Cultivating Nature Connection: Instructor Narratives of Urban Outdoor Education

Abstract

Background: Outdoor education often aims to facilitate positive human–nature relationships and craft healthy, sustainable lifestyles. Processes and outcomes of program innovations seeking to address “nature-deficit disorder” among children can be understood from a narrative perspective. Purpose: This study illuminates how a group of instructors working for a charity-based outdoor organization in Toronto, Ontario, perceive the cultivation of nature connectedness in and through the urban outdoor education programs they facilitate for children. Methodology/Approach: A narrative methodology was used to engage instructors in telling personal stories about their involvement and perceptions of programs they facilitate, and to interpret thematic insights into the broader meanings circulating within this instructor group. Findings/Conclusions: Analyses revealed that instructors story the cultivation of nature connectedness around three spatial metaphors: creating space for nature connection, engaging that space, and broadening that space. Findings cast light on how instructors situate their practices within a broader community committed to mentoring nature connectedness in individuals, families, and society. Implications: Instructor stories shed light on contemporary practices of outdoor experiential education, and the meanings and perceived impacts of nature-based learning. The study contributes to literature illustrating the promise urban outdoor education holds for fostering nature connectedness.