Difference between revisions of "Sense of place activities"
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'''Silence - quiet thinking alone.''' Send students off to find a spot that they feel at home in. Have them sit alone, no talking, for 5-10 minutes. When they come back, ask them to share one thing they noticed or thought of in that place. | '''Silence - quiet thinking alone.''' Send students off to find a spot that they feel at home in. Have them sit alone, no talking, for 5-10 minutes. When they come back, ask them to share one thing they noticed or thought of in that place. | ||
| − | ''' | + | '''Meet a tree.''' In pairs. Student 1 walks Student 2 (blindfolded, and disorientated via spinning around) to a nearby tree. Student 2 can touch/smell/taste that tree. Student 1 then walks Student 2 to another location and then removes blindfold. Student 2 must use their senses to discover which tree they ‘met’. Can be paired with dichotomous key / identification activities after the tree is identified. Close with group circle with all student pairs to talk about what aspects of sense made it possible to find their tree. This is also a good teambuilding activity - takes a lot of trust for the blindfolded student to walk through the forest (over rough terrain) guided by another student. Make sure they are ready for this. |
'''Sound map.''' Each student takes a sheet of paper and sits somewhere silently for five minutes. Any sound they hear in front, draw on the top of the page; to the left, on the left of the page, etc. Sounds can be drawn as cartoons or words, with distances from page center proportional to distance in the field. After some time, bring students back together and discuss unexpected sounds, unique sounds that only one student heard, etc. | '''Sound map.''' Each student takes a sheet of paper and sits somewhere silently for five minutes. Any sound they hear in front, draw on the top of the page; to the left, on the left of the page, etc. Sounds can be drawn as cartoons or words, with distances from page center proportional to distance in the field. After some time, bring students back together and discuss unexpected sounds, unique sounds that only one student heard, etc. | ||
Latest revision as of 00:23, 2 August 2016
Handbook for nature journaling activities and layout: File:Nature journaling.pdf
Silence - quiet thinking alone. Send students off to find a spot that they feel at home in. Have them sit alone, no talking, for 5-10 minutes. When they come back, ask them to share one thing they noticed or thought of in that place.
Meet a tree. In pairs. Student 1 walks Student 2 (blindfolded, and disorientated via spinning around) to a nearby tree. Student 2 can touch/smell/taste that tree. Student 1 then walks Student 2 to another location and then removes blindfold. Student 2 must use their senses to discover which tree they ‘met’. Can be paired with dichotomous key / identification activities after the tree is identified. Close with group circle with all student pairs to talk about what aspects of sense made it possible to find their tree. This is also a good teambuilding activity - takes a lot of trust for the blindfolded student to walk through the forest (over rough terrain) guided by another student. Make sure they are ready for this.
Sound map. Each student takes a sheet of paper and sits somewhere silently for five minutes. Any sound they hear in front, draw on the top of the page; to the left, on the left of the page, etc. Sounds can be drawn as cartoons or words, with distances from page center proportional to distance in the field. After some time, bring students back together and discuss unexpected sounds, unique sounds that only one student heard, etc.
Close observation drawing. Choose a small scene the size of your hand. Have each student draw it as carefully as possible for 5 minutes. Swap drawings with other student and see if they each noticed something different.
Guided poem. Write a word in capital letters down the left side of the page (e.g. student’s name). For each letter, write a line of a poem starting with that letter about the field site. Share poems from volunteers.
Paired drawing. Students in pairs stand back to back. One student describes what they see in as much detail possible to the other, who then draws it. Then exchange and repeat in the other direction. At the end, both students exchange drawings and see how accurate they were.
Time drawings. Take a sheet of paper and divide it into three horizontal sections. In the top, ask students to draw the landscape as it looks today. In the middle, draw it (in winter / in summer / 500 years ago / 1000 years ago) using their imagination. In the bottom, draw it (1 million / 10 million / 100 million years ago). Share drawings and use to scaffold further lessons on landscape change.
“I am like…” poem. Ask students to choose an object, then write a sentence, I am like [my object] because…. Repeat for 10 objects. Share the final poems.
Differences from home. Write or draw differences between this landscape and the student’s neighborhood at home.
Free write. Start writing about the first thing that comes into your mind and don’t stop, not even for punctuation or if the mind blanks. Requires good setup for students to feel comfortable.
How to keep a field notebook. Choose an item to draw/diagram. Talk about the importance of keeping notes, i.e. arrows to label sections, date/time/name, species ID, descriptive notes, and so on. Practice on an object, then have students choose a scene of their own.
Natural art. Have students collect materials such as twigs, leaves, pointed rocks. Challenge them to build a sculpture / make a painting / design an animal’s home using the objects. Share the final pieces with other small groups of students. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGFOLChNOak (Andy Goldsworthy)
Draw-a-comic. Have students tell the story their day in the landscape or an adventure they are having (or what an animal is doing). Have a small group draw the story in cartoon-panel form.
Mythological story of a place. After finishing an exercise where students have learned a scientific explanation for a phenomenon, challenge them instead to make a mythological explanation for a landscape feature. Read example stories (e.g. Nez Perce creation stories) to give context. Ask students to act out final story in front of other small groups.
