Plant Yourself Where Language Blooms
Direct Experience of Nature Changes How Parents and Children Talk about Nature
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7721/chilyoutenvi.27.2.0110Keywords:
nature, parent-child talk, pro-environmental behavior, plant blindness, conservationAbstract
The current study investigated the affordancesof direct and indirect experience of nature on parent-child talk. Parents and children produced a wider range of nature words when exploring a park (direct experience) than when exploring athematicallymatchedindoor visitorcenter (indirect experience). Parents and children also produced more plant-related nature word types when exploring the parkcompared to the visitor center. Findings suggest that direct experience of nature increases the diversity and specificity of parent-child talkabout nature,andmitigatesthe phenomenonof “plant blindness”(cf. Wandersee & Schussler, 1999). Direct experience ofnature provides an optimal context forchildren to learn the language of nature and consequently to cultivate children's status as custodiansof the natural world.