Education in nature. Nature-relatedness through wilderness pedagogy

Sebastian Pfütze, biologist and environmental scientist, certified wilderness educator www.wildniswissen.de

In wilderness pedagogy, experiences in nature are at the center of education. When we act, our body acts with heart and soul. The brain, what is known as conscious thinking, plays a very subordinate role in our actions. We go into nature, have experiences there and pay attention to the reaction of our body, our heart, our soul and our thoughts. These experiences point us in the direction we are going, each one his/her individual educational path. In this way, all our sensual abilities are addressed and trained at the same time. All other beings learn this way and human children also learn this way. In addition, we learn in community. The different experiences are reported to each other. In doing so, everyone is given their space. We accept that everyone experiences the same event differently. This is very enriching, because many more aspects of the event are suddenly perceived. This is an important part of wilderness knowledge. Wilderness knowledge is nature-relatedness. We gain access to the knowledge of other beings, for example the knowledge of other course participants or the knowledge of the deer. How this works will be demonstrated through the lecture as well as by means of experienced stories.