Fauna + Flora

Is It Possible to bring a typical outdoor setting, inside a classroom?

I want to bring forward a passion of mine and see how effective it would be bringing it to a classroom. This passion being animals, of all sorts, including plants and how children enjoy the sensory aspects of this, as well as the visual attraction of these setups. The sense of responsibility as well is a big one for me, like for example the task division within the classroom when it comes to taking care of animals or plants in a room.

To start I will focus on the simplicity of these setup being as simple as an fish aquarium in a classroom or even plants in the classroom would be a small, but beautiful addition to a classroom. It's a little piece of nature right in a child's classroom. The glass of the tank is like a window to another world, a peek beneath the surface of a particular body of water. These tasks can be divided in the simplest of ways, and made more complicated as they get older. A fish tank can teach a child lessons in the fields of biology, zoology, chemistry and environmental science. They’ll also learn responsibility, respect for nature and living creatures and how their actions directly impact the outcome of a situation. Aquariums are like ecosystems, fish have to eat enough, rest enough, be free of stress and interact in a safe way. Children can divide the tasks, with the presence of a teacher, of feedings, water changes and other general cleaning and caring tasks. They could also do other simple tasks like finding out how big they grow and if they will get along together. Older age groups can even start learning about chemistry, and water quality. Simple water chemistry tests to determine the quality of the water, and then decide if steps need to be taken to improve the way a fish tank is processing waste.

In my own experiences in a classroom, I've experience both plants and little critters in a classroom, and these have made great activities for the children in the program. I loved observing children wanting to take care of plants, watering them and trimming them, removing any rotting leaves etc. My favourite activity so far was bringing a container of bait worms to a classroom and spreading the dirt and worms on trays. This was in a kindergarten classroom learning about ecosystems. They had magnifying glasses and little shovels, and carefully examined the worms with such interest and made sure to treat these delicate creature with care. The children made sure that everyone had worms in their hands, and pet them and gave them names. Some even children loved observing their movements and figuring out what end was their from and which ones were their back ends. These interactions were so fascinating and really opened a lot of ideas in how to include more activities like these ones in a classroom.

Thus, I started looking into different ways that children can interact with fauna and flora in a classroom, and will continue to find different ways to include these elements in a classroom. Whether it be simple, or more complex, or even based around a curriculum, I think it's essential to bring parts of nature in a classroom to teach children all sorts of different, life important skills in and outside the classroom.

These are pictures I took of my own tank, and how I brought nature inside: