Copasetic Flow

 I went perusing the education literature a few days back, and once again, I was struck with the thing. The thing I  always forget about between jaunts into the education literature world: The assertion that kids learn differently, than adults, and must therefore be especially catered to. I  don’t believe that  assertion to be true, but there it was again. An article asked me to accept that different age groups should  be exposed to  different aspects of nature—endangered species, activism, animals themselves—differently. I got the gist of what they meant, and they didn’t have a bad message: Research  has  substantiated  that  an empathy  with  and love  of  nature,  along  with  later positive  environmental behaviors  and attitudes,  grow  out  of  children’s  regular contact with  and play  in the  natural world. But that fact that I had to decode aro...

 Amy Martin, on twitter asked if there were good articles available about kids, free play, and young people servivng as stewards of the outdoors Any good book, article, journal recommendations please on outdoor learning in the early years, children’s autonomy and ownership of the outdoors and examples where children are recognised as environmental stewards..... ?🌲 pic.twitter.com/Tpuy9pHfSr — Amy Martin #BlackLivesMatter (@amyrozelmartin) December 31, 2020 Which kind of rocked for me, because it was an excuse to go look for things on Google Scholar. The kids heard me exclaim, "Thank God! A rabbit hole!!!" A few minutes later, I'd come up with an interesting article suggesting how kids might be made into better stewards, educated to be stewards, if you will. While I take umbrage with the article's insistence  that kids  must be taught a thing before they can do it—and yes, oh yes, I will write more about that  later—I was heartened by the sheer bulk of references,...