The benefits of outdoor learning are well documented. Not only is playing in nature helpful for children’s cognitive development, but it also offers physical benefits, including improved gut health.
Recent Finnish research showed that children who played with plants and soil introduced into their daycare environments from forests experienced improved microbial diversity in their gut and on their skin. In these daycares, where children played amongst forest undergrowth such as dwarf heather and blueberries, children also showed a significant increase in T-cells and other vital immune markers in their blood within just one month.
The role of microbes in children's health and development
This concept was further examined at an international workshop I recently attended at the University of the Sunshine Coast, titled ‘Integrating Childhood Studies in the Anthropocene: Microbial Childhood Collaboratory’. The workshop brought together researchers across many disciplines, some outside of early childhood education, but all with a common interest around human relationships and intra-relationships and I relished the opportunity to be open to critical reflection.
Among a range of subjects, the workshop prompted an exploration of the ‘invisible’, and how this might apply to early childhood education practitioners in Australia. This notion of ‘invisible’ could include microbes, or micro-organisms, that are too small to see with the naked eye. They are living organisms that are found everywhere, including in our gut, and are actually important for good health. Plants and dirt, for example, contain a diversity of microbes, and the need for this diversity has been recently highlighted for city children who have less exposure to natural environments.
Shining a spotlight on the value of the invisible into early childhood education
The workshop primarily explored the work of Dr Stefanie Fishel, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, who provoked discussion on how early childhood education and care practitioners could bring biological life into children’s lives and education.
Her book The Microbial State: Global Thriving and the Body Politic (2017) challenges us to think about our bodies not as a whole, but as lively vessels populated by microbes, bacteria, and water. In her book, she argues that “the body-politic of the state exists in dense entanglement with other communities and forms of life.” Microbes are around and within all of us—and it is interesting to consider how this applies to early childhood education settings.
Reflecting on the topic, I was taken back to the COVID-19 pandemic, which raised many concerns, possibilities, and new ways of working for educators, children, families, and policy-makers. It created a platform for deeper discussion on microbial environments and exposure. I vividly recall children being anxious and apprehensive about the COVID-19 bug. I witnessed a change when children saw an image of the coronavirus, prompting important discussions leading to a more profound understanding of the invisible world.
Critical reflections on outdoor learning and microbial diversity
During the workshop, discussions took participants on a reflective journey to recall our earliest wonderings and encounters with microbes. Childhood stories of place, relationships, and experiences emerged in a tapestry interwoven with microbial encounters and understandings. Shared discussions on traditional birthing practices worldwide inspired deep conversations about these ancient practices, providing a space to critically reflect on the implications of cultural practices for newborns and their mothers.
Sophie Chao's article, Children of the Palms: Growing Plants and Growing People in a Papuan Plantationocene, was used as a reference to inform further critical thinking. This article explores how ecological change transforms children and child-rearing among Indigenous Marind in West Papua. Time was also devoted to thinking about decoding ancestral knowledge, such as the Nitrogen Cycling by Microbes in Native Hawaiian Culture. This prompted me to consider the notion of Australian children caring for Country, and how dreaming stories and songlines share knowledge.
As conversations unfolded, each participant created their own ‘real’ or imaginary microbe using a variety of mediums. This creative approach is explored in the Australian community art project Gut Feelings, promoting gut health and exploring the gut-brain connection. Readers may want to consider getting involved. The final sessions with artist Katrin Terton also provided a creative space, drawing upon our deep thinking and learning together. You can see Katrin’s work ‘Beyond Sight’ here.
Image via inspiringnsw.org.au of artworks from the Gut Feelings project
The importance of research in our daily practice
It was an incredible privilege to listen to, watch, and participate in this two-day conference and a collaborative process toward a shared understanding and further thinking. The generosity of spirit wrapped in collegiality contributed to and extended discussions, unpacking the provocations to inform further research.
As an early childhood practitioner, I am deeply interested in how research influences educators’ daily practices and work in early childhood education and care. As the Early Years Learning Framework states, it is important to engage with research and continue to grow our perspectives. We should seek out the opportunity to connect and think with researchers from many disciplines, exploring diverse perspectives such as philosophy, theory, ethics, and practice.
As professionals, educators collaboratively explore, identify and evaluate diverse perspectives with respect to their own settings and contexts.
EYLF v2.0, pg. 18
I was grateful for the experience and the opportunity to sit at this table with these academics, while being included in rich, robust, respectful discourse. Research across many disciplines has the potential to influence our thinking and critical reflection on the work we do every day with the children, families, and community in our service. I encourage everyone to being open to engaging in research and actively seeking opportunities to access new ideas.
Four ideas from this article that you could implement this week
- Microbe exploration: Create a hands-on activity where children explore soil and plants to learn about microbes, fostering discussions about their role in nature and health.
- Invisible world art: Have children imagine and create artwork representing "invisible" life, such as microbes, using different mediums.
- Outdoor play: Introduce natural elements like soil and forest undergrowth into the play environment to boost microbial diversity exposure.
- Storytime with science: Incorporate storytelling to teach children about microbes and their importance, linking it with environmental care.
Spotlight on the featured researchers
Professor Zsuzsanna Millei from the University of Tampere views early childhood education as a biopolitical, intergenerational, national, and global space, childhood as a political form of being, and children as political actors with rights. Researching from these perspectives, the institutional practices in early childhood settings allow us to view children as both societal actors and biological organisms.
Professor Mindy Blaise is a Vice Chancellor’s Research Fellow and Director of the Centre for People, Place, & Planet, a strategic research centre at Edith Cowan University, Western Australia. Mindy is interested in combining early childhood education and feminist environmental humanities to generate new pedagogies for the Anthropocene. In particular, she is curious about what we might learn by paying attention to children’s relations with place, materials, and the more-than-human and how this might activate pedagogies that can ethically attend to the common worlds we share.
Affrica Taylor describes her work as being situated within the feminist environmental humanities, straddling fields of anti-colonialist, feminist, and queer theory, cultural and children’s geographies, and environmental education.
Professor Deborah Youdell, Dean of Macquarie School of Education, is internationally renowned for her research in education. She has been at the forefront of the new field of biosocial research in education and has led the sociological study of educational inequalities, education practices, and student and learner subjectivities.
About Jannelle
An early childhood education professional for more than 40 years, Jannelle is a key specialist in CELA's learning and development team. She has worked as a teacher, director, mentor, lecturer, advocate, academic, and researcher. Jannelle has a strong understanding of different regulatory frameworks and has repeatedly built robust governance structures from scratch, that support strong educators and services. Her work always includes a focus on building sustainable mechanisms, and supporting professional development that enables educators to better support themselves and their colleagues.
Jannelle’s experience as a practitioner is underpinned by her commitment to research and ongoing learning. She has travelled to experience early education in Italy, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, East Timor and Vanuatu. She has co-authored several articles for international journals and reference books and contributed to the book Educator Yarns, published by Koori Curriculum. Jannelle holds a Master of Early Childhood Education from University of Newcastle.