Wired, wild, wonderful: A scoping review of early childhood nature connections fostered by digital technologies

Abstract

Nature connections in early childhood are being lost due to increasingly urban and managed lives. Yet, emerging research is signalling the usefulness of digital technologies in reconnecting children with the natural world. This review scopes the last ten years of research reporting child-nature-technology interactions to identify: (1) methods, (2) approaches to children's agency in research and design, (3) technologies used and the experiences they produced. After screening, a search of seven databases produced 24 papers that were analysed across these three dimensions. We describe the current research and make recommendations including more granular reporting of participation, increased engagement with theory and nature connection frameworks, and consideration of methods that encourage children's agency at earlier stages in design work. We also suggest novel directions when designing for nature experiences that encourage personal meaning-making, relationality, and build child competencies for a rapidly changing world.