Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Learning With Children in Nature

I've been thinking a lot lately about how to help other teachers and parents of young children use the limitless resources of the outdoors to help children learn. Anyone, ANYONE, can take children outside. The natural world is out there, everywhere. My particular passion is urban environmental education because I grew up, was educated, raised my own children, and have taught in an urban environment. 

In April 2016 I had the privilege of presenting my work with my colleagues at Dodge Nature Preschool's annual Learning Conference. We talked about our work with children outdoors, how to use the natural world to spark their curiosity and engage sustained learning, and how to prepare to get children outside. I am sharing the handout we created, in the hopes that you find it useful in your experiences with children outdoors.






Learning With Children in Nature
Pay attention, be astonished, tell about it… -Mary Oliver

Dodge Nature Preschool Learning Conference, April 2016
Kari Ryg, Brenda Jerde, and Dani Porter Born

Small Moments, Big Opportunities in Your Work With Children
·      Nature is everywhere! Every site, urban/suburban/rural has some nature somewhere… wind, rain, sunshine, insects, birds, a plant growing in a sidewalk crack – look for it!
·      Relationships and collaboration: Be present and pay attention. It’s easy to miss those small moments if you are not looking for them. The learning is happening whether you notice it or not. Sharing an experience with a child is powerful for teachers and children.
·      Be prepared physically. Not every teacher will carry a backpack full of gear when taking children outside. We find it helpful to have at the very least a phone or camera to document moments (photo, video, text). If you can have things like paper and pencil, ziplock bags or a bucket for collection, scissors, rope or yarn, small hand lenses, fold-out field guides – wonderful! If not, think of ways you’ll be able to remember what the children were interested in and curious about so that you can support and extend that learning later.
·      You don’t need to be an expert about everything outdoors! In fact, you can’t be. But you can tell children that you don’t know something and then figure out how to learn it together. Every encounter in the natural world brings new experiences and new questions. Even if you’re revisiting the same places. Nature isn’t static.

Now what? How do I start?
·      Go outside.
·      Observe the children. Read their cues. Four little bodies gathered around something, heads down, means something interesting is happening.
·      Get close. Get right in there with them as a partner sharing in their discovery.
·      Ask questions! Promote inquiry and avoid the urge to give away the answers.
·      Document and reflect when you can. You will be amazed at what you learn later when you engage in the simple process of writing down an experience or conversation.
·      Plan for and revisit experiences and discoveries with the children to deepen or expand on their ideas.

Questions to Guide Inquiry
·      What does it look like? Or remind you of? Have you seen that before? What do you think it is?
·      How does it smell? Feel? Taste (when appropriate)? Sound?
·      How does it work? Is it changing?
·      What made that happen?
·      How is it like or different from something else?
·      How is it connected to something else?
·      How do you know?
·      How can we find out more?

No comments:

Post a Comment