What is Nature and Forest Pedagogy?
Education is one of the most important issues for all societies. Education is considered as one of the important elements for societies to move forward and develop. It is of great importance to carry out trainings on every subject that affects societies and the lives of individuals and thus to raise awareness of people. These trainings are seen as an investment in both the present and the future. Each training given sheds light on the current problems as well as the problems that may occur in the future and creates a consciousness and awareness. One of the most important issues in creating awareness today is the nature and forests we live in. It is of great importance to have awareness about nature and forest in order for people to continue their lives. In order to create this awareness, education should be given to children by expert instructors from an early age with pedagogical education.
Especially with the urbanization experienced with industrialization, children lead a life away from nature and forests due to reasons such as decrease in green areas, destruction of forests or settlements far from forested areas, increase in pollution in nature. Thus, children do not understand the importance of nature and forests. It is aimed to prevent this situation with the nature and forest pedagogy training given by the experts, and in this respect, the people who will give the training should have received their training in this direction. The aim of nature and forest pedagogy is; in particular, with the help of an expert, to ensure that the activities in the forest respect the existence of the forest and that with this respect, the function of the forest is learned and appropriate behaviors are adopted for the survival of the forest. Nature and forest pedagogy is based on experiential learning and research methods. These emotionally and mentally push children to solve problems and provide a method for the activities of forestry pedagogy. With the trainings provided, it is aimed to develop children's imagination and creativity, social development and motor skills. With nature and forest pedagogy, it is ensured that theoretical and practical knowledge is combined through activities that strengthen emotional intelligence by improving the feelings of the person. These trainings are important not only for children but also for adults. These trainings can be given to their employees by various institutions and organizations or by employers.
The principles of nature and forest pedagogy are based on understanding the interest of individuals in nature and the environment and providing information about forest ecosystems. With nature and forest pedagogy, it is aimed to encourage people about sustainability. This training provides people with important information about the forest, especially in terms of life, and provides information about the protection, development and maintenance of natural resources. It has become an important method that constitutes the education leg of the green economy, which constitutes the economy of the future.