What will learners discover or create given unstructured time in nature?
Two classrooms of “Nature Buddies” that spend time exploring outdoors together every school cycle decided to try something new: adopt a forest school approach to some of their outdoor exploration. These Grades 1/2 and 3/4 teachers would take learners to a natural setting (e.g., park, forest) and let the learners make their own discoveries, create their own games or activities, and for the most part solve their own problems. These teachers were curious about what the learners would be interested in and how they could tie that curiosity to curricular learning in the classroom.
Learners were taken to natural spaces for long periods of unstructured play and were challenged to interact with the landscape and play for anywhere from one to four hours. Learners were supplied with simple supplies that allowed for open-ended play such as pieces of rope, plastic containers, travel hammocks, magnifying glasses, and field guides. Being in a new learning environment (nature) without their normal supplies or direct instruction, learners had no choice but to try new things and take risks to interact with this space for several hours. For some this looked like collecting felled branches and creating lean-tos, for others this was climbing trees or creating a dramatic play scenario. They were forced to interact with the land in ways that they hadn’t needed to in the past, as they often entered these spaces with an agenda such as bike riding or passing through or with play materials such as soccer balls or recess equipment. This experience allowed learners to really take in their surroundings and see what was available to them and how they could use these natural materials in new and innovative ways.
As learners noticed and interacted with natural materials and made discoveries that were new to them, many relevant questions arose that served as provocations for later learning possibilities within the classroom, such as, “What kind of bug is this?,” “What kind of animal left this poop?,” “Why are some branches starting to fall apart?,” or “Why is there so much moss in some places but not others?” Others explored new materials by testing and adapting ideas or plans while playing or building. Learners that were building shelters or other objects ran into problems such as branches being too big or too decomposed to move or stand up, while others ran into issues such as easily climbing up a tree but struggling to develop a plan to get down. These problems allowed learners to enhance and adjust new ideas by building on ideas of others. Trying another way, listening to a suggestion, or working as a team often allowed learners to improve their original ideas enough to persevere through obstacles and meet their intended goal.
The classroom teachers were purposeful in this practice to step back and allow learners to solve their own problems when it was safe to do so. That meant more opportunity for learners to use their imaginations to create games or activities, and created more space for learners to use critical thinking skills and team work to persevere when things got difficult. Teachers found throughout these adventures that learners would often leave with an overall greater sense of independence and autonomy than when they began because they had been trusted to create, curate, and problem solve through their own learning experience.
A concept discussed in these outings was “We always look out for each other, and we always look out for Mother Earth.” Through interactions with the natural space, learners saw how their actions toward the natural world around them directly impacted its well-being. In class, learners explored Indigenous perspectives about being sustainable when collecting materials, only taking what they needed, and following the basic rules of the honourable harvest, which state in general terms that one does not take the first or the last of anything, one should share what is taken, one should give thanks for what is given/taken, and one should give back (Kimmerer). Children of these ages (6 to 10 years) are often obsessed with quantity, trying to collect as much of something as possible. Since learners were dealing with natural resources, it was taken as an excellent opportunity to teach about sustainability and what it means to be an active citizen within the natural world. Questions were posed such as “If we took all of the pine cones, would there be an opportunity for new trees to grow?” or “Do mushrooms or moss have a job in nature? If we remove all of them from an area, what effect would that have?” Through these discussions, learners got to explore the interconnectedness of self, others, and the natural world, and experience first-hand systems such as decomposition at work. This led learners to make ethical choices whether in or out of the forest to promote healthy and sustainable outcomes for the natural world.
After forest adventures, teachers would have reflective discussions with learners about what was discovered and what questions learners had. These observations and wonderings guided all sorts of rich interdisciplinary classroom learning that was rooted in first-hand experiences that learners were able to create for themselves in nature. One example was a classroom inquiry into maple trees. Learners found and recognized maple trees on an outing, and the classroom teachers used this as a provocation to research maple trees (using books, field guides, websites, and videos, speaking to arborists) and the process of, as well as Indigenous stories of, the creation of maple syrup. Learners created non-fiction texts that described the features of maple trees, their importance to our Canadian and Indigenous cultures, and the process of tapping and boiling down maple sap (which they did!).
A few short visits into nature opened the door to weeks of learning inside and outside of the classroom!
Kimmerer, Robin Wall. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed Editions, 2015.
Manitoba. Field Guide: Trees of Manitoba.
