What should be the role of nature in education?
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About the video: ‘What should be the role of nature in education?’
Professor Orr questions the role of education, suggesting that educational institutions should become more integrated with the natural world. Schools can be didactic models of sustainable design creating more opportunities for children to learn from nature. Children raised with few experiences of wild spaces can develop what he calls ‘nature deficit disorder’. He describes the impact this can have on the health of a child. Finally, he questions the Western tendency to rely wholly on test scores in assessing a child’s abilities.
Total views: 2,393
Filmed: London, England on 13 May 2006
Credits: Interviewer - Marcus Morrell, Camera and Editor - Marcus Morrell
Copyright © 2006 Big Picture TV
About David Orr
David Orr is the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics and Special Assistant to the President of Oberlin College and a James Marsh Professor at the University of Vermont.
An award-winning scholar, he is renowned for his pioneering work on environmental literacy in higher education and ecological design.
Professor Orr is the author of ‘Ecological Literacy’ (1992), ‘The Nature of Design’ (2004) ‘The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics and the Environment in the Age of Terror’ (2004) and “Design on the Edge: The Making of a High Performance Building” (2006).
He is the recipient of a Bioneers Award (2003), a National Conservation Achievement Award by the National Wildlife Federation, a Lyndhurst Prize awarded by the Lyndhurst Foundation “to recognize the educational, cultural, and charitable activities of particular individuals of exceptional talent, character, and moral vision.” He was named “an Environmental Hero for 2004” by Interiors & Sources Magazine.
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