Get ‘em outside.
That’s the message education researchers and local school boards are sending to teachers as kids prepare to head back to school, driving home the importance of environmental literacy and active engagement with nature to develop young minds that have an appreciation and respect for the Great Outdoors.
According to “Acting Today, Shaping Tomorrow,” a policy document published by the Ontario Ministry of Education, research “has shown that environmental education not only increases students’ environmental literacy but also contributes to higher academic achievement for all students.”
For Erin Sperling, a researcher and assistant professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, environmental education is something that needs to be re-prioritized following the destabilizing influence of the pandemic.
