Connectedness to Nature Through Outdoor Environmental Education: Insights from Psychology

Psychology has many insights to offer in our collective attempts to reconnect individuals with nature. Based upon the literature on the antecedents of connectedness to nature, it is important to consider how any given outdoor environmental education experience influences participants’ affective experiences (e.g., awe, compassion), frames of mind (e.g., mindfulness), and ways of thinking about themselves and nature (e.g., introspection, anthropomorphism). This chapter reviews relevant literature on the psychological understanding of the antecedents of connectedness and points to potential applications of this knowledge in outdoor and environmental education. In doing so, we will emphasize the process through which antecedents increase connectedness to identify specific points of intervention and how they can be leveraged to provide impactful outdoor educational experiences. Further, using this extensive body of literature and incorporating critical perspectives, we will address the question of adapting current research and praxis to increasingly urbanized worlds.