EACAP

EACAPEmilio Figueroa, Cassie Hess, Tamia Robinson, & Mackenzie Boyer1Glenside Garden Project

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For our community action we helped Glenside Elementary School re-plant their garden. What started as an overgrown, weedy garden is now a beautiful, flower-filled garden which everyone involved in helping create will celebrate this coming Saturday. For this project, the school started a Garden Club which involved first and third graders that other Penn State students worked with in the classroom. Some of this project, such as painting stones to decorate the garden took place while the students were in class, and provided a chance for them to get outside on the nice, sunny day. Other aspects, including weeding, mulching, and planting the garden took place after-school and on weekends. Getting kids to participate in the project was a fun way to have them engage in outdoor activities, make new friends, and learn about the environment. The teachers helped, in many ways, to make this a learning experience; for example, the kids had to do a scavenger hunt in search of certain garden items one day. While the teachers facilitated the learning, the kids made it a learning experience by asking questions like why is the mulch so steamy? or what does the snake do in the garden?. For many of the kids this was their first club, especially outdoors and we were able to impact their experience, hopefully in a positive way.3The OrganizationGlenside Elementary School/ Reading School District

Glenside Elementary School is a school for kindergarten through fifth grade students and is a part of the Reading School District. Reading is the fifth largest city in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania and it encompasses about 10 square miles. The city is located in Berks County, so the elementary school is located very close to campus; less than a 10 minute drive. 4500 Lackawanna StreetReading, PA 19601610-371-5913Principal: Ms. Melissa S. FisherThe mission of the Reading School District is to empower students with the knowledge, skills, and ideas needed for productivity and lifelong learning, as well as to instill in them personal, community, and global responsibility.

For information on the school that could help relate to our project, we looked at the districts website under the board policies tab. We read through the Philosophy of Education/ Mission Statement policy and the Academic Standards policy. The mission statement was as follows: The mission of the Reading School District is to empower students with the knowledge, skills, and ideas needed for productivity and lifelong learning, as well as to instill in them personal, community, and global responsibility. We found this important because it states the main goal of the organization we worked with. We found it important that they try to instill this responsibility in the kids, as we were trying to help our community by completing this project.

51. Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening. 2. Mathematics. 3. Science and Technology. 4. Environment and Ecology. 5. Social Studies - to include history, geography, civics and government, and economics. 6. Arts and Humanities. 7. Career Education and Work. 8. Health, Safety and Physical Education. 9. Family and Consumer Science. 10. World Languages.

The policies defined academic standards as academic standards shall be defined as what a student should know and be able to do at a specified grade level; they shall describe the knowledge and skills students will be expected to demonstrate in order to graduate. The most important thing to us about the standards is that Environment and Ecology is included in them. The schools include these in their standards and, from what we saw, Glenside Elementary School does a great job enforcing this learning. As far as our topic, Nature Deficit Disorder, goes Glenside is a good school helping the cause because of their goals to link the kids to the community and environment, the fact that they have recess while many schools have dropped funding for it, and their environment and ecology standards.6Environmental IssueNature Deficit Disorder

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pyv6jon9q20

As Johnathan Dorne explained, this is not an actual medical condition. It is, however, a widely used term to describe much of todays youth. The term, Nature Deficit Disorder, is used to describe the disconnect between children and nature. At this point, it is also used in description of many adults, because they too are guilty of this disconnect. Dorne began to explain that kids used to gain this connection through work and outdoor play, but now most kids live in cities and stay indoors. His other point, which we did not actually watch, was his idea of the top 5 cities for parents to raise an outdoor kid. The cities include Boulder, Colorado; Jackson Wyoming; Durango, Colorado; Flagstaff Arizona; and Juneau, Arkansas. His reasoning behind choosing most of these cities is that they have attractions which draw kids outside to work and play.7What is it/ Causes?Caused by the electronic ageDisconnect with natureKids more drawn to indoors- video games

Nature-deficit disorder is not a medical condition; it is a description of the human costs of alienation from nature. This alienation damages children and shapes adults, families, and communities. There are solutions, though, and theyre right in our own backyards.

The biggest contributor to Nature Deficit Disorder is the electronic age. If you look at almost any parent in the country, their go-to for quieting down their child and making them happy is some type of electronic. In schools, kids are shown videos instead of doing hands-on work because its easier for the teachers. Many schools have even cut recess and field-trips because of budget cuts. We found that the Kaiser Family Foundation did a study finding that the average child between 8 and 18 years old spends just 4-7 minutes outside engaging in unstructured play, and 7 hours and 38 minutes consuming media daily (smartphone, TV, computer, video games). This is partially due to the fact that we live in cities and its too dangerous for kids to be outside alone, but it is also due to lazy parents who find it easier to set up a video or phone game for their kid to play than it is to use imagination and take their kids outside to play. An article we found summarizes the issue by saying, until the mid-twentieth century, most children walked or rode bikes to school, played or did chores outside until dark, and spent their summers playing outdoors. However, with parents working ever-longer hours outside the home and the advent of electronic media geared to children and teens, that lifestyle began to disappear. In the early 2000s, the time children spend outdoors is likely to be on a manicured sports field in an organized activity that has little association with nature. Some experts warn that American children in the early 2000s may be the first in two centuries to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents, due to obesity and other health problems stemming form sedentary indoor lifestyles. I think the problem is that we dont think much about the impact going outdoors has and the detrimental impact of not going outside. People nowadays go outside so little that they have to take vitamin d supplements or buy special light bulbs to avoid depression and to get nutrients that can be gotten by just spending a couple of hours outside in the sun.8Risk Factors & Side EffectsObesityFear of natureLack of imaginationSADADD/ADHDAnxietyStressLonelinessLack of creativityPoor physical fitnessPoor school performancePoor eyesightVitamin D deficiency

Johnathan Dorne began to explain some risk-factors and side effects in the video. He explained the rise in ADD and ADHD and he stated that 1 in 5 children are overweight. These are important effects, but there are many more which we might not typically think about. Spending too little time outdoors has led to children having a lack of imagination and creativity, fearing nature, and having poor physical fitness. Its also increased Seasonal Depression Disorder, anxiety, stress, feelings of loneliness, poor school performance, vitamin D deficiency, and even poor eyesight. It has been proven that outdoor classrooms and experiences directly improve performance in school subjects. Poor eyesight is the result of the time spent in front of a screen through the use of smartphones and video games etc Vitamin D Deficiency is due to the lack of sunlight (9% of American children are vitamin d deficient and 61% have insufficient vitamin d and are at risk). Spending too little time outdoors is having all of these negative effects on todays youth, but its something that could potentially be fixed very easily.9How to FixHave kids play outsideHave more imaginative playTeach kids about the environmentDont have TV or computer in bedroomLimit TV timeNo Child Left Inside

http://www.cbf.org/ncli/landing

There is no cure for Nature Deficit Disorder since it isnt an actual medical condition. Treatment for Nature Deficit Disorder seems like something so simple and obvious, but is it? Have kids go outside, dont watch so much TV; this sounds great, but it is easier said than done. For many people, this would be an entire lifestyle change. Going outside is proven to decrease stress and anxiety and obesity, increase imaginative play, and have positive effects. Parents can begin to change by simply limiting time they allow their kids to use electronics, but then they need to find a way to entertain their kids for a few extra hours every day. The no child left inside act was introduced as a way to support learning about the environment in elementary and secondary school, but the act has yet to be put into action. The best thing to be done about Nature Deficit Disorder is play outside and form the connection between youth and the environment.1010 Steps a Parent Can Follow to PreventBe a role modelPlan a monthly/weekly surprise outdoor adventureOrganize a monthly outing with your childs schoolFollow AAPs (American Academy of Pediatrics) guidelines & limit TV/ video game to 1-2 hrs dailyTake a daily/ weekly walk together as a family after dinnerRegister your child for an outdoor summer campGo campingPlant a gardenBuy a field guideLink-up with one of your local/ national organizations

http://www.education.com/reference/article/actions-parents-prevent-nature-deficit-disorder/11

Educate YouthDecrease electronicsForm connection between humans & EarthWhat We Learned

Works CitedDriessnack, Martha. "Children and Nature-Deficit Disorder."Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing14.1 (2009): 73-5.ProQuest.Web. 2 May 2014.Longe, Jacqueline L., ed. "Nature Deficit Disorder."The Gale Encyclopedia of Environmental Health. N.d.Gale. Web. 09 Apr. 2014."Nature Deficit Disorder." YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014. . "NCLI - Landing - Chesapeake Bay Foundation." NCLI - Landing - Chesapeake Bay Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014. . N.p., n.d. Web. "Reading School District." Board Policies / Sections 000. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014. . "The Ten Actions Parents Can Take to Prevent Nature Deficit Disorder." Education.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014. .