It is still a little strange when I hear the title "Doctor" when people say my name. But after over 30 years of advocating for children to spend as much time as possible learning in, with & for nature, I had no choice but to get a Ph.D. on nature-based learning (also known as nature pedagogy).

You see, when I started the first nature kindergarten in Scotland in 1998, outdoor learning was still in its infancy. Even though I was considered a bit of a rebel, I knew from personal experience that young children thrive when they have control over their learning journey and are given the freedom to choose how they learn without the constraint of 4 walls.

So getting the Ph.D. allowed me to show through deep research what you and I already know from our own experiences. It allowed me to once and for all demonstrate how the link can be made between academic attainment and children's self-directed play in nature.

That's because at the beginning of my teaching career, I worked with children living in situations of significant multiple deprivation and it was while interacting with the most disengaged group that I inadvertently discovered what is now known as the Floorbook Approach as a way of planning and documenting their outdoor adventures.