Brown Bag, Green Book #8: Last Child in the Woods
The eighth episode in our lunchtime book club series is about Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. Dr. McIntyre, Superintendent of Knox County Schools, led the discussion along with Knox County School’s Aneisa McDonald, Supervisor of Coordinated School Health, and Lisa Wagoner, Supervisor of Health Services.
In Last Child in the Woods, Louv explores what he describes as the alienation of modern-day children from the natural world. He emphasizes the important role interaction with nature plays in our personal emotional, physical and intellectual health. One child told him, "I like indoors because that's where the electric outlets are." Louv makes a direct link between the "plugged-in" state of children (he calls this "nature deficit") and significant problems such as obesity, Attention Deficit Disorder and depression.
Louv contends that connecting education and play to environment raises standardized test scores and grade point averages, improving many skills such as critical thinking and even creativity. Yet sending kids outside to play is increasingly difficult. Computers, television, and video games compete for their time, of course, but it's also our fear of traffic, strangers, and even virus-carrying mosquitoes that keep children indoors. Meanwhile, schools assign more and more homework, and there is less and less access to natural areas.
Parents have the power to ensure that their daughter or son will not be the "last child in the woods" and this book is the first step toward that Nature-child reunion.
About Dr. McIntyre, Ms. McDonald and Ms. Wagoner
Dr. James P. McIntyre, Jr., has served as Superintendent of Knox County Schools since July, 2008. He has worked in the field of education, including both K-12 and at the university level, for 20 years. Prior to coming to Knoxville, he was the Chief Operating Officer for Boston Public Schools. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Boston College, a Master of Science degree in education administration from Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, a Master of Urban Affairs degree from Boston University, and a Ph. D. in public policy from the University of Massachusetts.
Ms. Aneisa McDonald has been with Knox County Schools since July 2007. She received her BS and MS in Education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She spent 12 years as a professional dance educator in Illinois, South Carolina, and Tennessee and served as a coalition coordinator for the Metropolitan Drug Commission's Drug-Free Communities Grant Program from 2001-2007.
Ms. Lisa Wagoner joined Knox County as a school nurse in 1994 and then was appointed Supervisor of Health Services in 2009. She holds a degree of nursing from Walter State Community College.
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