Browsing by Author "Rajamäki, Anu"

Goals. In this research the goal was to study effects of a nature education to early childhood childrens psychical well-being. Suomen Latu organization has coordinated ”Luonnossa kotonaan” kindergartens that have used nature education in the Finland from 1999 onwards, but there are very little scientific research done in the Finland of the nature education and the effects of it. The subject has had increasing interest in the recent years from the personnel of the education sector. The research results from the prior researches and my own positive experiences, were the motivation to research the subject more and to get scientific evidence for my thoughts of the benefits of the nature education. My goal is to increase research and information about the nature education. Methods. The material for my research was gathered by a questionnaire sent to different parts of Finalnds ”Luonnossa kotonaan” kindergartens teachers. The questionnaire had ten different questions from which nine were open questions and a one multiple selection question. The basis of my research was fenomenological with qualitative approaches. Themes were used as the analyzation method for the material. Results and conclusions. The research results suggest that nature education has many different positive effects to early childhood childrens psychical well-being. The children who had had nature education had better physical endurance and were more alive and active. The nature was thought as a good educational environment for children with its healthiness, versatility and interest. The nature education provides more spacious playground for children to play. The nature education decreased childrens level of stress and social pressure. Other effects of the nature education were i.e. childrens increase in volunteering, possibility of action oriented learning and the use of imagination as an incentive. It was agreed that the nature education provides the right amount of individual challenges for the children.