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Pedagogical Philosophy

 My goal in using biocentric, inquiry-based pedagogy is to foster students' autonomy and agency while deepening their connection with the environment, community, and themselves. Through forming connections with humans and non-humans, as well as living and non-living things, we can learn about the world in a holistic way. The lessons included in this resource aim to foster childrens' natural curiosity, build relationships, and facilitate meaningful, life-long learning that leads to greater sustainability.

 

The lessons on this website have an interdisciplinary focus to help students and teachers develop systems thinking. The primary and intermediate lessons are listed by subject as a starting point: each lesson stems from the curricular content of one subject and ties in various other subjects to create interdisciplinary teaching and learning.

Outdoor Reading
Community Garden

Biocentric Teaching and Learning

 Biocentric pedagogy values the connection between human and non-humans, with the view that all living things hold the same value as humans (Risku & Harding, 2013). The lessons included focus on facilitating learning within the school environment, grounded in building students' relationship with the natural world. Through exploring the natural spaces around their school, children gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for their surroundings. 

Inquiry-Based Learning

Moving away from mechanistic ways of teaching and learning, inquiry-based learning is a learning process that stems from students' curiosity and wonder. This pedagogy engages students in connecting with the world around them through questioning and exploration, ultimately arriving at an understanding on their own. Elementary aged students typically require teacher support and guidance in conducting inquiry thinking by: asking prompting questions, encouraging deeper thinking, and gathering resources to extend knowledge. For more on inquiry-based teaching and learning, see Kidman and Casinader's (2017) book linked here.

Nature Tokens

Questions to Promote Inquiry

Using the following question prompts when facilitating discussions can lead students to deeper thinking, analyzing and interpreting in ways they have not done before:

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  • What is...?

  • What does this remind you of?

  • What do you think of when...?

  • What do you predict will happen if...?

  • What connections do you have with...

  • Where else have you noticed...?

  • Why do you think...?

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  • How would ...be different if...?

  • How else would...?

  • How could we/you solve this problem?

  • How would we go about finding out more?

  • How can we change...to make it ...?

  • Where do you think...?

  • Where else have you seen...?

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