The Ngahere Project
The Ngahere Project: Teaching and learning possibilities in nature settings
Authors: Janette Kelly and E. Jayne White
with Marion Dekker, Julie Donald, Kathryn Hart, Fiona McKay, Lynley McMillan, Amy Mitchell-King and Gill Wright
Published: 2013
This report is an outcome of The Ngahere Project: an 18 month action research project involving Tauranga Region Kindergartens in the Bay of Plenty, Campus Creche Trust in Hamilton and the University of Waikato. The research explored ECE pedagogy “within” and “beyond” the gate in ECE settings committed to sustainability.
There had been little research into ECE pedagogy outdoors to date. This project aimed to better understand what nature-based learning might look like in a range of ECE settings in Aotearoa New Zealand and to examine the relationship between nature education and sustainability.
Engagement with the outdoors is a core element of New Zealand’s heritage, identity and culture. The project considered two overarching questions:
There had been little research into ECE pedagogy outdoors to date. This project aimed to better understand what nature-based learning might look like in a range of ECE settings in Aotearoa New Zealand and to examine the relationship between nature education and sustainability.
Engagement with the outdoors is a core element of New Zealand’s heritage, identity and culture. The project considered two overarching questions:
- What might nature-based learning look like in diverse Aotearoa New Zealand ECE services that are committed to sustainability?
- What are some of the pedagogical issues and provocations teachers face in this domain?
Read the report