“Children in the Woods”
This essay has an anecdotal beginning, in which the narrator recalls an experience from his childhood, while walking with his mother, an elderly woman who was happy to see the narrator as a child, noticing things about nature.
Years later, he lives in a rainforest with his wife, both of them do not have children; despite that, he takes children from his neighbourhood to the woods, to give them information about the forest. Later on, he started speaking less and only gave answers to the curious questions raised by them.
One day, they found in the woods a fragment of a racoon's jaw bone. He encouraged the children to find whose jaw bone that was, with the available clues.
He concluded, that it is important to teach children the various relationships in nature, rather than teaching them the names of things in it. Nature maintains itself through these associations and human interference is unnecessary because all we need is to be able to observe the whole landscape and come into observation of details.
He also shares his worries related to the future of forests and nature, teaching kids to learn about it through experience, as opposed to adults just used to discussing boring facts; therefore, what he does with the kids is compelling them to an adventure while making handprints in the mud, hugging Douglas firs, and identifying a raccoon's skull and its possible cause of death.
Next, I am presenting some sensory elements that are crucial at the time of teaching through live experience and which are found in this essay, except for the sense of taste, all the rest are stimulated:
