2022 Volume 31 Issue 4 Pages 4_28-39
Expectations continue to grow for the use of experience-based nature education and its impact on environmental education by deepening participants’ recognition of nature and understanding of environmental systems, thus enhancing their awareness of environmental conservation. In addition, experience-based nature education programs are also expected to cultivate a positive attitude towards nature, as well as a sense of oneness with and awe for nature.
Sensibility for nature is regarded as an important concept not only in environmental education, but also in moral education. Nevertheless, there are only a few experience-based educational programs that incorporate the use of one’s senses into the educational experience. We studied the effects of 148 experiential nature programs in Japan.
The study revealed that firsthand experience and inclusive activities in nature that incorporate the use of one’s senses can cultivate a positive attitude towards nature, as well as a sense of oneness with and awe for nature. These kinds of activities also raise the participants’ consciousness of the destruction of nature.
