Matt and I did an hour and a half farmcraft for a group of 12 students. They were only 3! I could just squeal thinking about how adorable they were. So tiny. So curious. Such off the wall
answers.
"What do you think that smell is (refering to the smoke they had noticed)?" CHICKEN FIRE!
"What do we get from chickens?" MILK
"What's in here (showing them the fire inside the stove)?" CHRISTMAS TREES!
More than once I thought, "oh my these little people are just insane." It is like a bunch of tiny people who are hallucinating on drugs or something. Are they seeing things that I am not? Then I realized that they have only been alive for 3 years. They spent the first one lying around pooping and they might not remember much from the second one. So really EVERYTHING is new to them. They are trying to make connections in a world where every thing is strange. I was trying to talk about the energy we get from the muffins we were eating standing outside of the Kitchen, when one of them interrupted me. He had just spotted the bathrooms and was so excited to have made a connection. "Look! bathrooms! We wash our hands in bathrooms!"
So I guess the point that I am trying to make is can we really teach EE to person with one year of life experience when they seem to be having psychedelic hallucinations? I think David Sobel would say yes. I agree with him and think that we can start even younger. That is to say that I think that we can foster a bond to nature by allowing children to be in natural places. I don't however think that the three-year-olds who were seeing Christmas trees in the wood stove necessarily went away with a greater sense of connection to their world. But then again what do I know?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I read somewhere once that the brain waves of a three year old and a schizophrenic are very similar. I don't know if this is true, I think I got this from a legitimate source. It kind of makes sense when you look at the behavior. I love that age. Like you said, everything is new! How exciting. I don't think it is ever too early to begin environmental education. Who remembers what they did at three? Not too many people, but I am sure what happens to us in those years help us become who we are. I also think that we as a society begin pretty early educating kids against the environment. At some point in our lives we are expected to get dirty, play in the mud, be excited about frogs and climb trees and after a certain point we are slowly steered away from all of that. Sometimes I think our job as environmental educators is to reprogram people. Keep the little ones interested beyond their childhood years, and help the older ones get re-aquainted with what they used to feel.
ReplyDeleteWow, such cute stories. It probably isn't about what they remember next week, much less a month or a year from now. It is about positive experiences now, that hopefully are continued. If anything, maybe it helps to educate the parents that there are some great opportunities they can have with their children.
ReplyDeleteIs it possible to teach EE to a 3 year old? Hmm...I would agree with you that the answer is yes. However, it sure ain't easy! It seems to me that at this age the best thing we can do from an educational standpoint is just to be excited about everything. Like you said, they are seeing the world very differently than us, experiencing everything for the very FIRST time! It is all exciting! Now I'm no child psychologist, but I would think that if we're as excited about something as they are, then it just may stick in their memories as something that's pretty darn important.
ReplyDeleteWe are giving them experiences, which will serve as background knowledge for future experiences. Hence, learning - environmental education for 3 year olds!
ReplyDelete