Current Research
The Get to Know Program is built on strong, current research on trends in outdoor activity, environmental literacy, and other key factors that influence the development of knowledge, creativity, and stewardship in Canada's youth.
What researchers are saying:
Experiencing nature during childhood engenders both curiosity and the passion to learn that reflects a willingness to give and receive information, facts, and ideas. By interacting with the natural world, children encounter a matrix of diverse and stimulating opportunities to engage such affective capacities as wonder, imagination, and joy. Children's experience of nature provides a source of deep and enduring emotional significance throughout people's lives.
Kellert, Stephen R. "Nature and Childhood Development." In Building for Life: Designing and Understanding the Human-Nature Connection. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2005
Children who have access to and spend time in urban green spaces and natural areas while growing up; receive positive and supportive messages about wildlife from adults important in their lives; and have opportunities to participate in a variety of wildlife related activities in a supportive environment; will likely become adolescents who appreciate and value the multiple benefits of wildlife.
Van Velsor, S.W. & Nilon, C.H. "A Qualitative Investigation of the Urban African-American and Latino Adolescent Experience with Wildlife" Human Dimensions of Wildlife, 11:368, 2006.
If biodiversity is sustained in ecosystems, the biosphere can be recovered and used by future generations to any degree desired and with benefits literally beyond measure."
Wilson, Edward O. "Biophilia and the Conservation Ethic." in Evolutionary Perspectives on Environmental Problems. Dustin J. Penn, Iver Mysterud eds. 249-247. 2005.
Participation in outdoor recreation among youth ages 6 to 17 dropped by six percent – resulting in a combined 16.7 percent drop over the last three years. Participation fell most precipitously among the youngest age group measured, ages 6 to 12, which decreased nine percent.
2009 American Outdoor Recreation Participation Report, released by The Outdoor Foundation
Painting and doing artistic crafts provide a creative outlet for expressing and fostering a sense of wonder, excitement and enjoyment in children about the natural world. Increasing their environmental literacy and providing them with skills and knowledge helps them develop into good stewards of the natural communities where they play and live.
Betz, Susan. "Kids, Gardens and Art: A Natural Connection." The Herbarist. Issue 70. 45-48. 2004.
