The secret language of flowers: insights from an outdoor, arts-based intervention designed to connect primary school children to locally accessible nature

Abstract

This paper uses ethnography to explore an outdoor, arts-based intervention run by Urban Wilderness, in partnership with an English primary school. Urban Wilderness are a not-for-profit organisation which aims to connect children and young people from disadvantaged areas to locally accessible nature. Over the course of three afternoon workshops, Urban Wilderness facilitators, a professional artist and teaching staff explored a local park with ten 9–10-year-old children and co-created a sculpture which was exhibited in the park as part of a family festival. Analysis of audio recordings and photographs taken during the workshops explored the ways in which a youth led approach and arts-based methods (i) fostered a sense of connection to the park and (ii) deepened the children’s knowledge about the plants they observed. It is argued that arts-based methods created a sense of presence in nature which fostered close attention to the surrounding environment and reflection upon the children’s relationship with it. The creation of art also facilitated the development of multi-levelled understandings of nature which encompassed identification, folk law and symbolism. As such analysis highlighted the relevance of outdoor learning and a Froebelian approach for older primary school children who are traditionally taught in classroom environments.

Keywords:

• Ethnography
• qualitative research
• nature contact
• primary education
• Froebelian pedagogy

Introduction

In response to the growing evidence base regarding the benefits of nature contact for children, more schools are showing an interest in outdoor learning. Literature suggests that outdoor environments support learning in several ways. Firstly, they remove the traditional boundaries present in the classroom as children can move around more freely (Rivkin 1998). This establishes a different teacher-pupil dynamic wherein pupils feel more able to engage in active learning, speak out, and be messy without fear of reprimand (Bilton 2002; Ouvry 2003). The natural environment also offers children opportunity to engage in meaningful investigation and provides an ideal opportunity for children to collaborate and learn together through shared activities such as den building (Fjortoft 2004; Waite, Davis, and Brown 2006). As such, learning outdoors offers rich opportunities for teachers and children to work towards curriculum goals and develop a caring relationship towards the environment (Rivkin 2000).

In England, children generally attend Nursery between the ages of 3-4 and then move to school when they are 4-5 years old. The standards for learning, development, and care from birth to five are specified in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). The EYFS carries the expectation that learning will be play-based, but many practitioners feel pressurised to focus on formal learning to prepare children for school (Torrance 2018). Education from 5-16 is divided into Key Stages, with what is taught and how it is taught being prescribed by central government in the National Curriculum (DfE 2014). The focus is primarily on maths, literacy, and science; indeed, the National Curriculum makes no mention of the outdoor environment or the learning that can occur there. Pupils are also regularly tested to assess whether they are meeting the required standards, leading to a largely data-driven curriculum, with little space for any activities beyond core subjects. This, together with issues relating to a lack of teacher confidence and training, (Rickinson et al. 2012), time constraints, and fear of accidents and litigation (Tovey 2010) mean that the outdoors are generally under-utilised in primary schools (Wall and Owen, 2021).

The current paper examines an arts-based intervention in an English primary school, run by Urban Wilderness, a not-for-profit organisation which aims to connect children and young people from low SES areas to locally accessible green space, in partnership with an English primary school. The intervention, which was funded by the Arts Council and the National Lottery Community Fund, enabled 10 children aged between 9- and 10-years-old to participate in outdoor learning.

The importance of nature and outdoor learning for children and teachers

As evidenced in Chawla’s (2015) comprehensive review of research literature, nature contact supports many aspects of children’s wellbeing. It has been proposed that the reported benefits of nature contact can, in part, be explained by attention restoration theory (ART; Kaplan 1995) which suggests that natural environments help restore fatigued attention resources; and stress recovery theory (SRT; Ulrich et al. 1991) which describes how physiological responses to nature serve to reduce stress.

Whilst the benefits of nature contact are widely acknowledged, fears surrounding children’s safety, the sale of school playing fields and growing levels of urbanisation have resulted in children, particularly those in disadvantaged urban communities (Qiu and Zhu 2017), spending less time outdoors (MacKerron and Mourato 2013; Matz et al. 2014). Internationally Louv’s (2006, 2010) concept of nature deficit disorder has problematised children’s limited access to nature and wild play. This has prompted a strong international response which is reflected in a growing emphasis upon developing interventions designed to connect children to nature (Freeman et al. 2015).

In an English context, initiatives such as the Nature Connections project and Nature Friendly Schools provide free resources designed to support teachers’ confidence in delivering outdoor learning. These initiatives also work with schools in socio-economically deprived areas to explore the nature that can be found on the school grounds and organise visits to locally accessible green spaces and nature reserves.

Rickinson et al. (2012) mixed methods evaluation of the Nature Connections project, which reached over 40,000 school pupils based in primary and secondary schools in the South-West of England, reported a range of benefits for the staff and pupils involved. Staff noted the intervention had a positive impact on pedagogy, health and wellbeing, professional development, job satisfaction and teaching performance. The children involved in the intervention reported the outdoor learning made lessons more enjoyable, made them feel healthier, happier and better able to get on with others. In addition, teachers observed improved pupil behaviour and greater engagement with learning.

These positive outcomes were echoed in Marchant et al. ’s (2019) qualitative analysis of primary school teachers’ and pupils’ experiences of outdoor learning in three Welsh primary schools. However, this research revealed that teachers lacked confidence, were concerned about managing pupil safety, and felt the distractions offered by the outdoor environment needed to be carefully managed. In an environment driven by external pressure to assess children and document their progress towards key milestones, the teachers already felt overburdened and viewed outdoor learning as an extra pressure they did not have time for.

The literature reviewed so far has evidenced the range of benefits outdoor learning offers and identified some of the barriers. The current paper presents a process-centred approach to explore and examine how a nature-based intervention was delivered in an English primary school. This moves beyond a traditional focus on wellbeing outcomes explored in evaluation-focused research and provides educator’s insight into how outdoor learning and a connection to nature can be supported.

Arts based nature intervention: a model for outdoor learning

This paper documents a child-led, arts-based, nature intervention, delivered by Urban Wilderness in partnership with a primary school based in a disadvantaged area. During the intervention 10 pupils, selected by the school, worked with two Urban Wilderness facilitators, a commissioned artist, a teacher, and a teaching assistant to create the sail for a large ship sculpture, and clay creatures to be displayed on the ship as figure heads. The intervention was part of a wider collaborative project between a youth advisory board and Urban Wilderness that aimed to develop a free-of-charge family arts festival in a local park.

Prior to the festival the youth advisory board worked with the artist to develop the concept of a shipwreck sculpture. It was decided to display the shipwreck on a hilltop in the park during the festival in the hope that the sculpture would provoke curiosity, encourage people to climb the hill to interact with the sculpture and use telescopes integrated into the sculpture to admire the views. Following a focus on co-production between the children and artist involved in the project the sculpture formed the basis of the school-based intervention. Within the intervention the artist, who has previous experience working as an artist in residence at another school based in the local area, created the shipwreck and the children created a sail for the ship and clay figure heads. Muhr (2020) has argued that arts-based activities offer a powerful way for people to connect to nature because they evoke an embodied response that fosters an emotional connection. This is evidenced in research which reports that environmental education programs involving the arts foster a stronger connection to nature (Arbuthnott and Sutter 2019; Bruni et al. 2017). When reflecting on this Muhr (2020) makes links between a focus in art on aesthetics and Lumber, Richardson, and Sheffield (2017) pathways to nature model which suggests that finding beauty and meaning in nature enables an important connection to be developed. As outlined by Muhr (2020) aesthetic experiences of nature enable people to make meaning of their relationship with the world (Rosa 2016) and develop what Ives et al. (2018) term inner connections to nature based in emotional and philosophical realms. This is important because it has been suggested that a connection with nature is positively related to pro-environmental behaviours (Martin et al. 2020). Consequently, Muhr (2020) has argued that reinforcing a connection to nature though art is relevant for environmental education as it provides a deep leverage point for sustainability transformation.

This arts-based approach presents a significant departure from traditional nature-based interventions which inform some aspects of outdoor learning such as pond dipping. Such interventions have been critiqued for seeking to connect ‘the child’ to ‘nature’ through science-based activities centering on identification (Dickinson 2013). Williams (1983) proposed that nature is “perhaps the most complex word in the language” (221) and therefore human understandings of nature are bound up in a long history with multiple conceptualisations (Morton 2007). Dickinson (2013) argued that these links between nature, human history and culture are not acknowledged in traditional interventions led by nature experts, for instance when children engage in activities such as plant identification in nature reserves. Furthermore, it has been suggested that by neglecting the wider human understandings of nature and people’s place within it, traditional interventions create a paradoxical situation where environmental education separates humans from nature whilst simultaneously attempting to develop interventions to overcome the separation (Fletcher 2017).

Traditional environmental education approaches have also been critiqued for locating nature connection interventions within neoliberalist ideology of ‘choice’ which assumes that all people have equal access to nature - thereby obscuring and diverting attention from wider issues relating to power and class (Dickinson 2013). This is significant as Natural England (2020) reported that nature access is shaped by inequality. Since the first United Kingdom coronavirus lockdown, 71% of children from ethnic minority backgrounds have spent less time in nature compared to 57% of white children. Furthermore, 73% of children from households with an annual income below £17,500 spent less time outdoors compared to 57% of children from households with an income above this threshold. This has led to a call from Natural England (2020) to ‘address these inequalities’.

From a pedagogical perspective Froebel provides a useful framework for addressing the proposed shortcomings of traditional nature interventions. Froebel (cited in Brosterman 1997) asserted that outdoor exploration allows children to uncover layers of meaning, which he termed forms of beauty, forms of knowledge and forms of life. Therefore, it is argued that the natural environment offers children opportunity to engage in meaningful investigation by utilising the natural objects that they find around them. As items are repurposed, the process of transformation has the potential to boost aesthetic appreciation, creativity, problem solving and symbolic thinking.

Significantly, Froebel’s philosophy also included studying plants so that children could begin to understand natural phenomena and the interconnections between all living things, therefore helping them to understand the cycles of life and grow up in harmony with nature. Within this focus on unity, the educator has a key role in enabling children to develop their skills and to understand natural phenomena with an emphasis on the interconnections between all living things (Ulich 1935). Although Froebel is generally associated with Early Years education, his guiding principles of unity, respect and play as expressed in his classic text The Education of Man (1887) have relevance beyond this age range, particularly when related to arts education and the natural world . Indeed, Froebel advocated a far more holistic, life-span approach to learning than that which is capacitated by the National Curriculum (DfE 2014)

Philosophically, the intervention’s child-led pedagogy embraced the Froebelian notions of respect for the individual learner and the adult as facilitator (Hoskins and Smedley 2019). As one of Froebel’s guiding principles asserts the need to allow each child the right to independent thought (Wiggins and Smith 1895), pupils directed the activities and learning within each session. The first workshop started with introductions to the Urban Wilderness team and the concept of the ship sculpture. Once the pupils were clear that their artistic brief was to create a sail they were provided with digital cameras and notebooks, and they walked to the park where the sculpture would be exhibited. Adult facilitators ensured there were sufficient materials to show respect for the individual child’s work (Wiggins and Smith 1895). The pupils then directed an exploration of the park, using the equipment provided to capture their experiences and observations. On return to the school hall, the pupils used inspiration from the park to sketch out their ideas for the sail. From this point onwards the pupils moved towards “united building” (Wiggins and Smith 1895, p54), a Froebelian approach designed to encourage social interaction and enable children to collaborate and learn together (Fjortoft 2004; Waite, Davis, and Brown 2006).

The second workshop started in the school hall with the artist presenting artwork inspired by nature and demonstrating water colour techniques. The pupils then moved outside to the school field and used water colours and pencils to continue developing their ideas for the sail design. Some of the pupils requested further access to the cameras and used the session to photograph wildlife that inspired them in the school grounds. In line with the child-led approach, pupils were given freedom to work in ways that suited them. This session ended with the pupils looking at the images and designs created during the workshops so far and voting for the design that they wanted to see as the main focal point of the sail.

In the final workshop pupils worked with clay to create figure heads for the ship. Pupils also had access to laptops which had copies of the photographs they had taken in the park and photographs of the water colour painting they had created in the previous session. Pupils used these to finalise the sail design which was put on public display as part of a ship sculpture. This focus on using public art to encourage young people to connect to and understand the wider community moved beyond the individualist focus of many outdoor interactions and strongly mirrored a Froebelian approach (Hoskins and Smedley 2019).

In summary, the intervention implemented key Froebelian principles as the children’s learning was closely connected to first-hand experiences, and arts-based activities were used to express and inform their understandings (Bruce 2012). The following analysis uses ethnographic methods to investigate this approach and the distinct forms of learning which took place during the intervention. The analysis aims to explore an arts-based approach and the relevance of Froebelian principles for older children.

Materials and methods

This study adopted a qualitative approach informed by ethnography to explore young people’s engagement with an arts-based intervention. In line with this focus a case study approach is used as it enabled a sharply focused analysis of naturalistic data which documents real world experiences over a set period (Willig 2009).

Recruitment procedure and participant information

A range of data were collected from three afternoon workshops, each lasting two and a half hours, run by Urban Wilderness in a primary school based in the Midlands (UK). Urban Wilderness asked the school to select 10 Year 5 pupils (aged 9 and 10-years-old) to participate in the workshops. This age group was selected because they are not traditionally offered outdoor learning (Marchant et al. 2019). Furthermore, this age group precedes the dip in nature connection (Richardson et al. 2019), and environmental concern (Olsson and Gericke 2016) reported in children from 11 years onwards. Five boys and five girls participated in the intervention. Half of the sample were in receipt of pupil premium (a grant from the government paid directly to the school to enhance the education of disadvantaged children) and two of the children have English as a second language. All children selected their own pseudonym to protect their identity.

Ethical concerns

Full, informed consent was obtained from all the pupils who took part in the workshops and their caregivers. All adult facilitators also gave informed consent. All participants and caregivers were advised that the data collected during the project would be stored securely and the pupils were asked to select their own pseudonym to ensure anonymity. In line with Heng’s (2017) guidance, participants, and their caregivers were advised that photographs would be framed as much as possible so that faces were not included and if faces were captured, they would be anonymized post-production, through blurring facial and other identifying features. This compromised the data that could be collected and included in analysis (Lomax 2019) but it was a concession which needed to be made. All participants were debriefed after the study, and no one chose to withdraw. The study was approved by the University’s ethics panel (approval code 37-1819-JHp).

Methods

Data were collected for this project using an ethnographic approach. This approach is characterised by a researcher joining a community and using a range of data collection methods such as interviews, field notes and photography to explore people’s lived experiences of the world (Mannay, Fink, and Lomax 2019). Consequently, ethnographic research involves small scale in-depth studies which provide detailed insight into socio-cultural phenomena (Geertz 1973). This focus was well suited to a process-centred project as it facilitated the development of a working relationship between the researcher and Urban Wilderness that subsequently enabled detailed, collaborative exploration of project development, data, and impact. Ethnography augmented understanding of naturalistic data from the intervention, and the larger family arts festival project.

There was a conscious effort to move away from traditional data collection methods wherein researchers use tools such as cameras to document what they consider to be of importance. As Harper (2012) argues, such approaches are weighted towards the researcher and limit participant involvement. Here, participants took a greater lead in data collection. The artist and the two Urban Wilderness facilitators wore go pro cameras to audio record all three sessions from their perspectives, and digital cameras were used by an Urban Wilderness facilitator to document all three of the workshops. Use of go pros enabled naturalistic data to be collected on the move from multiple perspectives in an unobtrusive way. Within the workshops, outlined in Table 1, the children used digital cameras to document their experiences and aspects of the environment that captured their interest. Audio equipment was placed in strategic places to capture interaction as the children worked together. The researcher also attended the sessions, wearing a go pro, and worked alongside the adult facilitators and children to record field data from the position of participant observer.

Table 1. Summary or workshop acitvities.

Workshop session	Activities completed
Workshop 1	The workshop started in the school hall with introductions to Urban Wilderness, the artist, the researcher and the project.Child led walk around the park to the top of the hill where the sculpture was to be exhibited. This enabled the children to visualise the space that the sculpture would be exhibited in and consider the scale of the project. During the walk the young people used digital cameras and sketch books to capture elements of the natural environment which inspired them. There was discussion with the adult facilitators about the park, the children’s experiences there and the festival. The session ended in the school hall. The children used the drawing materials provided and the inspiration from the park to start sketching out ideas for the ship’s sail.
Workshop two	This workshop started in the school hall and the artist introduced and demonstrated water colour techniques that the children could use to further develop their designs for the sail. The children then moved out to the school field and worked with support from the artist and adult facilitators to develop their sail designs. Following the child led approach some of the children used the time to explore the school grounds using the digital cameras to capture nature that inspired them. There was a spontaneous demonstration of techniques used by Jackson Pollock that some children used when developing their design. At the end of this session the children considered all the designs that had been created and voted for the design they would like to see as the focus point of the sail.
Workshop three	This workshop started with a demonstration of how to use clay to create clay figure heads for the ship sculpture. The children were also shown how to edit the digital images of all the artwork created in the intervention to create the sail design. The children had the choice as to whether they wanted to use the laptops provided to create the sail design or work with clay. The sail design created in this session was printed off and exhibited alongside the shipwreck sculpture at the family festival. The clay creatures were incorporated into the shipwreck and exhibited.

The researcher also facilitated two semi structured interviews (each lasting an hour) with the artist who led the sessions – one before and one after the intervention. The first interview invited the artist to explain plans for the intervention and how a collaborative approach was to be enacted. The second interview invited the artist to reflect on the project. This complemented the more informal discussions with the artist and Urban Wilderness facilitators that happened during the lead up to the sessions, before and after sessions, during the free family festival and after the project had been completed.

All naturalistic audio recordings of the workshops collected using the go pros, and interview recordings were transcribed verbatim. 305 photographs (taken during the workshops by the children and an Urban Wilderness facilitator), transcripts of the live interactions which happened during the workshops, transcripts of the interviews with the artist and field notes were collated for analysis.

Analytic procedure

Braun and Clarke (2006) 6 step guide to thematic analysis was used to organise the data collected during the project, outlined in Table 2.

Table 2. Summary of data collected.

Type of data collection	Reason for data collection	Volume of data collected
Semi structured interview with the artist before the intervention	To explore the artist’s background, the plans for the intervention and the principles of co-production that would guide the intervention	1 h
Semi structured interview with the artist after the intervention	Gain insight into the artist’s reflections of the project and the benefits/challenges of co-production with children	1 h
Audio recordings of the intervention captured using go pros and digital recording equipment.	To capture live, naturalistic interaction as it happened in order to provide insight into the processes which guided the creation of the sail.	Each of the three workshops which lasted two and a half hours were recorded using go pros worn by adult facilitators and digital recording equipment placed in strategic places as the children worked.
Photographs capturing the children’s experiences and observations of the park that interested them Photographs taken by an Urban wilderness facilitator to document the intervention.	To capture what the children considered to be important. The photographs were used by the children to develop their concepts for the sail. They also helped to guide and contextualise analysis of interaction. To provide context to the interaction analysed	305 photographs
Field notes	To capture details of the intervention and document the first author’s reflections.	Reflections were handwritten in a notebook.
Time spent in the field	To build a research partnership with Urban Wilderness and understand their way of working. To gain firsthand insight of the intervention from the position of participant observer.	Time has been spent developing a research partnership with Urban Wilderness since 2017. Since the start of the research partnership there have been informal discussions with Urban Wilderness and research meetings. There have also been informal discussions with the artist and Urban Wilderness before and after the intervention. The first author also attended the intervention to collect data from the position of participant observer. For this specific project approximately 25 h were spent in the field between January 2019 until July 2019.

Analysis was initially guided by the verbatim transcripts of audio recordings during workshops captured by the go pros. The first author gathered these transcripts together to form a data set that was analysed using an inductive approach. In line with this approach, the transcripts were read and re-read without a predetermined hypothesis in mind (Frith and Gleeson 2004). First, the transcripts were read for familiarity, and notes made during this process enabled a deeper reading of the text. Deep immersion in the text allowed a key narrative which centred on links between nature and the artistic process to be developed . Analytic notes, guided by the participants own words and experiences, focused attention upon three key themes – the ways in which the intervention enabled the pupils to see the park differently, how the pupils’ experiences in the park informed their art, and reflections on the project.

All visual and textual data (in the form of transcripts of the intervention, field notes and interview data) relating to each of these themes were collated. This enabled the validity of each theme and the overarching narrative to be verified. At this point the second author reviewed the themes and proposed narrative to ensure that it fairly represented the wider data set. From here textual data (transcripts of live interaction recorded during the workshops and transcripts of the interviews with the artist) which best represented and captured each of themes were selected for analysis. Visual data (the 305 photographs taken during the intervention) were reviewed. Images which further illustrated extracts chosen for analysis were selected to add context to the textual data.

Results

Given the volume of data collected during the project, the analysis takes the form of a case study and explores the ways in which a child-led exploration of the park enabled the pupils involved in the intervention to develop a different relationship to the space and how their experiences and observations inspired their artwork.

Seeing the park differently

During the first workshop the relevance of Froebelian principles relating to provision of materials and respect for the individual learner quickly became evident. On the walk around the park the researcher observed pupils were keen to document their journey using the digital cameras and enjoyed the freedom of directing their own activity. Pupils were supported with guidance on camera functions and invited to experiment with them.

Agent D: We are all just looking at the ducks

Artist: So, do you remember that word that I said earlier? You can get maybe an abstract photo there if you go in really close. You can zoom in, move the camera close or you might just get a section.

As evidenced in Figure 1 and the pupil-initiated interaction above, adult intervention was informed by Froebelian principles of respect for the learner. More specifically, there was a focus on encouraging Agent D to reflect on the different ways he could capture the wildlife he observed, and ensuring he had the camera skills required to do this. As such the artist worked with Agent D to encourage a meaningful investigation relating to capturing aspects of the environment that caught his interest. The impact of this was observed in the wider group as it prompted the pupils to stop, closely attend to the scene and consider the composition of the photograph. Consequently, the pupils were more present as they took the time to notice specific aspects of their environment.

Figure 1. Image of ducks captured by Agent D.

The walk also provided opportunity for adult facilitators to talk to pupils and develop an understanding of their use of the park.

Urban wilderness facilitator 2: Do you go to the park sometimes?

Agent D: I like the park

Jandy: I used to go there every time but now I don’t.

During informal discussions, such as the one evidenced above, many of the pupils revealed they frequently used the playground area of the park with their families when they were younger. However, as they got older, their visits decreased for a variety of reasons - such as caregivers no longer having time to accompany them, and the pupils feeling too old to use the play equipment. This highlighted the importance of exploring and understanding the wider contexts that shape children and young people’s access to nature which Dickinson (2013) has argued is traditionally overlooked in traditional outdoor interventions. Understanding the issues that prevent children from accessing natural spaces is key to understanding the types of nature children feel able to play in, prior to addressing the inequality to nature access reported by Natural England (2020)

A sense of a changing relationship with the park is captured below.

Researcher: Who do you come with? Friends, family? I have two boys and I come with them. It’s a really cool park.

K2: I came to the fun fair

Researcher: Yes, it was half term, wasn’t it? The funfair.

Rasberry: Did you go?

K2: Yeah, I went

Researcher: There were lots of cool rides

K2’s use of the park had shifted from outdoor activity and play to visits centred on events such as the funfair. This highlighted the dynamic and changing relationships that pupils had with outdoor space and the importance of understanding and listening to children’s experience to further understand their connection to natural spaces. The researcher noted that walking and talking outside was key to enabling these types of discussion. This illustrated the ways in which being outdoors challenges traditional hierarchies and enables pupils to engage in more informal discussion involving aspects of their personal lives (Bilton 2002; Ouvry 2003).

As the walk progressed the pupils climbed the hill to visualise where their artwork would be exhibited. The researcher observed excitement and a sense of achievement as the pupils reached the top. As the following photograph (Figure 2) narrative suggests, some pupils focused outwards and attended to the landscape below them.

Figure 2. View from the top of the hill captured by one of the pupils involved in the intervention.

Millie: I like the view

Teacher: I know it’s beautiful you can look all around you and be outdoors in the middle of your town.

Millie: Yeah. I always pass it.

Climbing the hill encouraged Millie to view the park differently, a familiar place that she would walk past was transformed into a place of beauty and interest. It was observed that other pupils joined her and pointed out local landmarks and even their houses. Seeing the city from a different vantage point encouraged a sense of belonging. For other pupils, interest lay in the habitat around them, and a pupil led exploration of the area resulted in the discovery of a burnt-out campfire. This encouraged consideration of how the park is used in diverse ways by members of their community and reflection of human-nature relationships. In line with a Froebelian approach these first-hand experiences deepened the pupils’ knowledge of their community and encouraged the pupils to reflect upon their place in it.

At this point the plants around the pupils also became a point of interest and the children were instructed that they could responsibly pick wildflowers if they were plentiful.

Raspberry: I’ve got elderflower

Teacher: Oh, good, a teacher likes elderflower it’s one of her most favourite things to drink at the weekend Shared laughter

Researcher: I like elderflower. Its tasty. You can forage it here then.

As evidenced in Figure 3 pupils were keen to capture and share their new discoveries with adult facilitators. Raspberry’s excitement in finding elderflower lay the foundation for pupils and adults to jointly construct knowledge. Within this, the teacher’s personal narrative presents the plant as an ingredient, and this is further developed by the researcher’s discussion of foraging. Such discussion is grounded in human meaning making and demonstrates Froebelian principles of studying plants to develop an understanding of the interconnection between living things. This supported meaningful investigation grounded in personal experience and proposed a new way of viewing the park as a place Raspberry could return to with her family to collect ingredients.

Figure 3. Image of an Elderflower captured by a child involved in the workshop.

Raspberry’s discovery of elderflower inspired other pupils to roam and explore other areas where elderflower could be found.

Jandy: Oh, look there is some (elderflower) over there! Yeah, so tomorrow you can see if they have grown.

Agent D: Look! You can see over there.

Jandy: I am enjoying this so much.

For Jandy, the opportunity for self-led discovery had a positive impact as it resulted in a sense of enjoyment which provided the possibility for a more emotionally driven nature connection. Furthermore, Jandy’s desire to return to the space to see how the elderflower plant grows indicates that this experience inspired a sense of curiosity relating to the plant and potentially laid the foundations for a long-term connection to the area. This highlights the importance of Froebelian concepts relating to self-directed learning grounded within first-hand experience.

During the journey back though the park to school there was sustained interest in different types of flowers, and this provided further opportunity for learning. Some of the pupils picked flowers and incorporated them into their sketch books (Figure 4).

Figure 4. Collecting wildflowers for inspiration. Image captured by an Urban Wilderness facilitator.

Urban Wilderness facilitator 2: Do you know what that one is?

Raspberry: A blue flower

Urban Wilderness facilitator 2: It’s a forget-me-not

Raspberry: Forget-me-not!

Later on in the interaction

Raspberry: Forget-me-nots are pretty

Urban Wilderness facilitator 2: They are, aren’t they? Delicate little flowers.

Discussion focused on plant identification resulted in a sense of pride as Raspberry learned the name of a flower which caught her attention. This new knowledge potentially deepened Raspberry’s connection to the plant and prompted child-initiated discussion of the flower centering on beauty. From a Froebelian perspective, Raspberry’s learning was guided by an exploration of layers of meaning relating to beauty and knowledge (Brosterman 1997).

Urban Wilderness facilitator 2: Do you know what those ones are?

K2: Buttercups that’s easy to remember. You put then them under your chin

Urban Wilderness facilitator 2: To test

K2: If you like butter of course.

Rasberry: How do you know?

Urban Wilderness facilitator 2: Because you get a yellow glow on your chin. Try it.

Further into the conversation K2 was able to share her culturally specific knowledge of plant folk law with her friend Raspberry. By valuing K2’s ideas and values, the Urban Wilderness facilitator followed Froebelian principles of respect, and this enabled different understandings of the plant to be shared and knowledge to be jointly constructed. It also encouraged a more ‘hands on’ experience with the flowers which involved the girls’ putting buttercups under their chin to see if there was a ‘yellow glow’. This collaborative learning demonstrated the importance and relevance of “united building” (Wiggins and Smith 1895, p54) for older children.

This section of the analysis explored the benefits of outdoor learning and the different opportunities it presented for the pupils involved in the intervention. A short walk in a local area enabled the pupils to reflect upon their relationship with the park and provided an opportunity to view it differently. Through discussion with adult facilitators the pupils were able to deepen their understanding of the plants they encountered and develop a more holistic understanding centred on identification, beauty, folk law and as ingredients. This supports the Froebelian proposition that outdoor exploration enables children to uncover different layers of meaning and points towards the benefits of moving beyond a purely scientific approach. Furthermore, being outside enabled more informal and personal connection to be developed between the pupils and their teacher.

The ways in which interest in the landscape further developed and informed the creative process will now be explored.

Nature informed art

Observations and experiences from the walk around the park clearly informed the creation of art in the remaining workshops. At the beginning of the first sketching task Raspberry’s thoughts turned directly to the flowers which had captured her attention during the walk, and it became clear that this would be the inspiration for her design. As evidenced below, Raspberry was keen to show the researcher flowers she had collected and placed in her sketchbook.

Rasberry: Are these never forget me or never forget me the flowers?

Researcher: Forget-me-nots. Yes, forget-me-not flowers

Artist: Maybe you can think that you are an explorer and you have gone to a new place, a woodland for a forest. What would you kind of? You might see mythical creatures, trees. There might be

Researcher: You might be interested in the plants as well

Artist: Yeah, how could you include these plants into our design for the sail?

The sketchbook proved to be a useful starting point for support from the artist and researcher. Significantly, Raspberry initiated the conversation with a focus on reinforcing the plant identification knowledge that she had developed on the walk. After acknowledging and supporting this, the researcher and the artist used prompts to encourage Raspberry to explore the possibilities that the flowers presented and consider how they could form the basis of her design for the sail. Later in the session an Urban Wilderness facilitator scaffolded this process further by introducing the concept of the symbolic use of flowers within Victorian flower language.

Urban Wilderness facilitator 1: So, you could kind of say things that you wouldn’t want to say out loud. You could give them flowers. Let’s see what kind of. Let’s see if there are any flowers that we recognise. (Shows the pupils a book with flowers and their meaning that they can read from)

K2: Iris I send a message

Raspberry: My love is pure

Urban Wilderness facilitator 1: It’s a code. A secret code

The concept of flower language captured the girls’ imagination, and they were keen to consider the different messages that flowers could send. This opened the possibility for symbolic thought relating to nature and the ways in which art can be used to send a message rather than realistically replicating a plant. It also drew attention to the enduring human-nature relationship and the distinct roles that nature has played in human culture and experience.

Raspberry commented that ‘happiness would be good for it’ and she set about sketching a flower to communicate her happy feelings from the walk. As such the arts-based activity enabled the pupils to further develop their own multileveled understandings of the plants encountered on their walk by incorporating symbolic thought which communicated a personal, emotional connection to nature.

During the second day’s workshop K2 and Raspberry continued to develop their flower designs into a water colour painting (see Figure 5). The symbolism of the painting was still in the fore front of their minds as the first question K2 asked was ‘Did you print off the Victorian flowers?’

Figure 5. experimenting with natural materials. Image captured by an Urban Wilderness facilitator.

Urban Wilderness facilitator 1: You guys did some really detailed drawings of flowers, do you think you might draw them over your washes?

K2: Yeah probably

Urban Wilderness facilitator 1: Maybe, maybe not. I wonder if you can get any of the effects. Like here the little buds and swirls and things, erm, though using your paint brush as well you know how the artist was showing you how you could have a wash and then you can like dab with dots of paint. Yeah, it’s worth experimenting. Somethings might work and somethings might not.

Building on the suggestion to incorporate different effects into her work, K2 collected flowers and used them as paint brushes to create the effect of buds. From a Froebelian perspective this is significant because it evidences how people used the natural materials available to them in novel ways. In this case there was a physical connection between nature and human meaning making in the form of art. K2’s careful development of her ideas through the first two sessions was rewarded as the pupils chose her design to feature in the pirate ship sail. During the final session it was digitally placed as a repeated pattern around the main figure (Figure 6).

Figure 6. The finished sculpture on display in the park image captured by an Urban Wilderness facilitator.

This section of the analysis has demonstrated the creative possibilities presented in outdoor learning and nature. The walk around the park strongly informed the girls’ artwork and their interaction with adult facilitators and performed two crucial functions. Firstly, it supported the artistic process and encouraged the girls to use experimental techniques to incorporate nature into their art. Secondly, it further supported their understandings of the plants they had discovered on the walk and the symbolism which surrounds plants. This opened a new culturally specific way of conceptualising plants and an exploration of the messages they convey. It is important to note that these new understandings were supported by adult intervention guided by the Froebelian principles of respect and interest which meant that the children were listened to and their ideas were valued (Hoskins and Smedley 2019; Liebschner 1991).

Reflections on the project

When reflecting on the project and the pupil’s response to it, the artist commented that being outside was key “Because we took them outside, I think it allowed them to be more free, but also allowed more influences from the park where the actual festival took place. Which is something you’re not going to get from a classroom, basically.” This quote taken from a formal interview with the artist after the intervention had taken place neatly summarised the impact of outside learning within this project. By moving outside a traditional classroom environment, the pupils were free to explore and draw directly upon their experiences to create something which reflected their interests, see Figure 6. Evaluation of the festival revealed at 750 people attended, including 18 children from the school and their families. Consequently, the festival encouraged large scale engagement with the part within the local community.

Discussion

The case study outlined in this analysis has demonstrated the ways in which an arts-based nature intervention informed by Froebelian principles supported older children’s understandings of nature. Although the findings cannot be widely generalised, the analysis highlighted issues relevant for practitioners who are interested in supporting environmental education.

An exploration of children’s experiences during the intervention extends Rickinson et al. (2012) and Marchant et al.’s (2019) evaluative research by moving beyond an exclusive focus on outcomes within evaluation-based research. An examination of the ways in which pupils and teachers were able to share a sense of enjoyment outside offers support for the proposition within stress recovery theory (Ulrich et al. 1991) that physiological responses to nature reduce stress. This combined with an illustration of the ways in which the intervention provided pupils and teachers with the space to share personal stories and laughter, provided insight into how the wellbeing outcomes reported by Marchant et al. (2019) and Rickinson et al. (2012) are supported in outdoor education. It also evidences the ways in which changes in traditional teacher pupil dynamics within outdoor education reported by Bilton (2002), Ouvry (2003) and Rivkin (1998) support better interpersonal relationships.

The case study approach within the analysis also widened the scope beyond measuring personal benefits of outdoor education by examining how Froebelian principles can successfully be incorporated into an outdoor learning model which extends beyond the early years. More specifically, it highlighted the importance of Froebelian notions of situated learning in first-hand experiences and positioning educators as facilitators who listened to and valued children’s ideas (Hoskins and Smedley 2019; Liebschner 1991). In line with Froebelian principles, the facilitators provided the resources needed and showed respect for the learner by providing pupils with the freedom to pursue their own interests each session (Wiggins and Smith 1895). This enabled pupils to play an active role in their learning as it was driven by personal curiosity and a desire to find out more.

The child led approach also represented a significant departure from the traditional, science -based nature interventions led by adult experts Dickinson (2013) critiqued for their reductionist focus. As demonstrated in the analysis, art provided a powerful way for the pupils to express and deepen their understandings of the natural environment surrounding them. On one level it encouraged the pupils to focus on the beauty of nature and establish an emotional connection to it. This is significant given that Lumber, Richardson, and Sheffield (2017) pathways to nature model suggests that beauty enables a meaningful connection to nature to be established.

On a different level, the analysis offered support for Rosa’s (2016) assertion that art enables people to engage in meaning-making and reflect on their relationship with nature. Within the intervention, pupils were able to move beyond a scientific focus and explore (i) the cultural understandings (folk law and flower language) which shape human understandings of nature and (ii) human relationships with nature (the campfire, foraging). This in turn lead to consideration of how human understandings of nature are bound by history and culture (Williams 1983).

To a certain extent this focus on meaning challenged what Fletcher (2017) terms the false binary between people and nature present in many traditional nature interventions. In line with Froebelian principles it was not assumed that children were disconnected from nature. Instead, there was space for the children to reflect upon their dynamic and changing relationship with the space and their place within it. Furthermore, during the intervention and through the public display of their artwork, the pupils were encouraged to consider their connection to the park.

In conclusion, the case study supports Muhr’s (2020) assertion that arts-based methods provide a powerful way to develop an emotional connection to nature, based upon personal meaning. It is argued that child-led arts -based methods provide a useful way for practitioners to connect children to nature and, given the proposed link between nature connection and pro environmental behaviours, interventions such as this could be a leverage point for promoting a more caring relationship between young people and nature (Martin et al. 2020; Muhr 2020). This is significant given that children between the ages of 7-11 are generally excluded from outdoor learning (Marchant et al. 2019) and are about to enter a significant dip in their connection to nature (Richardson et al. 2019) as well as a decline in environmental concerns (Olsson and Gericke 2016).

Whilst the observations from the intervention are encouraging, the wider context requires attention. Within this project Urban Wilderness oversaw the planning, developing, and organization of the intervention. This helped to overcome issues surrounding time, safety, lack of confidence which are reported as barriers to outdoor learning by teachers (Marchant et al. 2019; Rickinson et al. 2012). Consequently, further research is needed to explore the ways in which community groups can work with teachers to empower them to incorporate more outdoor learning into their practice and cultivate wider change within school cultures. Such research could adopt a mixed methods approach to explore both the intervention itself and the impact it had upon teacher and pupil wellbeing, nature connection and pro-environmental behaviours.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Professor Helen Lomax for her kind support and feedback on an early draft of the paper. Thank you to the reviewers of the paper for the time and valuable feedback.

Disclosure statement

Jenny Hallam: Declarations of interest: none

Laurel Gallagher: Co director of Urban Wilderness. Urban Wilderness did not fund the research and Laurel did not analyse the data or write the paper. Laurel’s not for profit company designed and ran the intervention which the research is based upon. In line with a community psychology approach she is therefore named as a co-author.

Kay Owen: Declarations of interest: none

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jenny Hallam

Dr Jenny Hallam is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Derby. Her research interests centre on exploring the ways in which nature and the visual arts support people’s well-being.

Laurel Gallagher

Laurel Gallagher has been working with young people in formal and informal education since 2003. In 2018 Laurel became co-director of Urban Wilderness CIC, a not-for-profit company that empowers young people to discover belonging, adventure, and creativity in urban green spaces.

Kay Owen

Dr Kay Owen is a Chartered Psychologist and Lecturer in Education and Childhood at the University of Derby. Her research interests focus on how play and relationships impact child development.