Children and Nature: Psychological, Sociocultural, and Evolutionary Investigations

Children and Nature: Psychological, Sociocultural, and Evolutionary Investigations by Peter H. Kahn. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780262611756.

For much of human evolution, the natural world was one of the most important contexts of childrens maturation. Indeed, the experience of nature was, and still may be, a critical component of human physical, emotional, intellectual, and even moral development. Yet scientific knowledge of the significance of nature during the different stages of childhood is sparse. This book provides scientific investigations and thought-provoking essays on children and nature. Children and Nature incorporates research from cognitive science, developmental psychology, ecology, education, environmental studies, evolutionary psychology, political science, primatology, psychiatry, and social psychology. The authors examine the evolutionary significance of nature during childhood; the formation of childrens conceptions, values, and sympathies toward the natural world; how contact with nature affects childrens physical and mental development; and the educational and political consequences of the weakened childhood experience of nature in modern society.