Return to: U of M Home |
|
|
myU | One Stop | Directories | Search U of M | |
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
|
Expert Alerts |
|
|
|
Arboretum conference to address environment, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder correlation
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL ( 3/27/2008 ) -- The healing power of nature is more than a poetic platitude. This month at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, researchers from the University of Minnesota and other institutions will present a definite link between exposure to green spaces and healthy childhood development. The findings will be presented at "Nature, Children and Families: A Necessary Connection," a public policy conference held 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday, April 4 in the arboretum's MacMillan Auditorium, 3675 Arboretum Dr., Chaska. Renowned behavior researcher Andrea Faber Taylor will share groundbreaking research from the famed Landscape and Human Health Laboratory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, specifically addressing her own studies of two populations -- children living in impoverished public housing and children coping with attention deficit disorder. In recent national research, Faber Taylor and colleague Frances Kuo found that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, experienced a significant reduction in symptoms after they participated in activities in green settings -- whether it was playing soccer or doing homework under a tree. Other research found that inner-city girls who had views of greenery from their windows possessed a greater degree of self-discipline than girls who did not. "The facts are startling," said Mary Vidas, director of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum's Public Policy Program. "Eighty percent of the population lives in a municipal setting. By 1990, the radius around the home where children were allowed to roam on their own had shrunk to a ninth of what it was in the 1980s. As a result, children are not provided the same opportunities to engage in free play, develop their creativity and critical thinking skills and ultimately benefit from connecting to the natural world around them." The conference will also feature Martha Farrell Erickson of the University of Minnesota's Children, Youth and Family Consortium. In her presentation, "Healing the Broken Bond between Children and Nature," Erickson will discuss today's relationship between children and the outdoors and the importance of a strengthening that bond. Erickson is a former director of the university's Children, Youth & Family Consortium and a founding member of the board of directors of the Children and Nature Network, a national nonprofit established to bring people together around the issue of children and nature. Conference attendees will have an opportunity to learn about national and regional developments and educational and community models designed to engage children of all ages with the natural environment. Break-out sessions will provide opportunities for networking with experts in the field. Professional education credits are available. The registration fee of $90 for Arboretum and MCFR members or $120 for non-members includes lunch, entrance fee and an arboretum tour. For more information, visit the arboretum's Web site at www.arboretum.umn.edu and select "Public Policy Programs" from the Learn tab or contact the arboretum's education office at (952) 443-1422. The event is co-sponsored by the Minnesota Council on Family Relations and the Arboretum's Public Policy Programs. The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is the largest public garden in the Upper Midwest and a premier northern arboretum. Part of the University of Minnesota's College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, it is a community and national resource for horticultural and environmental information, research and public education. The arboretum is disability accessible. ---------- |
|
||||
|
