Experiences and thoughts

Ecological education has been asked to promote a new way of thinking offering positive attention toward nature. The research reported in this paper starts from the assumption that a new ecological way of thinking is in relationship with the possibility not only to live meaningful outdoor experiences but also to reflect on them. On the basis of this presupposition some experiences of nature were organized in three classes in an Italian primary school. Another class was engaged in a traditional activity of ecological instruction without outdoor experiences. After nearly a year from the end of this educational experience, a conceptual activity was proposed in order to verify to what extent these experiences had produced a positive conception of nature and the awareness of its value in the childrens' minds. This conceptual activity was also the task of three control classes which had not carried out the experiences of nature. Confirmation of the assumption that direct experience is meaningful has interesting pedagogical implications;

Luigina Mortari, Experiences and thoughts in "CULTURE DELLA SOSTENIBILITA '" 1/2007, pp 35-51, DOI: