In the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday, 10 May 2010 a very interesting article was published about children and the outdoors. It’s a must read for all.
Journalist and writer, Ainslie MacGibbon’s begins her article with “A child’s contact with nature will influence health in adulthood as well as having many other long-term gains,”
Ainslie spoke to ORIC and to some of the leading people associated with our industry.
Mr Paul Colagiuri, General Manager, Camp Somerset says, “It is true to say that we are increasingly seeing kids who have far less outdoor experience than we did a generation ago.”
Dr James Neill, Lecturer, University of Canberra, says “In an ideal society we wouldn’t need outdoor education, it would just be a part of life, but the fact is, it’s not,”.
Associate Professor Tonia Gray, University of Wollongong says “We should be inspiring a sense of wonderment in our students, but many parents instil a fear of nature and the outdoors...” .
For the full article and further comment from these experts plus the views and comments of the American author, Richard Louv who coined the phrase “nature-deficit disorder”.
Here is the link http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/children-respond-to-call-of-the-wild-20100509-ulqv.html
or pdf version Children Respond to Call of the Wild
To hear more from Paul Colagiuri, James Neill & Tonia Gray register as an Early Bird at the ORIC Conference
on http://www.oric.org.au/Conference/Conf10/index.html
It’s what we have known all along – enjoy and see you
at the ORIC Conference!
The ORIC Team |
