EOE - Liz O' Brien's Presentation

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Why Woods? Growing adventure and the importance of contact with trees, woods and forests Liz O’Brien Social and Economic Research Group 7 th -10 th October, 2011 Youth Centre Metsakartano, Finland

description

Liz O'Brien's accompanying presentation to her lecture at the European Institute of Outdoor Education conference at Metsakartano, Finland.

Transcript of EOE - Liz O' Brien's Presentation

Page 1: EOE - Liz O' Brien's Presentation

Why Woods?

Growing adventure and the importance of contact with trees, woods and forests

Liz O’BrienSocial and Economic Research Group

7th-10th October, 2011Youth Centre Metsakartano, Finland

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October 20112

Outline

1: Concerns about a lack of contact with woods and forests

2: Current concerns about well-being of children and young people

3: Benefits of contact with trees, woods and forests from research evidence

4: Concepts and theories

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October 20113

‘In Glasgow there was no woods at all you couldn’t do anything. All you could do was go outside and play

with abandoned cars, stuff like that. There was a wee park, one swing for about 4,000 folk’ (young Man

Galshiels)

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October 20114

Lack of contact with nature not a new issue!

Urban children have become increasingly divorced from the natural environment of forests and fields. Today’s children often learn about nature secondhand. 1977

De-natured childhood and criminalisation of natural play. Nature deficit disorder. 2006

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October 20115

Factors impeding use of woodlands

• Parental/carers fears of risk – safety concerns• Car ownership/road safety issues • Home entertainment technology• Increase in organised activities as opposed to

free play• Over scheduling of children and young

people’s time• Quality and accessibility of woodland/nature

spaces

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October 20116

Illustration of restricted movement in Sheffield

Restricted movement

•Four generations of one family in Sheffield, England

•Great grandfather – allowed 6 miles from home

•Grandfather – 1 mile

•Mother – half a mile

•Son – 300 yards

Bird, W. 2007. Natural thinking. RSPB and Natural England report

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October 20117

Societal views

Polarised societal views of children and young people

Angels (approx 10 and under)• Innocent children who need to be protected• Media coverage of high profile cases of abuse• Those who mind, volunteer and work with children need criminal record checks

Devils (approx 11 and over)• Knife crime• Youth gangs/recent rioting• Young people terrorising residents of housing estates• The ‘mosquito’ high pitch noise aimed at preventing young people gathering

together in certain spaces

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October 20118

Overweight and obesity• Childhood obesity linked to cardiovascular disease,

diabetes, eating disorders, impaired psychological well-being

• Overweight rates higher in industrialised societies in those of lower socio-economic status

10-20% children under 15 overweight in Europe

(WHO, 2009. A snapshot of the health of young people in Europe. Report to EC)

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October 20119

Health and wellbeing

Physical inactivity• Two thirds of young Europeans do not take part in sufficient physical

activity• Physical activity levels decrease during adolescence – more marked

in girls 13-15• Considerable variation across countries• Those of lower socio-economic status often undertake less p.a.

Mental well-being• 10-20% of young people under 18 in Europe have a mental or

behavioural problem• Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent 10.4% (e.g. panic disorder,

phobias, OCD) (more prevalent for girls)• Conduct disorders 7.5% (more prevalent for boys)• Depressive disorders 4-8%• ADHD 4.4% (more prevalent for boys)

(WHO, 2009. A snapshot of the health of young people in Europe. Report to EC)

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October 201110

Well-being

Child wellbeing

•UK 24th out of 29 countries well below position expected for a country of its affluence

•More equal societies do better on child WB – Netherlands and Scandinavian countries

Child Poverty Action Group. 2009. Child well-being and child poverty.

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October 201111

Use of Spare time

Spare time

•Increase in use of computers for playing games, social networking etc.

•Two hours or more on weekdays

- 49% of boys age 13

- 21% of girls age 13

•Use of television as popular indoor activity

•24% adolescents spend 4 hours per weekday watching TV rising to 43% at w/ends

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October 201112

Benefits of contact with woodlands

• Personal and social development• Physical activity and movement • Self esteem and self confidence • Exploration, discovery, fun, enjoyment• Restoration and stress reduction • Cognitive impacts – gaining knowledge and

understanding about space, themselves, seasons

• Affective impacts – changes/development of attitudes, values, beliefs

• Sensory experience – ability to be able to engage all the senses

Kahn and Kellert, 2002; Taylor et al. 2001; Dillon et al. 2005; O’Brien and Murray, 2007; Strife and Downey, 2009 etc.

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October 201113

Favourite places research in England

•Children spend less time in natural spaces (10%) than adults did when they were young (40%)

•Over 70% of children say they are supervised wherever they play, rising to over 80% in natural places

Childhood and nature, 2009 Natural England survey. Natural England

Favourite places have changed:

•In past – streets near home (29%), indoors 16% and natural places (15%)•Nowadays – playing indoors (41%) and in garden (17%)

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October 201114

Preferences for nature in North America

Studies in north America

• Attitudes to wooded places differs between children, teen, adults

• Youth appreciate the wild, dense and hidden forest more than cultivated and open forest

• Children and adults preferred open forest landscape

• Structurally diverse natural places are more inspiring and imaginative for children than organised playgrounds.

Kaplan and Kaplan, 1989. The experience of nature - a psychological perspective. Cambridge University Press.

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October 201115

Adolescents and nature

Time out for teenagers• 14-16 yr olds appear to have a reduced affinity with

nature preferring time with peers and more developed parks with facilities

• Favourite places – developed parks, places at home, commercial areas

• Preference for more exciting activities – e.g. paint balling

• Kaplan and Kaplan, 2002. Adolescents and the natural environment: a time out? Children and Nature, MIT Press.

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October 201116

Place based research in Finland

Place based understanding of children/youth and environment

• 2,800 young people 11-14 years in studies in Helsinki and Turku

• Use of online questionnaires in schools and GIS• Findings suggest densely built settings and

places with a high proportion of green structure have clear qualities for a child friendly environment and are crucial for health promoting urban spaces

Kytta, M. 2011. The inhabitant friendly, health promoting urban strucutre. Openspace Peoplespace conference proceedings.

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October 201117

Using soft GIS and on line questionnaires to identify positive and negative places

Where young people go and what they think of these places

Now being used with planners in Finland to shape designs

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October 201118

Forests, place and identity in Finland

Forests culturally important part of Finnish life

• Wilderness concept has deep cultural roots -symbolise power, stability

• Preference for rural over urban landscapes• Summer cottages – to be alone in middle of nature• Children visits forests to ski, hike, pick berries or

mushrooms, play• 46% want to visit a forest more often

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October 201119

Natural play in Scotland primary school

New nature play area • Created in the playground (£65K versus £63K for traditional

tarmac)• Methods – focus groups, pedometers, observations, weekly

reporting by teachers• Reduction in playground of bullying, physical injuries• Increased opportunities for free play, interacting with nature,

physical activity

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October 201120

Wild adventure space literature review

Outdoor adventure space • Offering freedom and risk 11-18 year olds• Review of literature and focus groups with

youth• Wild adventure space = unregulated space,

opportunities for adventure. Free of charge free to all ages, freedom to undertake activities

Benefits identified by young people• Being away from adult supervision• A place that inspires and offers risk and challenge• A place to have a good time with friends

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October 201121

Wild adventure space review

Openspace, 2006. Free range teenagers. The role of adventure space in young people’s lives. Report to Natural England

Benefits identified by evidence

•Physical development, emotional and mental health and well-being.

•Social and educational development, which may have long-lasting effects into•adulthood

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October 201122

Motor fitness in Norway

Fitness• 5-7 year olds in nine month Norwegian study. • Significant differences between experimental

group playing in a wood and comparison in traditional playground for balance and coordination abilities

• Favourite places to play ‘cone war’, ‘space ship’, ‘the cliff’

• Significant difference in motor fitness - better at mastering rugged and unstructured landscape

• Woodland allowed more diverse play

Fjortoft, I. 2004. Landscape as playscape: the effects of natural environments on children’s play and motor development

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October 201123

Urban landscape and physical activity Norway

Aim to examine how urban landscape affords physical activity

• In 14 year old adolescents – looking at differences between girls and boys

• Two schools in south eastern Norway• Methods: GPS, heart rate, paper mapping,

photo elicitation, essays• Preliminary conclusions

• Generally low activity levels• Mean activity time at MVPA levels was 26 minutes• No gender differences in MVPA found• Physical activity primarily linked to organised sports• Boys and girls had surprisingly similar patterns of

activity

Thoren, K, Fjortoft, I, Aradi, R. 2011. How urban landscapes afford physical activity in adolescents? On going transdisicplinary study

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October 201124

ADHD and walking in park USA

Study of children 7-12 with ADHD• Completion of puzzles that require focused

attention followed by walk in an urban park, walk in residential area, downtown area, followed by concentration tests

• Children concentrated better after walking in park• Walking in park closed concentration gap between

those with ADHD and those without• Children rated experience in park more highly than

other two walks• Potential of using nature in the treatment of ADHD.

Faber Taylor, A., & Kuo, F. E. (2008). Children with attention deficits concentrate better after walk in the park. Journal of Attention Disorders OnlineFirst.

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October 201125

PhD Forest School research in Scotland

Activity and FSAverage levels of activityon normal, PE and FS daysAccelerometers used to measure physical activityLovell, R. 2009. Physical activity at Forest School

Restoration and FS

Intensity of restorative experience was greatest for those with the worst mental health Roe, J et al. 2009. Forest School. Evidence for the restorative health benefits in young people

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October 201126

Forest School in England

•24 children studied over 8 months from 7 schools. 360 observations. Children attend on average 15 sessions at Forest School – 45-60 hours contact time.

O’Brien and Murray, 2007. Forest School and its impacts on young children: case studies in Britain. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 6: 249-265.

The benefits of Forest School

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October 201127

Escaping stress and anxiety in Scotland

Stress and anxiety

•Survey of 1,500 representative sample of Scottish population•What people do to escape stress and anxiety•Where do people go to escape•Overall where do you go? - top of list was go for a walk (47%)•Overall what do you do? – second on list was visit wood, beach, countryside (35%) after visit friend/family (38%)

What do you do to escape stress?

Where do you go?

Go for a walk

41% Visit friends family

51%

Spend time with friends/family

40% Gym, swimming, sports club

38%

Watch TV/movies

36% Pub, bar, social club

35%

Do exercise, sport

34% Wood, beach countryside

25%

18-24 year olds

NHS Scotland. 2010. Attitudes to violence and escape facilities. Final report, NHS Scotland.

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October 201128

Children and urban woods- London

Perspectives on a local woodland in London: Youth club session with 20 children at Peabody Hill Wood (6-12 years old)

What they enjoyed about the wood‘fun to play games’‘hanging out in summer’‘you make a base and play with friends’‘good places to hide because you can run about and play’‘I like playing around there, we play hide and seek’

What they disliked‘nothing to do’‘there’s muggers, rapists, murders’‘it’s cold, dangerous, rapists and paedophiles’‘too many teenagers smoking’‘I like the trees but it doesn’t feel very safe’‘Nothing to do, overgrown, messy, mum won’t let me go near it

O’Brien, L. 2006. Social housing and green space: a case study in inner London

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October 201129

Quality of green spaces is important

Lack of care, social control and management can lead to a spiral of decline. Fear of crime when vegetation blocks views

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October 201130

Aesthetic views and academic performance in USA

PhD research

• Focus on 101 schools in Michigan• Explored nature surrounding schools and access to it• Identified academic performance and behaviour

• Schools with larger windows and more views of nature had students with higher standardized test scores, higher graduation rates, fewer reports of criminal behaviour.

• Schools that allowed students to eat outside or off campus had higher test scores and a greater percentage of students planning to attend college.

• In examining specific landscape features, Matsuoka found that trees and shrubs needed to be relatively close to the students to provide academic achievement and behaviour benefits.

Matsuoka, R. H. 2008. High school landscapes and student performance. University of Michigan. http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/61

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October 201131

Interest in nature as adults - Norway and USA

What turns/enables/encourages children to be conservationists as adults?

1. Experience of natural areas as a child – frequent and free play in a wild place

2. Influence of a mentor sharing love of nature3. Involvement with outdoor or conservation

organisations4. Negative environmental experiences – seeing valued

spaces e.g. woods disappear 5. Education6. Friends

Chawla, L. 2006. Learning to love the natural world enough to protect it. Norsk senter for barneforskning

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October 201132

Forest Education Initiative in Britain

FEI review 18 years from 1992-2010

• 80 cluster groups in Britain in 2010

• 245 partners have been involved in FEI funded activities

• 1,405 cluster group members (35% are teachers)

• 14,776 participants in 2009 – school children, community groups

• 68% of activity is Forest School – delivery, training, networking

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Concepts and theories

Natural England. 2011. Children and the natural environment: experiences, influences, interventions

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Levels of engagement

Levels of engagement

Existence Virtual access

A view Use and being in

Active ‘hands on’ engagement

Participation in decision making

Ownership or management

Types of activity

Knowing they exist as part of the landscape for yourself or others

Virtual or mental image, TV, memory etc.

View from a window, car or walking by a wood

Cycling, walking, sitting etc. on site

Practical hands on work e.g. volunteeringForest school, gathering non timber forest products

Involved in decision making about the creation or design or management of woods

Involved in decision making and responsibility about management of site

Specific interventions might aid engagement e.g. wilderness therapy, Forest School etc

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Towards a conceptual model

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Structured activities focused on care

Sempik J, Hine, R and Wilcox, D. 2010. Green care: a conceptual framework. Loughborough University

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Provision of guidance

How confident are organisations/managers in providing opportunities for children and young people?

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Final issues

• There is a range of evidence of the benefits of contact with woodlands and forests

• One off experiences not as influential as daily exposure to woods and green spaces

• Lack of regular positive experiences in nature is associated with fear, discomfort and dislike of nature

• Childhood visits to woods strongly associated with adult visits

• Experiences vary according to ethnicity, socio-economic status

• Access and accessibility are importantand not the same thing

• How to facilitate engagement

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