Looking into Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Nature

  Humanizing Research, I was struck by how important it is to practice culturally relevant pedagogy. Had it not been for this instructor to recognize the cultural significance of giftedness, Romero-Little may have been one more instructor that let her students fall through the cracks. It is just another piece in supporting the need for more teachers to practice culturally relevant pedagogy. On that same thread, I am led to question my own research and try to decipher what cultural practices I am hoping to teach. Interestingly enough it has been in front of me from the beginning of my research but I never looked at it in that way.

          After reading the chapter “Revisiting the Kres Study to Envision the Future” in

            Initially I was drawn to outdoor education through my own experience in the field and was pointed in the direction of David Louv’s book Last Child in the Woods. In summation, he addresses the main issue of nature deficit disorder and the importance of getting children exposed to nature and the natural world. On the same note as Louv, I ran across a recent article published in the Huffington Post titled “Nature Connection Will Be theNext Big Human Trend” which highlights the importance of connecting children to nature and their natural world. What I recognized in my own research and aims to create a curriculum using outdoor education pedagogy, is that I am making a broad cultural connection that all humans share and can relate to no matter what the color of one’s skin, ethnicity, and cultural heritage; which is nature. The important connection that I am intending to make is a new connection that students can have with nature and the natural world.

            This does not excuse myself and future teaching from practicing culturally relevant pedagogy, but broadens the scope of what culturally relevant pedagogy should include. I am and always have been on the mindset of ‘If its nice outside, why not have class outside’ and time after time I have been told ‘No!’ by teachers and instructors. The question that I am hoping to raise for culturally relevant pedagogy now is, isn't a student’s desire to learn outside part of their cultural identity as a human? Now clearly there is not always an appropriate time to host a class outside but shouldn't there be time in all of our classes to bring students outside to have that discussion, connect students with fresh air, grass and get them outside of the “normal classroom”. I don’t expect my project to be making ground breaking assertions towards this pedagogy but hope that for those who read it will begin to question themselves for never allowing for that student request to host class outside.