Sharing Nature®
Joseph Cornell
1h54min45
153 pages. Temps de lecture estimé 1h55min.
Sharing Nature by author Joseph Bharat Cornell
A nature education classic has been rewritten!
Joseph Cornell has combined Sharing Nature with Children (which has sold more than half a million copies and sparked a worldwide revolution in nature education) with Sharing Nature with Children II (a treasury of some of Joseph's best-loved nature games for children and adults) in one complete volume: Sharing Nature.
Upon its release, Sharing Nature quickly received prestigious awards:
Winner, Silver Nautilus Award in the Animals & Nature category
Winner, Grand Prize: Indie Book Awards in the Non-Fiction category
Winner, Indie Book Award in the Science/Nature/Environment category
Winner, Indie Book Award in the Parenting/Family category
Winner, Silver Evergreen Medal in the Nature Conservation category
Winner, Green Book Festival Award in the How-To category
Shortlisted, 2016 Green Earth Book Award in the Young Adult Nonfiction category
Finalist, 2016 INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award in the Nature category
Not just a book, this is a powerful approach to nature education. Fans of the original work will be excited by this new version of their beloved nature handbook, which incorporates the author's latest insights. (Cornell drew upon a wealth of experience to significantly revise and expand this book.)
New readers—including outdoor enthusiasts of all types and nature-based schools and instructors—will be enthralled by this phenomenal teaching tool. Essential, easy to use, Sharing Nature is nature awareness made simple. It makes experiencing nature fun. An extraordinary resource for anyone who would like to get in touch with the land, trees, and mountains. This book is a treasure trove of games and activities that tap into our natural curiosity, imagination, and wonder. Give a friend or a child an experience of Nature and wildlife that he will remember the rest of his life.
Sharing Nature takes readers beyond their intellects and into their hearts, where true understanding and appreciation take place. The wildly popular nature activities in this book arouse a sense of mystery, and engender quiet attention, observation, and the possibility of revelation. New nature games—and old favorites—and Cornell's typically insightful commentary makes this new and quintessential version of this special classic even more valuable to nature enthusiasts worldwide.
In page after page of innovative activities, Cornell's unique blend of knowledge and warmth creates a contagious atmosphere for learning. Enjoy the color interior with 250 photos offering comprehensive easy-to-follow instructions.
The Sharing Nature movement has expanded to countries all over the globe. Cornell and his work have been recommended by the Boy Scouts of America, the American Camping Association, the National Audubon Society, Japan's national school system, and many others. Cornell also introduces his remarkable technique of Flow Learning, showing how to match nature activities to the interest and energy levels of participants and children, and to organize them in a way that works, placing them in thematic sequence to ensure a genuinely uplifting experience.Excerpts from Sharing Nature by Joseph Cornell,
Author and founder of Sharing Nature Worldwide
Foreword
Nearby or far away, experiences in the natural world bring us alive. Recall, if you will, those moments when you were outdoors, moving, doing, learning, fully using your senses, feeling truly joyful. Those may have been rare events—though I hope that’s not the case—but if you were lucky enough to experience such moments, they remain indelible in memory. They hold life within them. When you recall those moments, you feel, once again, that deep sense of wonder and possibility.
What if there were a method to reinstate this feeling of authenticity in others? That was the question educator Joseph Cornell asked himself in 1971.
It’s no easy task to develop a nature-based teaching method capable of awakening a deep sense of awe and possibility in a swarm of active children, but Cornell did just that. He created a powerful brand of nature-based instruction through hundreds of hands-on training sessions and through his books. His Flow Learning™ techniques, which embrace joy as part of the teaching and learning experience, have helped teachers around the world connect with their students. David Tribe, the retired Environmental Education Consultant for the New South Wales Department of Education, Australia, describes this influence: “The use of Flow Learning™ stages, together with the accompanying activities, makes education about the environment a joy to teach.”
The essence of Flow Learning™ is deceptively simple. As Cornell wisely puts it, “A student’s greatest assets are enthusiasm, curiosity, and a sense of wonder. If we stultify these qualities, we destroy that part in ourselves that reaches out and embraces life.”
A growing body of anecdotal and research-based evidence indicates that people of any age feel happier, are physically and mentally healthier, and test better in school if they regularly play and learn in natural environments. Natural environments have a positive impact on our senses, on our spiritual health, and on our bonds with family and the larger community—including that of other species.
Simply put, as we restore our connection with nature, we restore ourselves.
Cornell’s highly influential guidebook, Sharing Nature with Children, is elevated to a new plateau in this special, all-ages-included 35th anniversary edition. This innovative approach invites children and adults to learn about the natural world through games and other enjoyable personal connections, and presents spiritual concepts in the plain light of day. Above all, Cornell reminds us that a nature-enriched life can be a lot of fun. Educators around the world report that children dive into this experiential learning flow without realizing that their delight is all part of the plan.
In 2005, with the publication of my book Last Child in the Woods, I introduced the term nature-deficit disorder as a doorway into a wide societal conversation about the disconnection between people and the rest of nature, and the implications. Rising obesity rates, incidences of depression and anxiety, the surge of adult-onset diabetes strongly suggest health problems resulting from sedentary lifestyles. As the World Health Organization pointed out in a 2002 report, “A sedentary lifestyle could very well be among the 10 leading causes of death and disability in the world.”
Science doesn’t have all the answers, but we do know that even limited exposure to nature can alleviate the effects of attention deficit disorder, and a little bit of contact with nature can help counter the effects of toxic stress. Correlative studies about the benefits have multiplied quickly. We need more research, but, as Howard Frumkin, dean of the University of Washington’s School of Public Health says, “We know enough to act.”
Now, nature-based schools are increasingly part of the conversation, and Joseph Cornell’s inspirational work has influenced many of those educators, even as his writing also celebrates the importance of our urban parks, home gardens, and school grounds. As you will see, Cornell has devised ingenious nature-themed games that can be played in almost any venue. He celebrates mystery, quiet attention, observation, and the possibility of revelation. His work shines a light on values we sometimes overlook in the rush of daily life; he reminds teachers everywhere of the vital importance of a deep connection with nature.
To be sure, teachers, parents and caregivers will find practical advice for storytelling and leading nature rambles, as well as wisdom from the heart.
Many of us believe the future belongs to those nature-smart individuals who develop a deep understanding of the natural world through experiences that balance the ever-present tilt toward a virtual world. Joseph Cornell’s generous and gentle work continues to offer a guiding hand.
Richard Louv is the author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder and The Nature Principle. He is Chairman Emeritus of the Children & Nature Network.
Chapter One
The Story Behind the Book
In 1971, just as I had begun my university major in nature awareness, I led my first nature walk with twenty-two second graders from a small school in the California foothills. I had recently been experiencing nature’s sublime beauty and magnificence in the Sierra wilderness—and I wanted the children to feel for themselves what had moved me so deeply—a lofty goal, considering my total lack of teaching experience.
My first mistake was heading down an old forest road without a clear plan for how to focus the children’s lively energy. Excited to be outside and oblivious to the natural surroundings, the children used the road as a racetrack. As they ran down the road, I hurried after them. Eventually, we stopped for lunch, and then the students ran exuberantly back to their classroom.
I had wanted the children to truly feel and appreciate the trees and animals that lived around them. While I knew I hadn’t achieved my goals for the walk, I felt in my heart that there was a way of connecting people deeply with nature. I just hadn’t yet found it.
Most outdoor learning at the time used the “walk—stop—talk” model: the leader stops at a subject of interest, talks to the group about it, then leads them to the next station. The group simply listens passively. I remember going on such a forest walk in Ohio. At a certain point, I became so bored that I wondered if I was sincere in my desire to become a naturalist. Then I realized that the whole day I’d come no closer to a tree than ten yards.
In the early 1970s the idea of experiential nature activities was just starting to take off. Here I found exactly what I was seeking—nature activities helped people become fully engaged with nature, and did so in a way that exhilarated both mind and heart.
Once I discovered how nature activities could make learning focused, dynamic, and joyful, I immediately began to create my own activities, and soon found myself having great success sharing them with others. It was heartwarming to see how children and adults playing these games became vibrantly alive, and resonated deeply with nature and with the best part of themselves.
In 1979, I published these activities in Sharing Nature with Children, which pioneered and popularized internationally the use of nature activities. Parents and educators across the globe were wildly enthusiastic about these games, because, as National Audubon’s Vice President of Education, Duryea Morton, wrote, “by using these activities children actually experience what it is like to be a part of the natural world.”
Lucy Gertz, now a manager with the Massachusetts Audubon Society, wrote in 2002 about the tremendous impact Sharing Nature with Children had on the field of nature education in the early 1980s:
"When a copy of Sharing Nature with Children landed in our midst, the teacher/naturalists were like vultures competing for the kill. Most of us were new to environmental education. We had ecology textbooks and field guides, but little else besides what our hearts were guiding us to do. But here in this book, we found everything—philosophy, activities, and ways to lead children to meaningful environmental education experiences. This small book was hugely significant to us—it was our guide and our compass."
In almost every country today, educators, naturalists, parents, youth and religious leaders all enthusiastically use these activities. In Japan alone, over 35,000 adults have become trained Sharing Nature leaders.
I have now updated and completely rewritten that original guidebook for its 35th anniversary. Incorporated into this edition are insights that I’ve gained from leading hundreds of training sessions. Sharing Nature: Nature Awareness Activities for All Ages features the most popular and well-loved games from Sharing Nature with Children Volumes I & II, as well as many new ones. Also included is an expanded section on Flow Learning™, the outdoor learning strategy that makes nature a joy to teach.
Each of the fifty-four activities in Sharing Nature has been selected for its ability to foster a deeper understanding of and rapport with nature. I wish you many splendid and memorable moments as you share the joy of nature with friends, young and old.Contents for Sharing Nature by Joseph Cornell
Foreword by Richard Louv |7
By Tamarack Song |11
1. The Story Behind the Book |17
Part One: Flow Learning
2. Learning with the Heart |23
Flow Learning |27
3. The Art of Flow Learning |31
4. Four Steps to Nature Awareness |33
The Joy of Flow Learning |46
Part Two: Nature Activities Choosing the Right Game for the Time and Place |51
5. Stage One: Awaken Enthusiasm |52
Getting Acquainted (55), Noses (56), Wild Animal Scramble (58), Build a Tree (60), Natural Processes (66), Owls and Crows (68), Bat and Moth (70), Predator-Prey (72), Pyramid of Life (74), Sled Dogs (77), Animal Parts (80), Animal Clue Game (81), Animal Clue Relay (84), Noah’s Ark (86), Guess and Run! (88)
6. Stage Two: Focus Attention |92
I Am Curious About (95), Sounds (98), Colors (99), I Can See (100), How Close? (102), Sound Map (106), Camouflage Trail (108), Animals, Animals! (110), Micro-Hike (112), Duplication (113), Sleeping Miser (114), Watcher of the Road (116)
7. Stage Three: Offer Direct Experience |118
Interview with Nature (121), Observe Nature Like John Muir (123), Camera (125), Bird Calling (129), Mystery Animal (131), Meet a Tree (137), Caterpillar Walk (139), Journey to the Heart of Nature (140), Vertical Poem (144), Sunset Watch (146), Blind Walk (151), Back Home (152), Blind Trail (153), Guided Imagery (155), Tree Imagery (157)
8. Stage Four: Share Inspiration |164
Special Moments (167), Nature Reflections (168), Folding Poem (171), Silent Sharing Walk (173), With Beauty Before Me (175), Recipe for a Forest (176), A Letter to Myself (177), Storytelling to Share Inspiration (180), The Birds of the Air (184)
Photographer and Artist Credits |188
Sharing Nature Online Resources |191
Appendices:
A: List of Games in Alphabetical Order |193
B: Find the Best Game |194
C: Mystery Animal Drawing |195
D: “The Birds of the Air” Musical Score |196
E: Animal Clues for Guessing Games |197
Acknowledgements |201
About the Author |202
Sharing Nature Worldwide |204
