Cross-Curricular Nature-Based Learning

Description

Many children and teenagers are growing up with fewer opportunities to experience nature in direct and meaningful ways.

As a result of digital routines, urban lifestyles, and more limited access to outdoor spaces, this connection with nature is being progressively weakened over time.

For schools, this creates at the same time a great and important challenge, but also an opportunity: how can educators play the part of facilitators and role models to help students reconnect with nature in ways that are educational, relevant, and most importantly, realistic?

This course is designed for teachers of different subjects and school levels who desire to use nature as an educational resource for learning across the curriculum.

The programme will not be focused only on wellbeing and outdoor experience; it will explore how nature-based approaches can enrich teaching in practical ways, supporting and fostering in students key skills such as observation, creativity, critical thinking, and sustainability awareness.

Participants will be introduced to an interdisciplinary approach to topics like biophilia, ecopsychology, outdoor learning, and sustainability education, without ever losing focus on concrete classroom application.

In fact, the reality and logistical constraints of school life will not be underestimated, as special attention will be given to how limited time, restricted access to green spaces, and the need for adaptable activities that work in different contexts.

For these reasons, the course will include both outdoor and classroom-based strategies.

Participants will discover a variety of nature-based interventions, practical methodologies, and tools (analog and digital) that aim both at enjoying nature in loco and at bringing students closer to nature even without leaving their desk.

They will workshop and plan engaging content and activities for their classes and school communities, for diverse settings and subjects.

Their shared goal: relearning and teaching better how to enjoy and cherish nature.

By the end of the course, participants will have developed a richer understanding of nature-based education as a cross-curricular approach and will leave with practical ideas to strengthen students’ connection with nature through everyday teaching.

Concept by Beatriz Canas Mendes

Learning outcomes

The course will help participants to:

• Plan nature-based learning activities for both indoor and outdoor settings;
• Use nature-related tasks to increase student engagement and support learning across subjects;
• Support students in building a stronger connection with nature, including in urban or low-access environments;
• Integrate nature-based approaches into everyday teaching in ways that are realistic and adaptable to different school contexts;
• Apply selected frameworks, such as the Social and Emotional Learning and the Pathways to Nature Connectedness, in class and school activities;
• Design activities that encourage ecological awareness and connect learning to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Tentative schedule

Day 1 – Introduction to the course

• Introduction to the course and the Academy;
• Introduction to the host city and the week’s cultural activities;
• Icebreaker activities;
• Presentations of the participants’ schools and institutions;
• Introduction to Biophilia and the impact of Nature on human wellbeing;
• Reflection on the role of nature (and nature-based learning) in today’s school experience.

Day 2 – Bringing nature into the classroom

• Defining biophilia, ecopsychology, and nature connectedness;
• Exploring the Pathways to Nature Connectedness framework;
• Gamification and game-based learning as an active approach to introduce nature in the classroom;
• Team-building games and fun lesson plans for both indoor and outdoor enjoyment of Nature;
• Designing simple nature-based activities for different subjects.

Day 3 – Nature-based interventions

• SEL, Emotional Intelligence, Positive Psychology and Education;
• Nature-Based Interventions across subjects: definition and case studies;
• Exploring digital tools and apps to learn about, and from, nature (e.g. Google Lens, Goosechase, iNaturalist, and the EU Learning Corner).

Day 4 – Building nature connection in school life

• Mindfulness, meditations, and sensory memories – connecting to, noticing, and observing nature from anywhere;
• Public policies, school policies, and classroom changes to promote nature-connectedness;
• Make your school’s biophilic checklist and social prescription guides.

Day 5 – Environmental education and action planning

• UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals;
• Outdoor education, environmental education, and experiential learning;
• Ecoattitudes and integration of nature-connectedness across subjects;
• Developing an action plan for participants’ classrooms, schools and communities;
• Course evaluation: round-up of acquired competencies, feedback, and discussions;
• Awarding of the course Certificate of Attendance.

Day 6 – Structured cultural activities

• Structured cultural activity(ies) according to the hosting location;
• Learning journal: individual written reflection on the course experience;
• Course reflection: self-reflection and review of course materials and resources.

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