Children and Nature

For much of human evolution, the natural world was one of the mostimportant contexts of children's maturation. Indeed, the experience of nature was, and still may be, a critical component of human physical, emotional, intellectual, and even moral development. Yet scientific knowledge of the significance of natureduring the different stages of childhood is sparse. This book provides scientificinvestigations and thought-provoking essays on children and nature.Children andNature incorporates research from cognitive science, developmental psychology, ecology, education, environmental studies, evolutionary psychology, politicalscience, primatology, psychiatry, and social psychology. The authors examine theevolutionary significance of nature during childhood; the formation of children'sconceptions, values, and sympathies toward the natural world; how contact withnature affects children's physical and mental development; and the educational andpolitical consequences of the weakened childhood experience of nature in modernsociety.