In an age of screens and abstraction in classrooms, we take our children back to nature. We truly believe nature-based learning is one of the most powerful ways to enrich a child’s development, and Nature Perspectives is the curriculum that puts this idea into practice at ELC, a school for nature-based learning in Mangalore.
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.
Why This Matters: Why Nature-Based Learning in Mangalore Matters for Children
Across every example above, the spider silk question, the tide-reading, the monsoon clouds the pattern is the same. Time outdoors gives children real problems to notice and solve on their own terms, rather than problems handed to them pre-packaged. That difference is small day to day, but it compounds: by the time a child reaches primary school, they've had years of practice trusting their own observations, not just recalling what they were told.
What Outdoor Learning Looks Like at ELC
Mangalore's lush urban biodiversity, and its proximity to the coast and a tropical evergreen forest, are all spaces for ELC's outdoor learning 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, and the social and ecological systems they are a part of.
Curious about the research behind this approach? Read our guide on how nature-based learning supports children.
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.”
Nature-based learning at ELC begins as early as Playgroup and Pre-K, where curiosity about the natural world is nurtured from a child's very first year with us. It continues to shape how we think about a scientific outlook across every stage at ELC.