How Can We Inspire Children to Protect Nature When They Live in a Virtual World?

Taking Students on a Journey With Nature Lab

Most American children spend the majority of their lives indoors, many of them glued to their screens and devices instead of playing outside. That imbalance can negatively affect a child’s mental, physical and emotional growth. And it’s only compounded by the pandemic, which has led to more time indoors as many students attend school virtually and connect with friends through text or Zoom instead of on the ballfield or in their backyards.

Meanwhile, climate change is happening in real time, even as children hover over their devices, distancing themselves, both physically and emotionally, from the natural world around them.

In order to promote healthy children and a healthy planet, we must bridge this divide. We need to empower young people and prepare them to lead toward a sustainable future.

Educators play a critical role in doing exactly that. And the benefits go beyond merely protecting our planet.

• Teaching concepts of environmental justice offers students tangible examples of how centuries of racism have disproportionately affected some communities—and continue to do so today.
• Preparing students for “green” jobs affirms that caring for our planet can power both environmental and economic gains, offering students new career options as they learn, dream and grow.
• In a time when uncertainty, apathy and a sense of powerlessness can overwhelm young people, educators can show them how they can take immediate, concrete actions to improve the planet’s prognosis. 

Teaching Resource: Virtual Field Trip from Phoenix to Shenzhen

Exploring Nature Lab With Students

This is why The Nature Conservancy created Nature Lab, an online platform that teaches students the science behind how nature works for us and how we, in turn, can act now to safeguard it for today’s children and future generations. Nature Lab contains age-appropriate videos that transport students to places near and far, and it offers learning guides about a variety of conservation topics, all aligned with school curriculum standards and informed by the conservancy’s 550 scientists and community partners around the world.

Our newest Nature Lab unit, “Changing Climate, Changing Cities: A Virtual Field Trip from Phoenix to Shenzhen,” gives students a front-row seat to the impact climate change is having on the world’s cities, from record heat waves in the American Southwest to historic flooding in China. Students will hear from experts not only about the immense challenges a changing climate presents, but also about the many ways they can be part of the solution.

By “visiting” Phoenix and Shenzhen, for instance, students will learn the difference between climate and weather. They’ll discover what they can do to reduce carbon emissions and keep the Earth’s temperature low. And they’ll understand why urban centers are particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise and other climate-related risks. They’ll learn about heat islands and what it means to “green” their city or town. And they’ll discover they have the power to protect their planet—assuring them that what they do today can foster a world that’s healthier and more resilient than it is now.

In this socially distanced era in which students can feel separated from friends, isolated and buried in their screens, learning about the natural world virtually through Nature Lab will inspired them to get outside and experience nature near them.

We have more new Nature Lab resources coming very soon, so be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date!