by editor | Aug 9, 2011 | K-12 Classroom Resources
by Greg Traymar
Sharing Nature North America
If you want to get through to an 8-year old, find an inspired 16-year old.
That’s what I’ve found in an extraordinary experience I had during the 2009-10 school year in which I trained a group of 16 high school students in Sharing Nature® games. These students, in turn, taught close to 300 elementary and middle school students in California, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii. The results were astounding, as exemplified one day when the elementary teacher told us that her class was one of the most challenging groups of students in the school. (more…)
by editor | Jul 5, 2011 | Outdoor education and Outdoor School, Place-based Education
By 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. (more…)
