10 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Naturalism Improves Perception
Nature study also heightens our perceptive abilities: we see, hear and smell more, and more keenly, because of them. In the cities, our senses tend to atrophy. The relentless commercial badgering of signs, and the general dullness and ugliness of city landscapes, push the urban walker into the safe cocoon of his mind and further out of his senses. Simply spending time out in pastoral or wild landscapes counteracts this tendency. Spend a day in the woods and you will begin to hear a bit more a...Being attentive to nature heightens our senses because of the enjoyment we get from listening, seeing, smelling, and feeling it.
09 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Teaching Children Science by Drawing Nature
The British and Irish emphasis on drawing from nature (which has lessened in those places, too) helped develop powers of observation and reinforced curiosity about the natural world. A child who has watched whirligigs and water striders on the surface of a stream will appreciate the importance of clean water. A child who has observed the clouds, their heapings and tumblings, their dark massings and silver linings, will be better prepared to understand the relationship between cloud cover and ...American schoolchildren aren't pushed to draw and immerse themselves in nature; therefore, they don't get the appreciation for it and desire for biodiversity.