Natural Technology is a five-year project that began in January 2018. The project is led by neurobiologist, philosopher, senior doctorate and associate professor Theresa Schilhab, as well as anthropologist and Ph.D. Gertrud Lynge Esbensen.
We investigate how children and adolescents use and experience nature and the outdoors when smart technology is present. We want to motivate children and adolescents to use technology actively in nature and accelerate the development of technology such as mobile applications and drones for use in nature.
Smart technology can help with navigation, knowledge acquisition or registration of discoveries on the spot. Additionally, it supports communication and allows us to share experiences through video, photos and sound.
We now see that smart technologies are used as a framework for orienteering races, treasure hunts, information search, augmented reality games and much more. In outdoor nature activities, they contribute to games, learning, socializing, immersion, exercise, fun and relaxation.
We have student assistants to help us with the website, communication and research interviews. Our current student assistents are Josephine Halle and Maja Sophia Simonsen.
Each stage of the project has produced a report/e-book summarizing the findings. These can be found on the Danish version of the website.