For children, experiencing/interacting with the animals at the GBG is a highlight/
... A similar study at another location, in a different economic area, would be a ...
The Greensboro Bog Garden: An Opportunity to Defy “Nature Deficit Disorder” Tara F. Strefling & David P. Hildreth Education Studies, Guilford College The nature of childhood has changed. There's not much nature in it. American childhood has moved indoors during the last two decades, taking a mental and physical toll on today’s kids. The negative impact of decreased time outdoors includes a doubling of the childhood obesity rate….as well as declining creativity, concentration and social skills.– The National Wildlife Federation Today, kids 8-18 years old devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes using entertainment media in a typical day (more than 53 hours a week). (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Introduction •
The Greensboro Bog Garden (GBG) is a seven acre site located in the Starmount Farms neighborhood of Greensboro, NC. It was established in 1987 by Greensboro Beautiful Inc., in conjunction with the City of Greensboro Parks and Recreation Dept., and is a popular outdoor visitation spot for the community. The Bog Garden is supported by the City of Greensboro, Greensboro Beautiful, and its many Bog Buddies and supporters.
Methods
Results Survey Results
Methodology: Patrons of the Greensboro Bog Garden (GBG) were asked to volunteer for a brief verbal survey/questionnaire during a five week period, summer 2013. The survey took approximately three to five minutes to complete and was administered at the Starmount Road entrance to the Garden by one of two researchers.
Parents (N ~ 36)
Survey Data were analyzed using protocol suggested by Miles & Huberman (1994).
•When asked what is the main reason for coming to the GBG, 31% said that they come to the GBG to bring their kids, while 22% said they come because they enjoy nature. •When asked how often they come to the GBG, 33% said at least once a week, while 33% said it was their first time.
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Even with rich opportunities such as the GBG available nation wide, current research (Louv, 2005, Burdette & Whitaker, 2005) indicates that children, in particular, are not experiencing outdoor, experiential learning opportunities. For example, Hofferth and Sandberg (2000) report that children age three to 12 spend one percent of their time outdoors and 27 percent of their time watching television. Louv (2005) coined this phenomena “nature deficit disorder.”
Survey Description • The survey used in this investigation was
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This study examined who attended the Greensboro Bog Garden over a five week period, summer 2013. During this time 248 individuals were surveyed. Clear trends emerged from inspection of collected data.
•Of the parents surveyed, 65% said their own children would play outside without encouragement while 35% said they had to encourage their children to play outside.
The survey targeted the following three possibilities of prospective GBG patrons:
•When asked what is the main reason why they come to the GBG, 31% said it was because they enjoy nature, 26% said to walk and/or for intentional exercise.
2. Parents (individuals who visited the GBG, with children present) 3. Children (individuals who came with parents, broken into four age groups: 0-6, 7-12, 13-15, and 16-18.) Note: this age delineation was meant to best model the typical age groups for elementary, middle, and high school (+) students
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created to determine how often and why individuals visit the GBG. As it pertains to children (see ages identified below), what was learned/deemed as interesting from attending the GBG was also investigated.
1. Adults (individuals who visited the GBG without children present)
Given the aforementioned concern that individuals are not spending enough time in nature, we are interested in who frequents the GBG, how often, and why. In particular, we hope to discern why children visit the GBG and what it is they learned from this experience.
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•When asked what did they do outside as a child, 33% indicated they were just “out in the woods” or “in nature”. 18% spoke to playing with friends and 15% specifically alluded to “using my imagination”.
A total of 248 individuals were surveyed for this study. Questions asked in the survey centered around 1) why does one come to the GBG, 2) how often, 3) what one did as a child in their free time, and 4) for children only, what was learned from visiting the GBG?
Adults (N ~132)
•Regarding how often they visited the GBG, 35% indicated that this was their first time, 32% said they come once or more a week. •When asked what did they do outside as a child, 27% responded that they were always outside in the woods and playing in nature, 21% specifically alluded to riding their bikes outside with friends.
Parents/Adults --154 (out of 168)—92%--of the parents/adults surveyed indicated that they valued outdoor time and spent a majority of their time as a youth in the outdoors. --Note: several individuals spoke to the “spiritual/calming characteristics” of frequenting the GBG.
Children (N ~ 80) •54% of the children indicated that they wanted to come to the GBG to experience/interact with the animals. •For the children surveyed, 83% stated that the coolest/most engaging thing they saw while visiting the GBG were the animals. •60% of the children surveyed said they learned something new about nature from attending the GBG.
*The most direct route to caring for the environment as an adult is participating in “wild nature activities” before the age of 11. (Wells and Lekies, 2006) *“I have a room all to myself; it is nature”—Henry David Thoreau
Figure 1: Researcher Tara Srefling interviewing a young patron at the GBG
Figure 2: A father and his two children discuss their experiences after visiting the GBG with researchers David Hildreth and Tara Strefling. Figure 3: Barred Owl at the GBG
Conclusions/ Implications for Further Research • • • •
For children, experiencing/interacting with the animals at the GBG is a highlight/ draw. In fact, there was a 30% gain in the children’s excitement about the animals after they experienced the GBG. 60% of children indicated that they did learn something new from their experiences at the GBG. For parents, 31% attend the GBG to expose their children to nature. 92% of the parents/ adults surveyed indicated that they valued outdoor time and spent a majority of their time as a youth in the outdoors.
Implications/Further Questions • • • •
A cycle appears to exist: if individuals are outside as a child, then they: 1) seems to enjoy nature as an adult and continue to seek outdoor activities, and 2) more than likely expose such behaviors to their children. Educators should encourage more time spent outside for multiple reasons: learning indeed occurs and, from our experiences, an appreciation for nature develops that will transcend generations. For individuals—in particular children—who do spend time outdoors, what is it about this experience which keeps them wanting to be outside and experience nature? Anecdotal observations speak to a highly homogenous group of visitors to the GBG. A similar study at another location, in a different economic area, would be a logical next step for data collection. Figure 4: Child interview with T. Strefling
Literature Cited/ Acknowledgements 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Burdette, H. & Whitaker, R. (2005). Resurrecting free play in young children. Archives Pediatric Adolescent Medicine, 159, 46-50. Hofferth, S. & Sandberg, J. (2000). How American children spend their time. Journal of Marriage and Family, 63(2), 295-308. Kaiser Family Foundation: Retrieved from: https://www.nwf.org/Be-Out-There/Why-Be-Out-There.aspx Louv, Richard. (2005). Last child in the wood: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books of Chapel. Miles, M. & Huberman, A. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. Thousand Oaks : Sage Publications. Wells, N. & Lekies, K. (2006). Nature and the life course: Pathways from childhood nature experiences to adult environmentalism. Children, Youth and Environments 16(1), 1-25.
Special Thanks: We would like to thank everyone associated with the Greensboro Bog Garden and Greensboro Beautiful, especially Jim Brooks. For all the patrons to the GBG who volunteered to be interviewed, we are appreciative of your time and insights. Finally, we would like to recognize Guilford College, the Office of UG Research, and the CPPS for supporting this investigation.
