In an age of screens and abstraction in classrooms, we take our children back to nature. We truly believe nature is the best teacher and can enrich a child’s development exponentially. Nature Perspectives is our curriculum that puts this idea to practice.
Mangalore’s lush urban biodiversity, and its proximity to the coast and a tropical evergreen forest are all spaces for ELC’s outdoor curriculum. Nature and ecosystems are generous classrooms. Our children have learnt geometry from leaves, questioned the aerodynamics of flying spiders and explored the rhythm of tides. They have found questions, answers and perspectives about nature, themselves, the social and ecological systems they are a part of.
A child who can read a monsoon cloud, identify a coastal bird, and observe the care a spider shows to her young, has learned something no indoor classroom could offer.
“People growing up in urban homes today, devoid of any natural space, find life forms like spiders and insects unfamiliar. With negative media and generational misunderstanding, we perpetuate a culture that replaces curiosity with fear… In my own experience, the best places to start are at home and in schools where curiosity hasn’t yet been driven to fear on a road paved with misunderstanding and negative media.”
— Samuel John
Curiosity beyond the classroom
During an expert-led session, our primary grade students surprised the presenter with questions one might encounter while teaching an undergraduate classroom.
Reflecting on the experience, the expert remarked:
“When a 4th grader who is being introduced to spiders for the first time asks, ‘Do spiders communicate using vibrations on their silk?’ you know the school is nurturing learners and thinkers.”