Nature as a living presence: Drawings by Tupinambá and New York Children

Abstract

Child-nature interaction has undergone drastic changes in modern history, from a free outdoor childhood to a confined daily life connected to electronic devices, with negative consequences to development and well-being. Any resulting lack of connection to the natural environment can hamper involvement in solving environmental problems. This research attempted to assess children's perceptions of nature, as well as their feelings and values. Six- to 14-year-old children from the Tupinambá group (n = 91), an indigenous society in Brazil, and from New York (n = 54) drew pictures of nature and answered five questions about their drawings, feelings, and values in regard to natural environments. Quantitative (descriptive) and qualitative (content) analyses of the drawings were carried out, and their liveness and animism were estimated. The answers given by children to the questions about nature were organized into emerging categories from the data. The Tupinambá children's drawings were generally livelier than those of the New York children. However, the difference failed to reach statistical significance among the younger children, and the difference only approached significance among the older children. The drawings of the Tupinamba contained more animism, depicting non-humans and non-animals with facial expressions, than those of the New Yorkers. Compared with the New Yorkers, the Tupinambá children more often included human constructions such as roads and houses in their drawings. The indigenous children more often saw human and non-human elements as integrated compared with the nonindigenous children. The study reinforces theoretical tendencies about the environmental perception of children in relation to the natural environment and highlights peculiarities of the participating groups, indicating relevant questions for future investigations.