Outdoor Learning and Play: Pedagogical Practices and Children's Cultural Formation

Liv Torunn Grindheim · Hanne Værum Sørensen · Angela Rekers

Jul 2021 · International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development Book 34 · Springer Nature

About this ebook

This Open Access book examines children’s participation in dialectical reciprocity with place-based institutional practices by presenting empirical research from Australia, Brazil, China, Poland, Norway and Wales. Underpinned by cultural-historical theory, the analysis reveals how outdoors and nature form unique conditions for children's play, formal and informal learning and cultural formation. The analysis also surfaces how inequalities exist in societies and communities, which often limit and constrain families' and children's access to and participation in outdoor spaces and nature. The findings highlight how institutional practices are shaped by pedagogical content, teachers' training, institutional regulations and societal perceptions of nature, children and suitable, sustainable education for young children. Due to crises, such as climate change and the recent pandemic, specific focus on the outdoors and nature in cultural formation is timely for the cultural-historical theoretical tradition. In doing so, the book provides empirical and theoretical support for policy makers, researchers, educators and families to enhance, increase and sustain outdoor and nature education.

About the author

Liv Torunn Grindheim is a Professor in Early Childhood Pedagogy at Kindergarten Knowledge Centre for Systemic Research on Diversity and Sustainable Futures, at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. She received her PhD in social studies of childhood from Norwegian centre for child research, Norwegian University of Science and Technology/Norway. Her research interests are play, conditions for children’s exploration, cultural formation, children as citizens and sustainability in ECE. Her research has been published in Journals such as Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, and European Early Childhood Education Research Journal. She has also published chapters in scientific anthologies at Springer and Brill.
Hanne Værum Sørensen is an associate professor at VIA University College, Aarhus. She holds a MA in Child Psychology and a BA in Social Education. Her research interests focus on conditions for children’s outdoor playtime, children’s explorative activities, and children’s readiness for school. She is an experienced teacher in early childhood teacher education in Denmark since 2001, and in Norway, where she has four years of experience from doing research and teaching within the area of ECE education. Hanne has published articles in Danish, Nordic and International Journals as well as book chapters in Danish, English and Norwegian.

Angela Rekers, PhD, is a lecturer on Health, Social and Childhood Studies at Neath Port Talbot Colleges Group, Wales. Angela holds an MSc in Environmental Education for Sustainability and has worked in the field of experiential and outdoor learning for 20 years. Her research interests include education for social and ecological justice, multimodal literacies, inclusive participation and inclusive research methodologies.