Into the Wild

P 4th January 2024

Inspired by Robin Wall Kimmerer’s writings and teaching^[1], I believe that without building deeper, less hierarchical and more respectful relationships between the human and more-than-human world, we will not travel far enough in saving this planet from extinction.

I will write more about this in Case Study #1. This was the inspiration for my PGCert Object Based Learning Class (Feb 5, 2024).

Wild Object Based Learning

Object-based-learning encourages students to engage with objects to deepen their understanding of a topic[2]. I looked up ‘Wild Object Based Learning’ to see what academic frame existed, and I found significant gaps in the literature. Although my search lead to me to this helpful article by Ross Laird:

“Nature is a complex, fractal environment… Facilitating found object experiences requires an educational mindset that embraces unexpected, provisional, and surprising moments…” [3]

Aligned with Laird and Kimmerer’s philosophies I went into the woods to see what treasures spoke to me.

My plan was as follows:

1. I wrote the participants name on hand-made paper (having always been told by my art teacher mum that the names of students matter)

2. I asked my participants to hold and deeply study their piece while listening to Kimmerer read the Honourable Harvest [4].

3. Participants wrote or drew their reactions to their object and the sound.

4. We then held open a dialogue between us all about what was experienced or discovered.

As I expected (and as alluded to in Laird’s article above) the interpretations were varied, personal and unpredictable. People spoke about their childhoods, their longings, and their need for more stillness and breath. While one participant paid attention to the way the wood patterns undulated with the music.

I found the conversation connected and fascinating, yet still somehow stilted and time constrained. The facilitator looked at their watch a few times, and I ended up feeling a little flat afterwards, which I wasn’t expecting. On reflection I think I felt like I’d tried something quite brave and that felt exposing. I read out this passage below from Gathering Moss[6] , and maybe Tower Block room 8.02 wasn’t quite the right space to hold all this.

Back into the woods for me. I left to do the school run, and took a moment to sit in the park, and reflect:

Transported through space and time
The wild objects invited people to meander confidently into stories of themselves and their pasts. Everyone seemed to share in a longing for the natural world, or a regret somehow. The feedback shared how valuable this “freedom” and “reflective space” was. I was able to share insights from Lucy Jones’s book Loosing Eden[5]. And it felt good to meet people momentarily in vulnerable conversation.

Permission to meditate
One of the participants shared feedback that the method of listening, and deep looking, opened up a new headspace for him. Almost like the act served as a device to get the students to a new starting place. This starting speaking to me about the role of nature in transformation and ego-death.

Maybe it wasn’t light enough
I think I found a lot of the session a little humour-less, and I think humour is important in establishing trust and connection. The human spirit can only take so much of this Climate Emergency lead-weight.