Nuggets from 2016 (Part 3)
This post begins where the last one left off, completing our review of nuggets from the past year.
ExpERIEnce is Key
By Heather Fox
Ainslie Brosig, Executive Director of the ExpERIEnce Children’s Museum in Erie, Pennsylvania describes herself as a person who does not like to get dirty; a person who tries to “contain a mess.” Yet she created a Nature Explore Classroom. Here’s how she was inspired to embrace the space.
- Tami Fowler, Assistant Director at the museum, gave Ainslie a copy of the Nature Explore Resource Guide.
- Together they attended a Nature Explore Workshop, during which they were asked to investigate the outdoor classroom in silence. The calm and focus Ainslie experienced moved her deeply.
- A champion of the cause, rich documentation, and direct personal experience inspired Ainslie to move beyond her comfort zone and create a rich Nature Explore Classroom.
This Medical Center Prescribes Nature, and Fills Prescriptions On-Site
By Dexter Lane
- Daniel Porter, MD, Medical Director of the Lone Star Family Health Center in Conroe, Texas, participated in the “Rx for Outdoor Activity” training by the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF).
- NEEF, with US Forest Service funding, and wide support from the Conroe community, made possible the Nature Explore Classroom at the Health Center.
- Dr. Porter supervises medical staff in writing actual prescriptions for time in nature, which can be filled on-site in the outdoor classroom, and at other local parks.
Engaging Parents in Children’s Outdoor Learning: A Win-Win Proposition
By Sara Gilliam
Parents may play many roles in Nature Explore Classrooms; from fundraising and performing maintenance, to spending time with children. Research has shown that the following factors develop and enhance parental engagement.
- Parents’ perceptions shifted after they spent time in a Nature Explore Classroom, reflecting their newfound recognition that spending time outdoors has health and learning benefits for their children.
- Parents reported their own increased awareness of the value of children having access to natural materials and unstructured time outdoors.
- Effective and lasting programming that engages parents begins with the staff.
Play Ball!
By Dexter Lane
- Nolan Ryan, one of baseball’s greatest ever pitchers, developed his amazing skills through outdoor play during childhood.
- Pitching a baseball, like activities in a Nature Explore Classroom, involves repetition and mastery of many variables.
- Children in outdoor classrooms engaging in building things are developing motor and social skills, while practicing the fundamentals of physics during a whole-body experience.
- Play outdoors involves an integration of skills and concepts that are learned automatically during repetitive practice.
- Many of these skills may change in form over the years, yet are foundational to later learning, and last a lifetime.
Cultivating the Scientist in Every Child
By Dexter Lane
- All young children are driven to understand the world, and play is their form of scientific investigation.
- Play with natural materials involves all the senses, and is rich in learning opportunities.
- Learning can be deepened if a child has sufficient time for self-directed exploration, accompanied by an adult who is interested in the object/subject of this exploration, and who scaffolds the child’s own concepts and observations.
Kat Gets It
By Dexter Lane
We meet Kat Horion, a teacher at the Temple Shalom Nursery School in West Newton, Massachusetts. Steeped in nature as a child, Kat has an intuitive teaching style that fits perfectly into the third bullet point from the previous post. Her elegantly stated observations are must readings for insight into best practices in outdoor classrooms.
Children Lead a Teacher Back to Nature
By Dexter Lane
We meet Erin Borras, another teacher at the Temple Shalom Nursery School. Although she played in nature as a child, like many, she gradually lost meaningful daily contacts with the natural world as she moved into adulthood. She described herself as having been in a bubble, with nature on the outside. Through sharing her love of art, during outdoor projects with the children, Erin returned to feelings of comfort and inspiration in nature.
Engaging Teachers as Co-Researchers: A Practice That Fosters Reflective Teaching
By Sara Gilliam
Results from a study of teachers in a Nature Explore Classroom who themselves researched children’s experiences through documentation, and discussions with their peers. Findings from the study:
- Teachers indicated that the co-researcher training they received helped them grow professionally and stretch beyond their comfort zones.
- This program reported empowerment among teachers and increased staff retention. Early childhood programs typically experience a 30-50 percent staff turnover rate annually. This program retained 76 percent of teachers over the ten-year period studied.
- Teachers reported increased recognition of children’s skill development and the learning process, as well as how to support it.
She’ll Find Her Own Grand Canyon
By Dexter Lane
- We adults are often attracted to nature on a grand scale—National Parks, dramatic landscapes, etc.
- For the young child, whose brain is wired to explore and learn, everyday nature in an outdoor classroom or backyard can be dramatic.
- An anthill, birds at a feeder, squirrels taking nuts left for them can be a child’s own Grand Canyon.
Storage: A Nature Explore Classroom Essential
By Heather Fox
The Nature Explore program participated in the planning and development of the Nature Explore Classroom at Southern Heights Food Forest, a two-acre space in Lincoln, Nebraska. The space houses an outdoor classroom along with a richly diverse array of crop plantings. Lessons learned about storage needs are applicable to any Nature Explore Classroom.
- Work with a skilled craftsperson so you can learn about the materials, construction and maintenance of the storage area.
- Design storage solutions appropriate for materials used in each activity area. Garden tools might not need the waterproof enclosure needed for art materials.
- Give yourself enough time to develop practical and aesthetic solutions that are harmonious with your outdoor classroom.
From Not Getting It, to Getting It
By Dexter Lane
- Some parents have only known playgrounds with swings, slides and jungle gyms, and don’t understand that play, learning and physical development happen in outdoor classrooms.
- A Parent was hesitant to enter his child in a preschool with a Nature Explore Classroom as he didn’t think her learning, social and motor delays would be addressed in that environment.
- Doctors enthusiastically confirmed that this child was making new and unusual progress. Her play in the outdoor classroom contributed significantly.
This Would Never Have Happened Indoors: Holistic Skill Development and Child-Led Learning in Nature Explore Classrooms
By Sara Gilliam
Findings from research performed in a Nature Explore Classroom in Minnesota:
- The Nature Explore Classroom produced significant changes in how children and teachers perceived the use of outdoor spaces. Teachers saw the outdoors as a place for children to explore, develop complex play themes, experience rich sensory input and find focus in a less confined space.
- The high level of child-initiated play yielded a significant impact on children’s skill development in areas including social/interpersonal skills, gross and fine motor skills, language and literacy, math, science, construction/engineering and visual spatial skills.
- Use of the Nature Explore Classroom design guiding principles supported children’s freedom to choose what, how, and where to play with materials of their choosing.
- Teachers reported that children with special needs (i.e. sensory-integration, autism and language delays) who struggled indoors were often reported calmer and more focused outdoors.
