Engaging people with nature: do we want to engage emotionally or cognitively? 

Tues 5th November 2019

Professor Marcus Grace (Southampton Education School),

12:00-13:00, 2097, Building 32, Highfield Campus. 

What is your talk about? This talk looks at ways of helping people to become more engaged and connected with nature. It focuses on the Wonder of Nature project, which is running in partnership with the National Trust. A key feature of the research is to explore ways of blending emotional responses to nature, such as sensing beauty and happiness and one’s respect for nature, with cognitive aspects such as gaining knowledge about nature. Traditional ways of ‘teaching facts’ about nature can be off-putting, but when this knowledge is presented appropriately it can be as engaging and motivating as emotional approaches.  

What are the key messages of your talk? Emotional and cognitive engagement with the natural world are both important to us as human beings. But research about these two aspects tends to reside in two different bodies of literature. It’s time to blend them together to give people a more fully rounded and satisfying experience of the wonder of nature! 

What are the implications for practice or research from your talk? We hope the findings from this project will help people discover ways to engage with nature in a more enjoyable and informed way.