Fostering Children's Deep Engagement

In the book, Growing With Nature: Supporting Whole-Child Learning in Outdoor Classrooms, Christine Kiewra and Tina Reeble write: “Inspiring children to see the excitement and purpose of true learning so they will want to develop skills and interests is really the goal of every dedicated teacher. Bringing more connections with the natural world into children’s daily learning can help make this goal a more attainable reality.”

The engaging new book, Treasures in the Thicket, by Bethica Quinn with Rosalina Rodriguez, illustrates children’s deep connection with learning when they are excited about the purpose of what they are doing. As children set out to create a book that their teachers could present as a gift to colleagues across the sea in New Zealand, they became highly invested in the learning. The authors explain: “The book that the children created through the process of collaboration is a beautiful thing. The children were justifiably proud and happy when we brought them the finished copies of their work…[but] beauty can be almost dangerous if it tempts us to focus on beauty itself as a goal...[and] threatens to distract us from the more valuable gifts offered in what is learned along the way. Creating work in collaboration with children strengthens their identities and capacities as learners. It invites us to see who they are as individuals and human beings.”

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