Revolution in Aggregate
Sequel to "Transformation, Revolution, and other Hyperbole in Education Reform"
Tl;dr (your summary in case you’re short on time)
I am advocating for transforming schools in the “nature-based learning revolution.” Here on
I’m tackling education historian Larry Cuban’s 6 questions for school transformers. Last week I took up #1. This week #2 & #3:Dear People Who Care About Students,
This is the second installment on my journey to understand what I mean when I say “nature-based learning revolution.” (Read part 1 here.)
It’s in response to education historian, Larry Cuban’s, blog: “Transform” Schools: Hyped Language Weakens Reform” in which he highlights the ubiquitous use of the phrase “transform schools” and asks these 6 questions to interrogate those of us who use it (NB: I use “revolutionize” in lieu of transform; the questions stand).
Today I’m answering #2 and #3.
1. What does “transform” mean to you?
2. What are the problems to which “transformed” schools are the solution?
3. What exactly is to be transformed? School structures? Cultures? Classroom teaching? Learners?
4. Transform to what? What are the sought after outcomes?
5. How fast should the “transformation” be?
6. How will you know that the “transformation” will be better than what you already have?
7. Bonus from me: What does it feel like when things have transformed?
Here goes…
2. What are the problems to which transformed (revolutionized) schools are the solution?
This one is SUPER hard for me. I’ve gotta be honest about what I mean by “solution” first.
I’m advocating for a set of modest and actionable changes to foster nature connections in schools through nature-based learning.
Nature-based learning – learning outdoors or bringing elements of nature indoors for learning – is universally applicable and adaptable wherever humans and nature exist (which is – or should be – EVERYWHERE!). It can be done in any school anywhere by any educator in any content area and any curriculum model with any age group.
Honestly, I don’t usually mess around with the word “solve” because that feels dishonest. The nature-based learning revolution is about ‘change for the better’ through modest and actionable improvements on the individual level. It is a revolution in aggregate.
The list of problems for which we have compelling evidence suggesting or showing nature connections help make things better in schools1 is long:
The teacher retention, recruitment, and joy crisis2
Declining academic achievement and “learning loss” (also here and here)
Poor social-emotional skills ranging from communication to problem solving to collaboration to self-regulation (here, here)
Total irrelevance of so much of what’s happening in schools in the face of the world students already inhabit and will inherit (eco-anxiety → climate doom) (here)
3. What exactly is to be transformed? School structures? Cultures? Classroom teaching? Learners?
We need small changes to routine instructional and classroom design practices.
Let me start with a few analogous changes that are now common practice to get a sense of what I mean:
Teachers write learning targets on the board before starting a lesson
Students sit in table pods or other flexible arrangements rather than just files of desks fixed to their tape marks on the floor
Schools provide lunch (and often “breakfast after the bell”) for learners to ensure all students have something to eat
Disaggregated, one teacher writing learning objectives on the board appears insignificant. Likewise, the nature-based learning revolution looks almost trivial at the individual level.
It is the 5th grade teacher who glues nature scenes inside testing privacy shields. Or the HS algebra teacher who has her students trace the ridgeline of Sleeping Ute Mountain and then come indoors to plot zero slope, positive slope, and negative slope on their drawings. It is the 4th grade teacher whose students walk around their building – an area with expansive views and few trees or natural green spaces – to gather what nature objects they can find – seeds, gravel, leaves – to practice factors of 24. It is a teacher who puts cut flowers on student tables at the beginning of each week and plays nature soundscapes when her students settle into class.
The seeming insignificance of these disaggregated changes is a MASSIVE messaging problem! And, it’s a vexing research problem too. How can we trace improved test scores to one teacher putting an aspen tree shower curtain over her chaotic shelves? Yet “converging evidence strongly suggests that experiences of nature boost academic learning, personal development, and environmental stewardship.” And, we know modest, actionable changes are how change happens in education.
So I feel like I’m over here saying things that feel like Portlandia’s “Put a bird on it” mantra:
🐥 Imagine what the world would look like if every student listened to birdsongs or forest soundscapes while they settled into their desks and felt a little calmer.
🌲 Imagine what could happen if students sat under trees to read and had their direct attention faculties restored to better engage with their text.
🏞️ Imagine what would happen if every student got to learn outside in a safe, nature-filled space near their school.
These things sound “nice” – but maybe not like the stuff of revolution.
Meanwhile, with his billionaire’s megaphone, Mark Zuckerberg cavalierly suggests that technology-based “personalized learning” could vault the average student to the 98th percentile of performance.3
How can the nature-based learning revolution compete with that?
And yet…
We know nature-connected schools can make things better for educators and students.
So LET’S DO THIS.
As Howard Frumkin, former Dean of the School of Public Health, University of Washington, says:
Or as I say,
Come back next week for more on the nature-based learning revolution….
❤️ B
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Note to self: At some point I really need to make a list of all of my fave studies for each different problem. For now, many of the links above rely on the excellent work of the Children & Nature Network to compile research into actionable infographics (with citations!). They also have a rad research library here.
This one is tough from a research perspective, but we know teachers are leaving the profession and I know teachers I’ve worked have said this bring them joy and will keep them in the profession for longer.
Thanks Matt Barnum & Chalkbeat for your coverage of these kinds of things!