Viking Magazine - September 2021 - 16

has been heralded as the exemplary standard of
school-based outdoor learning, and still serves as
a model for other nations seeking to emulate their
practices. "
achievement gap between economic classes, but
they also inflated the amount of time students
spent in their classrooms at their desks.
This is not surprising. Scandinavians have
always believed in the importance of getting
outside. They even have a term for it: friluftsliv,
translating to " open-air living " in English, is the
philosophy that experiencing nature promotes
spiritual and physical wellbeing. It could be
through hiking, biking, skiing or fishing-as long
as you are outside, disconnecting from the daily
stressors of life, and enjoying nature without
destroying or disturbing it, you are participating in
friluftsliv.
As the 20th century progressed, Scandinavia
continued to incorporate nature into its school
curriculums: Today, it's estimated that students
in all Norwegian kindergartens (not just nature
schools) spend 70% of their time outdoors in
summer and 30% in winter.
The United States, on the other hand, moved
in the opposite direction, putting an emphasis
on standardized testing through the passage of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in
1965 and its update, the No Child Left Behind
Act (NCLB), in 2002. These were supposed to
boost American competitiveness and close the
Trading Screen Time for Green Time
Nature preschools weren't completely nonexistent
in the U.S. in the 20th century-the New Canaan
Nature Center in Connecticut, which opened in
1966, was the first American nature preschool-
" We can give these kids the
childhood that everybody wants
their kids to have outside-in the
sun and the rain, getting muddy
climbing trees-while also getting
them ready for kindergarten. "
-Kellie Morrill, executive director for Tiny Trees
but they weren't a prominent force in the western
education system, either. Numbers and growth
stalled out at a couple dozen in 2012, but that's
recently changed.
In the past near-decade, there's been a 25-fold
increase in nature preschools in the U.S., bringing
the number to 585. An annual report by the
Natural Start Alliance defines nature preschools
as those that have fully adopted nature-based
education as the core of their programming.
Merrick points to a couple reasons for the
exponential growth of nature-based education,
including a better understanding of the important
role early childhood education plays in the overall
education experience, as well as the growing
concern about the high-stakes standardized testing
that many parents and teachers didn't agree with.
" There was a lot of emphasis on standardized
testing for children and teacher accountability,
and I think parents were not comfortable with
that, " says Merrick. " They wanted a more
playful educational experience for their children;
they wanted less emphasis on memorization and
academic skills, and more focus on play learning,
and social and emotional development. "
Startling data also grabbed parents' attention.
16 VIKING SEPTEMBER 2021
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Viking Magazine - September 2021

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