anyone using technology to reduce "Nature Deficit Disorder"?

You've probably heard the talk about how children are losing touch with the nature around them. I read the book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Kids from Nature Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. It provokes a lot of thought. Here's an article in Salon magazine that talks about the book and author:
http://dir.salon.com/story/mwt/feature/2005/06/02/Louv/index.html

I'm wondering what CR2.0 people are doing, or have seen done, to get kids actively in touch with nature while also using technology for discovery, presentation, and communication.

Any feedback on this?

Tags: nature, science, technology

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Permalink Reply by Connie Weber on November 8, 2007 at 5:38am

Bob, I can't wait to get going on the site you're recommending. I'm putting it on my del.icio.us account with all sorts of tags for future reference...and I'll have a kid present the site to class next week. Thanks so much! I love your summary line---"One victory for a pigeon; one loss for scientific objectivity and the researcher's non-interference with the experimental subject!"

For people wanting to link to the home page:

James Reserve Wildlife Observatory

PS: I wonder if the animals will become habituated to the camera over time?

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Permalink Reply by Randy Rivers on November 8, 2007 at 4:21pm

I haven't done it with kids, but I had a school board member in a rural Kansas community that carries a palm pilot with him on his horse as he checks cattle in a large pasture. The Palm device reads information (wirelessly) from ear tags on the cattle to assist him in tracking the calving of his herd. Pretty high tech for an old rancher, huh!

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Permalink Reply by Sean Nash on November 17, 2008 at 11:06am

Weird... I bought this book the first day of the NSTA conference a couple of years ago... my wife read the first chapter aloud while were were driving back to the hotel that night. When we were checking out the events for the next day and planning what to go to... we noticed that Richard Louv himself was giving an address the following day! The video from this address is found here.

I am in love with this idea..... and now that I am an instructional coach, I no longer teach an environmental science course, but I have at least brought up this topic with my marine biology class.

I am thinking about getting copies of this book for my students to read while on a sailboat in the Bahamas this coming April. I think it will be QUITE fitting.
;-)

Sean

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Permalink Reply by Susan WB on November 18, 2008 at 8:38am

Hi Connie,

I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but it's a story about technology integration and teaching kids to use technology to monitor the health of prairie wetlands. Check it out at: http://www.edutopia.org/wetland-ecology-technology. (P.S. I love sharing this story because it takes place at the elementary school I attended as a child--but I have to say we didn't get to do anything this cool when I was in 5th grade!)

Susan WB

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Permalink Reply by Eric Snyder on November 26, 2009 at 7:06am

There was a U.K. news item this morning that seems directly tied in to this theme.

Scientists Give Grubby Children A Clean Bill of Health

I started a Google Wave on the topic... Join the wave. If you need a wave invite, I STILL have some left. Send me your email address and I'll get one to you.

/e