Episode 21: Cultivating Naturalists
How do you cultivate a naturalist?
I landed on this question because while walking past the window of my local independent bookstore, I saw the book The Not-So Great Outdoors by author and illustrator Madeline Kloepper.
It is a story about a young girl who is dreading her family’s upcoming camping trip. She wants nothing to do with nature and thinks nature is dirty and that there is nothing to do out there. She spends a good part of the story being grumpy and wanting to go home.
But then something changed her mind. You’ll have to get the book to find out what it was.
I read this book in the store before buying it. After leaving the store I began to wonder…
How does interest in nature develop?
What factors contribute to developing this interest?
Today we consider the findings of an investigation into how interest in the natural world can be developed.
What can educators in informal learning environments do to facilitate an interest in nature?
Let’s find out.
Show Notes
Hecht, M., Knutson, K. & Crowley, K. (2019). Becoming a naturalist: Interest development across the learning ecology. Science Education. 103(3): 1-23 (Download PDF)
Madeline Kloepper, author of The Not-So Great Outdoors
Find your local independent bookstore at IndieBound.