Trees and us: learning about/from trees and treescapes from primary school children in the United Kingdom

Ambreen, Samyia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4681-4934, Badwan, Khawla ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1808-724X and Pahl, Kate ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8840-1121 (2023) Trees and us: learning about/from trees and treescapes from primary school children in the United Kingdom. Occasional Paper Series, 2023 (50). pp. 30-38. ISSN 2375-3668

Preview

Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

In recent years, there is a growing interest for attending to children’s voice in environmental research. The theoretical developments in knowledge about children view them as social agents who can make sense of their own experiences in relation to the environment surrounded them. In this report, we add reflections from an ongoing project “voices of the future” which aims to reimagine future of treescapes in the UK. Using examples from two primary schools in the northwest of England, we discuss children’s knowledge about trees and how children talk about their lived experiences with trees. Centring on our field work experiences, we discuss how children skilfully communicate distinctive meanings of trees using distinctive modes of communication. We look at how children make sense of the world around them, stressing on developing multiple and relational ways of attending to children’s knowledge about trees and their experiences of natural environment in educational settings.