Nature as a Co-Teacher in Early Childhood Language Education

Abstract

Playing in nature-based places supports early childhood development. In previous years, studies have shown the benefits of nature play for healthy child development, including language development. For early childhood teachers it is insightful to learn together how to develop language education in nature that is supportive of their student’s language development. The aim of this study is to investigate how early childhood education (ECE) teachers make nature-based places function as language learning environments in EC language education. The study took a collaborative action-based research approach and worked in communities of practice (CoP). In these communities, 55 teachers across five schools gathered six times. Based on the analysis of the shared conversations we defined the supportive aspects of nature-based places and related them to the expected outcomes of early childhood language education. We also described the professional changes they made to be able to teach language in nature. These changes were summarized in a model that informs early childhood teachers how to include the pedagogical and linguistic function of nature-based places to work towards the outcomes of EC language education.