Storytelling as a means of fostering children’s connections to natural landscapes

Blizard, C. R. & R.M. Schuster, 2004, Storytelling as a means of fostering children’s connections to natural landscapes, in: OPENspace, ‘Open space, people space’, OPENspace, Edinburgh

  • Author : Blizard, C. R. & R.M. Schuster
  • Year : 2004
  • Published in Book : Open space, people space
  • Abstract in English : This qualitative investigation examined how storytelling affected children’s sense of place development in a natural setting. Three fifth-grade classes from a rural school in New York State, USA explored a site in a local public forest twice. On the second trip, one group also heard place-based natural history stories, another heard local human history stories, and a third group served as a control. Results indicated that the stories affected the children’s sense of place. Natural history stories enhanced physical engagement with the place. Stories about the site’s former inhabitants prompted a greater affective appreciation of place meaning. A combination of both kinds of stories may be most effective in enhancing both children’s engagement with the place and their sense of its meaning.
  • Outline in English : KEYWORDS: children, sense of place, environmental education, storytelling, imagination, childhood. [paper 5 p.]