ABSTRACT

A risk-averse philosophy and practice towards children playing and learning in natural surroundings predominates many parts of the educational world. In schooling, the concepts of risk and risk management have created the false impression that there’s something inherently dangerous about learning in natural surroundings. The purpose of the current study is to examine parental attitudes that involve encouraging their children, ranging from preschool to Grade 8, to experience natural surroundings. A case study approach involving in-depth interviews, using semi-structured questions, with twelve Canadian parents was utilised. A constant comparative analysis identified three broad themes: (1) parents expressed a risk-tolerant approach to children playing and learning outdoors; (2) parental views on the benefits of outdoor playful learning; and (3) parental confidence in allowing children to play and learn in the outdoors. In the discussion section, it is then argued that rather than allowing the concept of risk management to misleadingly dominate this learning environment, this phenomena should be reconceptualised as ‘nurturing embodied experience’.

摘要

对于儿童在自然环境中玩耍和学习的风险规避理念和实践在教育界的许多地方占主导地位。在学校教育中，风险和风险管理的概念造成了一种错误印象，即在自然环境中学习本身就存在危险。本研究的目的是调查父母鼓励孩子（从学前班到 8 年级）体验自然环境的态度。使用了涉及深度访谈的案例研究方法，使用半结构化问题，对 12 名加拿大父母进行了调查。一项持续的比较分析确定了三大主题：(1) 父母对孩子在户外玩耍和学习表示了一种风险容忍的态度；(2) 家长对户外游戏式学习好处的看法；(3) 父母对允许孩子在户外玩耍和学习的信心。在讨论部分，有人争辩说，与其让风险管理的概念误导主导这种学习环境，不如将这种现象重新定义为“培养具体体验”。