Wachstumshormone

Jul

18

A Greater Impact—What Teaching has Taught Me

Filed Under Guest Commentary, Outdoor education, Perspectives | Leave a Comment

IMG_8885by David Strich
North Cascades Institute

Mountain School has ended for me, but this recent spring session changed my life as an educator. I have become more convinced that I am pursuing the right career and that my teaching techniques have had meaningful impacts in my students’ lives. It is embarrassing for me to speak so candidly and arrogantly, but the parent chaperones have told me I am doing good work. I know this is true because in two successive weeks I choked up at home while journaling. Though I write this article more than two months later, I still feel the emotions welling inside me as I recall specific moments that impacted me earlier in the season.

I blame one student who eloquently spoke about how he feels empowered to change the world. I fault another whose sheer smile in her own accomplishments makes me tear up every time I am reminded of her voice. Read more

Jul

12

When Did ‘Environmental Education’ Become a Dirty Word?

Filed Under Perspectives | Leave a Comment

by Susan Smartt
on Huffington Post

For those of us who advocate on behalf of environmental education, June was a pretty good month. First, President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative led to the establishment on June 13 of the Federal Inter-agency Council on Outdoor Recreation, bringing together federal, state and tribal agencies to ensure that everyone has access to the great outdoors. Then, on June 21, the Maryland State School Board made the final vote in support of a high school graduation requirement for environmental literacy, the nation’s first.

Read the rest of this article here.

Jul

5

The Importance of Deep Experiences in Nature

Filed Under Activities, Outdoor education, Perspectives, Place-based Education | Leave a Comment

Cornell1By Joseph Cornell

Profound moments with nature foster a true and vital understanding of our place in the world. I remember an experience I had as a five-year-old boy that awakened in me a life-long fascination for marshes, birds, and for a life lived wild and free.

I was playing outside on a cold, foggy morning when I suddenly heard a startling chorus of “whouks” coming toward me through the air. I peered intently at the thick fog, hoping for at least a glimpse of the geese. Seconds passed; the tempo of their cries increased. They were going to fly directly overhead! I could hear their wings slapping just yards above me. All of a sudden, bursting through a gap in the fog, came a large flock of pearl-white snow geese. It seemed as if the sky had given birth to them. For five or six wonderful seconds their sleek and graceful forms were visible, then they merged once again into the fog. Seeing the snow geese thrilled me deeply, and ever since then I have wanted to immerse myself in nature. Read more

Jun

7

The Social Studies of Spirituality

Filed Under Outdoor education, Perspectives, Spirituality | Leave a Comment

spiritualityBy Kasey Christian
IslandWood

(photo from silouanthompson.net)

Where are the boundaries between Social Studies, Science, and Spiritual beliefs? Where do these distinct practices intersect? How does a teacher model equal respect for each?

As professional educators, how do we teach about intrinsically interdisciplinary (and sensitive) topics such as the basic foundations of life and death?  Both alternative and popular cultures have explored the intimate intersection between natural sciences and spirituality since the earliest discoveries of humankind.  Through exploration of cultural customs and beliefs, a similarly fascinating intersection can be found between social studies and spirituality . As an outdoor educator in a formal, non-traditional setting, much of the curriculum I teach is based on the cultural history of the land.  As I respectfully acknowledge both the facts and beliefs of particular cultures, I am repeatedly challenged to articulate the similarities and differences between social studies, science, and spiritual beliefs.  In my desire to regard each subject area with equal respect and value, I am currently grappling with this dynamic, mysterious and sometimes perplexing crossroads between disciplines.

Read more

May

19

Paying Attention: Being a Naturalist and Searching for Patterns

Filed Under Activities, Environmental Literacy, Outdoor education, Perspectives, Science | 2 Comments

BestofClearingV-layout.inddBy Saul Weisberg
Executive Director
North Cascades Institute
(reprinted from The Best of CLEARING)

I love knowing the names of things. It makes them familiar, like old friends. I also love to look at patterns in nature. Veins on the back of a vine maple leaf. The yellow and black scales on the wing of a two-tailed tiger swallowtail. The striations in a piece of greenschist. The patterns of nature show us the details of life where the wonder lies.

The landscape is made up of details, too. The ways things fit together — the interactions of living and non-living things — tell a story. In order to make sense of larger patterns, in order to recognize them in the first place, you have to know the details. You have to be able to look at the pieces and pick them apart, understand what this thing is, why this lives here and not there, why things work the way they do, and what has changed over time.

The distrust and ignorance of science that is prevalent in society has made inroads in environmental education as well. It is not unusual to see eager and competent educators with master’s degrees in EE who have no knowledge of natural science, and who are unable to identify common birds and plants. These educators tend to focus on two things: the experience of teaching in the outdoors and the big picture — important processes and concepts. But somewhere between the experience and the process we lose touch with the thing itself — the organism and its world. Read more

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