The Origins of Aesthetic and Spiritual Values in Children's Experience of Nature

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12901722
AutoresGretel Van Wieren (Michigan State University, autor de correspondencia), Stephen R Kellert (Yale University)
Año2013
Volumen7
Número3
Páginas243-264
Fecha de publicación2013-11-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal for the Study of Religion Nature and Culture (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1749-4907 • E-ISSN: 1749-4915
EditorialEquinox Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1558/jsrnc.v7i3.243
OpenAlexW1993407197
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4

We conducted a limited exploratory study of the origins of children’s aesthetic and spiritual values in their experience of the natural world. We relied on a mix of research methods, including in-depth interviews, drawings, diaries, and observational studies of children, as well as conversations with parents about their children and their own childhood. Even though con?dent conclusions cannot be drawn from this study given the relatively small sample size, a number of preliminary results emerged that suggest the role of nature in the development of children’s aesthetic and spiritual values. These included children’s articulation of an aesthetic sense of beauty, pattern and order, wonder and discovery; and the expression of such spiritual attributes as feelings of solace and peacefulness, commonality and connection, happiness and feeling at one with and at home in nature, a power greater than oneself, and a sense of divine presence or mystery

Aesthetics · Art · Articulation (sociology · Beauty · Developmental psychology · Expression (computer science · Feeling · Happiness · Natural (archaeology · Observational study · Wonder · Animal and Plant Science Education · Art Education and Development · Environmental Education and Sustainability · History · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology