This weekend I’m participating in the 2023 Nature Journal Educator Workshop presented by the WildWonder Foundation.
These are my people. People who like to go outside and hang out… and write things down, or draw them, and consider them deeply. And then help other people figure out how to do the same in a way that works for them.
Cognitive science. Pedagogy. Natural science.
I am in heaven. (Note: there are a lot of academic papers to read in this area of heaven.)
I notice. I wonder. It reminds me of…
Attention. Curiosity. Creativity.
Words. Pictures. Numbers.
My brain is exploding, in the best way.
My background is in natural science illustration and writing, so words and pictures are my jam. I’m working on expanding my visual vocabulary to include charts, scatter plots, maps and such.
And numbers… I’ve been a mathphobe forever. I got lost in Algebra 1 and never quite got caught up. (I really enjoyed statistics and trigonometry, but the other stuff… ugh.)
[As an aside, there’s a magical unicorn/drag queen — IG: @mathisadrag — Carrie the One, who explains mathematical concepts via Instagram Reel. I wish she were around when I was struggling with math learning… this is great content.]
So yes, I am also working on including more number-related content in my journals.
I was in a small group yesterday for just a few minutes, and one of the folks mentioned that, as a scientist, they use their nature journals to describe behaviors, using an orb weaver as the day’s example. It was so interesting to hear them talk about their process.
I talked about how I get so distracted by the things I gravitate to that I don’t get to the stuff I’m less aware of/comfortable with, and then a grade 4-5 teacher in the group said that they focus their kids with prompts, like, “Today we’re going to focus on numbers.” That seems like a good strategy to keep in mind, even for our personal practice.
Today’s focus on issues for community educators (there is a separate track for school educators).
My brain is full, and so is my heart… which feels kind of weird, in an unusual and lovely way.
Carmen Yount 