding paradigm, a core phenomenon emerged: the school culture of nature preschools that is nature-based, childled, and rooted in community, which is embedded within the context of the natural setting of the preschool that offers opportunities to foster empathy. The causal condition identified was the role of the teacher who uses the strategy of an ongoing approach to empathy development, which resulted in the consequence of children’s unique expressions of empathy. This model contributes to our understanding of how empathy is developed in early childhood in the context of nature preschools, from the perspective of nature preschool teachers, and offers insight to improve professional practice. Implications are discussed in light of the study’s limitations.