The Ecology Of Imagination In Childhood

Is genius shaped by the imagination of childhood? Cobb's collection of autobiographies and biographies of creative people, as well as her observations of children's play, suggests just that. She sees the child to be innately connected with the natural world. Inner powers alone do not further the imagination. Her book remains an important philosophical meditation on the importance of children's deep experience of nature to their adult cognition and psychological well-being.

For much of human evolution, the natural world was one of the most important 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 nature during the different stages of childhood is sparse. This book provides scientific investigations and thought-provoking essays on children and nature. Children and Nature incorporates research from cognitive science, developmental psychology, ecology, education, environmental studies, evolutionary psychology, political science, primatology, psychiatry, and social psychology. The authors examine the evolutionary significance of nature during childhood; the formation of children's conceptions, values, and sympathies toward the natural world; how contact with nature affects children's physical and mental development; and the educational and political consequences of the weakened childhood experience of nature in modern society.

The role natural environments play in human health and wellbeing is attracting increasing attention. There is growing medical evidence that access to the natural environment can prevent disease, aid recovery, tackle obesity and improve mental health. This book examines the history of natural environments being used for stress-reduction, enjoyment, aesthetics and catharsis, and traces the development of the connection between humans and the environment, and how they impact our personal and collective health.

The Oxford Handbook of the Development of Imagination provides a comprehensive overview of research on the role of imagination in cognitive and social development and its link with children's understanding of the real world.

Rethinking Nature brings the voices of leading Continental philosophers into discussion about what is emerging as one of our most pressing and timely concerns—the environmental crisis facing our planet. The essays featured in this volume embrace environmental philosophy in its broadest sense and include topics such as environmental ethics, environmental aesthetics, ontology, theology, gender and the environment, and the role of science and technology in forming knowledge about our world. Here, philosophy goes out into the field and comes back with rich insights and new approaches to environmental problems. This far-reaching and lively volume affords firm ground for thinking about the multiple ways that humans engage nature. Contributors are David Abram, Edward S. Casey, Daniel Cerezuelle, Ron Cooper, Bruce V. Foltz, Robert Frodeman, Trish Glazebrook, James Hatley, Robert Kirkman, Irene J. Klaver, Alphonso Lingis, Kenneth Maly, Diane Michelfelder, Elaine P. Miller, Robert Mugerauer, Stephen David Ross, John Sallis, Ingrid Leman Stefanovic, Bruce Wilshire, David Wood, and Michael E. Zimmerman.

This book describes and documents one school’s experiences in achieving their environmental literacy goals through the development of a place-based learning environment. Through this iniative, a longitudinal, descriptive case study began at the Bowen Island Community School to both support and advocate for ecological literacy, while helping the school realize its broad environmental learning goals. Conceptualised as an intensive case study of a learning environment (with an environmental education focus), the program was part of a larger ecological literacy project conducted in association with preservice and graduate education programs at a nearby university and research centre. Following both (empirical) learning environments and participatory (ethnographic) research methods, the project is described from a variety of perspectives: students, teachers, teacher educators, researchers and administrators. The volume describes a variety of forms of place-based education that teachers devised and implemented at the school while giving evidence of the development of a supportive and positive place-based learning environment. The programs and initiatives described in this volume provide the reader with insights for the development of place-based programming more generally . The final chapter outlines participatory methods and action research efforts used to evaluate the success of the project and recounts the development and validation of a learning environment instrument to assist with this process. The new instrument coupled with qualitative descriptions of the learning environment experienced by many at the school give unique insights into the various ways the study of learning environments (as a methodology) may be explored.