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I have been attending online classes through The Outdoor Learning Store located in Canada. I was going to review the courses after I completed the series However, they are so good and engaging I do not want to wait that long. I want others to know about their offerings. The classes are excellent for Master Naturalists, home school parents, teachers, trail guides, youth troop leaders and outdoor enthusiasts. The Outdoor Learning Store is a charitable non-profit organization. They provide books, material, and classes for over 70 outdoor organizations across Turtle Island. Their resources are designed to engage young learners, to excite them about learning about nature while in nature. They are inclusive and recognize that for many young people nature is found in urban settings. The Outdoor Learning Store provides free classes, podcasts, workshops, and trainings designed for individual organizations. I have been attending the free one-hour training sessions. They are scheduled for Tuesday evenings at 7 PM EST. Attendees are in the hundreds and are from around the world. However, most attendees are from Turtle Island, from Canada and the United States. Each session has a specific focus, and the teachers are experts who have written about their topics as well as taught their activities out of doors. I missed the first session, School Gardening: Teaching Tools and Resources. However, that is not a concern. Each session is recorded so I can get back to it. I attended: Resources for Earth Month, Taking a Closer Look: Investigations into Nature, Nature Activities for Year-around Learning, Resources for World Oceans Day, and Race and Nature for Educators. I am not waiting to share my enthusiasm for these courses because they have three remaining courses for this season that might be of interest to our readers. The remaining classes are: May 31, How to Teach Nature Journaling: Curiosity, Wonder, Attention. The class is led by John Muir Laws. June 06, Walking Together: Reconnecting to Nature Through Two-Eyed Seeing. The teachers include Elder Albert D. Marshall and Louise Zimanyi. June 13, Animating Outdoor Learning: Using Finger Puppets. These class focuses on animal facts and outdoor learning using Indigenous finger puppets. I enjoyed each of the classes. To be sure some are too ambitious. They would be more relaxed if they were broken into multiple classes. The Year-round learning could easily be broken into a class for each season. I found the class on Race and Nature to be particularly useful. As we struggle to address climate change it is clear healing will take all of us. Therefore, it is vital to make outdoor learning available to all. It is important to recognize that for many young people their involvement with nature happens in urban settings and making that accessible and meaningful is important. Being aware of our own assumptions, bias, and limitations is equally important. Each class has lively introductions, land acknowledgements, polls, and useful lists of resources. Once the course is completed, attendees may access a very color certificate of attendance. So, if you are looking to make your trail hikes more engaging, your nature classes exciting, or wanting to integrate indigenous learning into your classes the Outdoor Learning Store is an easy and useful way to make that happen.
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The Allen County Indiana Master Naturalist program was introduced to natural and historical interpretation at Metea County Park. The first speaker, Greta Sirois is a member of the Myaami (Miami) Nation of Indiana of Indiana. She helped students understand how to make history and culture relevant to naturalists engaging the public. The second speaker was Bob Dispenza. He is the Park and Education Manager at Metea County Park. One of his vocations is that of a Civil War Reenactor. He provided a second approach to helping students make history come alive. There is no doubt that Bob’s presentation as a Hoosier Naval Officer during the Civil War was entertaining. However, that was not the point. He started his presentation as himself. He explained what he was going to do, using clothing, artifacts, letters, and historical information, to make his “person” come alive. This provided an avenue for students to understand the influence of the land on behavior and history. As a state of rivers and canals connected to much of the nation east of the Mississippi River it made sense that Indiana had a navy contingent. Also, following Greta Sirois’s Myaami presentation the transformation of the land became clear. Historical and cultural presentation integrates geology, geography, plant and animal life as well as human behaviors. This is the land of glaciers, multiple Native peoples, settlers, all shaped by the land. This is a land that had great forests and wetlands only to have them reduced to increase farmland, cities, and address health concerns. Historical interpretation engages students by giving them living facts about the land and people and then challenging them to give those facts meaning. Today we recognize wetlands as vital to healthy water systems, biodiversity, and flood control. However the reasons for draining the wetlands can be understood without being judgmental. Today we face critical environmental concerns. Learning land management from indigenous peoples who lived in harmony with the land can prove to be beneficial. When people study to become Master Naturalists, I suspect historical interpretation is not the first thing they think of. Thanks to Greta and Bob’s presentations I suspect the future Master Naturalists will be far more engaging with their park visitors because of tonight’s model of interpretation. |
Carl Jylland-Halverson
I am just a nature lover who struggles not to be overwhelmed or immobilized by the destructive impact humans are having on the planet. My goal is to do my part to reduce my carbon footprint, to celebrate biodiversity, to help heal my tiny part of the earth. Please join me in this endeavor to turn hope into action. Archives
September 2024
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