What does Environmental Education look like?

When I think of environmental education, it looks like this...

What it doesn't look like...

It makes a nice brochure right?

From Childhood and Nature by David Sobel,

"Knowledge without love will not stick. But if love comes first, knowledge is sure to follow." Too often in schools, we're trying to inject knowledge without providing the experiences that allow love to slowly take root and then flourish.

One transcendent experience in nature is worth a thousand nature facts.

A Morning in the Bush

We have been so busy enjoying nature the past few months. I have many posts in my mind. Today I thought I would write about a simple short trip to the creek we enjoyed this past week. Each week I try to plan a relaxed morning down by the creek or on a bush trail. We take a packed lunch and just go looking and discovering. This week we have been making origami boats and so we took several down to the creek to float.

 

The boats are not only lovely to watch but it gets the kids down low to the water, sometimes into the water and discovering other things along the way. My daughter noticed several water plants while she was floating her boat and she got into the shallow water to feel them and retrieve some for our tank at home. The children also pointed out half a dozen water invertebrates and are keen to return next week to catch some for identification. The boats are a nice way for children to ease into the water environment, especially if they are reluctant or not used to being in a natural environment (without play equipment etc). It gives then a reason to go and a reason to get down and close to the aquatic environment.

 



Another reason I love play in natural environments is because it tests their skill and judgment. Children need to negotiate the narrow creek bed, jump the rocks, balance on the fallen trees, dodge the spider webs and listen to the sounds of the bush. My children have excellent balance and I have no doubt it is because of all the fallen tree balancing they do. There are also enough sticks and rocks for everyone and plenty of water to play in.

Then there are the discoveries. There are new things to discover all the time in nature which provoke questions and wonder. I don't always provide the children with answers. If questions come up, I ask more questions and keep the discovery alive and exciting. Then later in the week (and perhaps after a visit to the library) I might pop an open book about cicadas on the table for them to come across and the conversation will come up again. Sometimes it's enough just to hold a new insect or touch a fungi or wear a cicada shell in her hair for a while and no conversation is necessary. Some days 20 mins along the trail is enough and other days we are there still after 2 hrs. Some days it is a planned trip and other days our time absorbing nature is very impromptu.

Sometimes my children learn about nature in a less than ideal way, when we see animals that have been hit on the road. I always pull over and get the animal off the road, I also remove animals which are alive and have the potential to be hit. Recently I removed a Cockatoo which had been hit. It might seem strange to some people but I think it gives my children an opportunity not only to see an animal that they may not otherwise see up close but I am showing them, I care enough to stop and put the animal to rest in a safe place off the road and perhaps back in the bush. We collected up the Cockatoo and took it home with us. After some thinking and talking about it, my daughter and I decided we would preserve the Cockatoos wing. We asked and took it in honour by clipping it off and preserving it in salt. Then we buried the cockatoo. We are looking forward to revealing the wing in a few weeks time and having it as a keep sake.

This morning on our way to a play date with friends I noticed a bandicoot had been hit on the road. I stopped the car and got both children out to have a look. It was a female with a baby in its pouch that had sadly died as well. Connection to nature is so important for the future stewardship of our planet. The way we treat an animal shows our children that connection. If I drive past I have no connection, no care. If I pick it up and put it safety to rest, I hold a connection that my children will see and learn from too.

Mistletoe in Eucalyptus tereticornis