This article discusses a case study of an environmental art camp that was modeled after choice-based pedagogies. At this camp the children were able to choose their activities, and taught how to think and work like an artist/scientist using a sketch/field book as a guiding instrument for their inquiry and empowerment. What was found was that three pillars of empowerment formed a foundational structure consisting of three interrelated factors that inspired the campers: 1) ingenuity, 2) a useful instrument, and 3) autonomy. Cultivating the artist/scientist habits gave the students the ingenuity or practical knowledge and understanding of how the roles intersect and are interrelated

Hunter-Doniger, Tracey

English

Scholarship@Claremont

The STEAM JournalVolume 3Issue 2 Standing Still Article 7December 2018STEAM Lessons from the Forest: Ingenuity,Instruments and AutonomyTracey Hunter-DonigerCollege of CharlestonFollow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steamPart of the Art Education Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Early ChildhoodEducation Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Elementary Education Commons, and theOutdoor Education Commons© December 2018 by the author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivativesLicense.STEAM is a bi-annual journal published by the Claremont Colleges Library | ISSN 2327-2074 | http://scholarship.claremont.edu/steamRecommended CitationHunter-Doniger, Tracey (2018) "STEAM Lessons from the Forest: Ingenuity, Instruments and Autonomy," The STEAM Journal: Vol.3: Iss. 2, Article 7. DOI: 10.5642/steam.20180302.07Available at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/7STEAM Lessons from the Forest: Ingenuity, Instruments and AutonomyAbstractThis article discusses a case study of an environmental art camp that was modeled after choice-basedpedagogies. At this camp the children were able to choose their activities, and taught how to think and worklike an artist/scientist using a sketch/field book as a guiding instrument for their inquiry and empowerment.What was found was that three pillars of empowerment formed a foundational structure consisting of threeinterrelated factors that inspired the campers: 1) ingenuity, 2) a useful instrument, and 3) autonomy.Cultivating the artist/scientist habits gave the students the ingenuity or practical knowledge andunderstanding of how the roles intersect and are interrelated.Author/Artist BioDr. Hunter-Doniger is an Associate Professor of Education at the College of Charleston. She taught visual artsfor 15 years and has dedicated her research to art infusion and STEAM.KeywordsSTEAM, TAB, Reggio, Forest Kindergartens, Autonomy, IngenuityCover Page FootnoteIRB approved for this study.Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0License.This article is available in The STEAM Journal: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/7STEAM Lessons from the Forest: Ingenuity, Instruments and Autonomy Tracey Hunter-Doniger   There is a notion of education that envisions happy, wide-eyed children quietly in rows of desks, raising their hands and speaking only when called on, as they are portrayed as proverbial vessels being filled with knowledge by the all-knowing teacher. While this view is laden with hyperbole, it is also vastly unrealistic. Children are not cogs in a wheel, they are intelligent, individuals with distinctive thoughts and interests. This article takes a look at what happens when a child-centered approach to learning intersects with STEAM education at a summer camp where traditional dogmas are removed and children get the opportunity to become artists and scientists with the confidence to inspire ingenuity, proper instruments to record and reflect on ideas, and empowerment through autonomy.  Child-Centered Approaches Child-centered approaches change the dynamic of instructional leadership.  Rather than a top-down, teacher-led curriculum, children and their interests lead the instruction and the teacher facilitates the learning (Moyer, 2001). When children are engaged in topics they find interesting they become motivated to learn (Katz & Chard, 2000). Three examples of child-centered learning are the Reggio Approach, the Forest Kindergarten model, and Teaching for Artistic Behaviors (TAB) learning environments.  The Reggio Approach is named after the town in Northern Italy, Reggio Emilia, where it originated.  Children are viewed as independent researchers and focus learning around their interests (Wurm, 2005; Malaguzzi, 1993). Projects and educational themes stem from inquiries 1Hunter-Doniger: STEAM Lessons from the Forestmade by the children that could last from one day to several weeks. Building, creating, exploring, and painting are used to make sense of their world and form concrete understanding (Hunter-Doniger, et al., 2018; Griebling, 2011). Another example of a child-center model from Europe is Forest Kindergartens.  The premise of Forest Kindergartens is that they spend nearly the entire school day outside as nature is at the center of the learning (Powers-Costello, 2015). Children’s play is often sparked by flora and fauna and their imagination and creativity becomes the foundation for the lessons (Schäffer & Kistemann, 2012). Teachers bring some supplies or tools they might need and encourage the children to explore and ask questions.  While it appears to be “free-range learning” there are specific tasks, standards, and goals that are accomplish throughout the school year (Sobel, 2014). Similar to the Reggio Approach, Forest Kindergartens rely heavily on the arts as a catalyst for engagement and comprehension as does TAB. Teaching Artistic Behaviors or TAB is a child-centered approach where children are encouraged to think, paint, and draw like an artist.  The TAB approach is typically found in an art room where children are taught how to use materials and then they are given “studio time” to create an original work of art.  They learn from their mistakes and become independent critical thinkers and problem solvers (TAB, 2016).  The goal is not to have 25 projects that are exactly the same at the end of class, the emphasis is on content and artistic experience (Parks, 1992).  A TAB art room may have fifteen different projects in progress at one time as the art teacher works with individual students as they need assistance.      2The STEAM Journal, Vol. 3, Iss. 2 [2018], Art. 7https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/7Methods   The camp for this case study was located on a remote intercoastal property that belongs to a moderately sized university in the Southeastern United States. The qualitative method of intrinsic case study was chosen as the best method to investigate the research question. An intrinsic case study is one that is carried out because the case itself is of interest (Stake, 1994). The research question (How do children respond to the intersection of art and science in a child-centered outdoor learning environment?) was investigated on site to better understand the connection itself rather than using the case as an instrument to understand a larger, generalizable issue (Cresswell, 2013). The participants were selected as a convenient sampling of 20 campers ages 8-10 and 5 counselors.   The Location The property for Camp Innovate (pseudonym) immersed the campers in nature with over 864 acres of meadows, wetlands, long-leaf pine forests, and brackish water ponds along the inter-coastal waterways in the Southeastern United States. A generous benefactor bequeathed this property to the university with the vision to share the beauty and history with children of the area. The notion of STEAM and art infusion parallels the benefactor’s lifelong career as an ornithologist, renowned fowl artist, hunter-turned-conservationist, global explorer, author, and nature enthusiast. Camp Innovate was a pilot program that envisioned inspiration and opportunities in art and science while young children were surrounded by nature.     3Hunter-Doniger: STEAM Lessons from the ForestNurturing Learning in Nature Having experienced mostly traditional forms of schooling, the children needed to be deprogrammed from a teacher directed or goal-based learning style to a child-centered approach. This required the children to be taught several habits of being an artist/scientist for observations and exploring.  Children were taught that the crossover between disciplines in STEAM is not a new concept. For centuries, scientists had to be able to depict their ideas, inventions, and discoveries through sketches, drawings, and paintings since technologies such as cameras were not yet invented.  Likewise, artists, such as Leonardo Di Vinci did research and recorded findings and ideas in notebooks. Forming artist/scientist habits empowered the children to observe and record information. Nurturing this type of thinking involved an individual approach to critical thinking that encompassed their interests and deep investigations. Once the children were familiar with a model for learning where their ideas were important and should be recorded, they were given sketch/field journals as an instrument to develop the habits of scientists and artists. Furthermore, the child-centered approach was an enriching atmosphere for the children to explore possibilities in a non-threatening learning environment. As they began to try out their new sense of empowerment, the children embraced STEAM education. The lines between disciplines became blurred and curiosities, by and large, crossed subject areas. While the case study is too small to be generalizable, the findings are notable.  Findings Even though the curriculum for this summer STEAM camp was meticulously planned to allow for the intersection of multiple disciplines in every activity, modifications were necessary. 4The STEAM Journal, Vol. 3, Iss. 2 [2018], Art. 7https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/7First and foremost, while the child-centered approach to learning is widely successful in Europe, at this camp the children were lost without direction. The use of the sketch/field journals helped form artist/scientist habits of observation and recording their thoughts and ideas. During the choice activity time, the sketch/field journals assisted in scaffolding learning by allowing the children to envision, stretch, and explore.  Requiring a written or drawn reflection from the students was counter-productive to a child-centered approach, but it was a necessary bridge to guide the children into deeper exploration of STEAM subjects. The child-centered approach gave the children the opportunity to explore multiple possibilities once they learned the camp activities were not a contest to get done but rather a journey of exploration.  It appeared that for the children in this case study, envisioning and stretching, and exploring were not part of an innate skillset. Issues developed during the child-centered time when the educational roles were switched from teacher-led to student-led. The children were familiar with a teacher stating exactly what to do to complete a task, but when there were no explicit directions, the children were at a loss. The children needed instruction on how to explore, inquire, and essentially play on their own. After the students were given the tools, and taught the habits, the children’s innovation and communication skills were amplified. Artists are sometimes at a loss when looking at a blank, white canvas, and scientists are sometimes dumbfounded when considering the infinite possibilities of space. This was the case with the children’s first encounter with pure autonomy. The children had no idea how to proceed without an adult telling them what was right or wrong. It was essential to teach the children a procedure for inquiry and exploration where they felt comfortable not having a teacher tell them what to do. Had the camp lasted longer, the counselors could have let the children figure things out on their own, but time was limited and structure was definitely needed. However, with the 5Hunter-Doniger: STEAM Lessons from the Foreststructure, the children were able to not only choose their activity, they also implemented their artist/scientist habits and used the sketch/field journal as a guiding instrument for their inquiry. This created three pillars of empowerment (see Figure 1).   Figure 1     The three pillars of empowerment formed a foundational structure consisting of interrelated factors that inspired the campers: 1) ingenuity, 2) a useful instrument, and 3) autonomy. Cultivating the artist/scientist habits gave the students the ingenuity or practical knowledge and understanding of how the roles of artist/scientist intersect and are interrelated. This made the use of the sketch/field journal an essential instrument, because it allowed the children to record their Three Pillars of Empowerment Interrelated Factors How this empowered the children to explore and create. Artist/Scientist Habits Ingenuity The practical knowledge of a specific role and how it intersects with other areas. Sketch/Field Journal Instrument The instrument allows a child to record their thoughts and ideas as something of value to be saved and revisited. Child-Centered Approach Autonomy A pedagogy that embraces freedom for the children to be in charge of their own learning opportunities and explorations. Artist/ScientistHabitsSketch/Field JournalsEmpowerment to Explore and CreateChild Centered Approach6The STEAM Journal, Vol. 3, Iss. 2 [2018], Art. 7https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/7thoughts, ideas, and predictions. The children valued their journals enough to save and revisit them at the end of camp. The child-centered model provided a pedagogical structure that embraced freedom so the children could take control of their learning and creativity. When the disciplines were removed from their silos and the counselors became guides rather than ‘all-knowing’ an avenue for the intersection of STEAM subjects was created.  In the end, the three pillars of empowerment allowed for a unique learning space.   Closing The autonomy found in the child-centered model, paired with the ingenuity of the artist/scientist habits, and the sketch/field journal as an essential instrument created this space where children were free to explore and create. The children knew they were not in school, but they were learning.  They knew that they were in charge of what they were learning, but a counselor was always nearby to assist if needed. The children knew they could create and make mistakes and correct them on their own. The campers learned that they could envision what they would do, and then they could stretch and explore beyond what they imagined. Essentially they became empowered to explore ideas and opportunities at the intersection of disciplines. When students are given proper instruments, the ingenuity to use them, and the autonomy to explore, they are empowered to expand and try new opportunities and ideas.    7Hunter-Doniger: STEAM Lessons from the ForestReferences  Cresswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Griebling, S. (2011). Discoveries from a Reggio-inspired classroom: Meeting developmental needs through the visual arts. Art Education, 64(2), 6-11. Hunter-Doniger, T., McGrath, A., McNeel, K., Templeton, K., Tobin, K., Walker, A., & Wen, J. (2018). Transdisciplinary Lessons Learned from the Reggio Emilia Approach and Art. Reading Matters, 18(1), 21-25.  Katz, L., & Chard, S. (2000). Engaging children’s minds: The project approach (2nd ed). Stamford, CT: Ablex. Malaguzzi, L (1993). History, ideas, and basic philosophy. In C. Edwards, L. Gandini, & G. Forman (Eds.), The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education (pp. 41–89). Norwood, NJ: Ablex. Moyer, J. (2001). The child-centered kindergarten: a position paper: Association for childhood education international. Childhood Education, 77(3), 161-166. Parks, M. (1992). The Art of Pedagogy: Artistic Behavior as a Model for Teaching. Art Education, 45(5), 51-57. Powers-Costello, B. (2015). School’s Out: Lessons from a Forest Kindergarten. European Education, 47(3), 291-293. Schäffer, S. D., & Kistemann, T. (2012). German forest kindergartens: Healthy childcare under the leafy canopy. Children Youth and Environments, 22(1), 270-279. Sobel, D. (2014). Learning to Walk between the Raindrops: The Value of Nature Preschools and Forest Kindergartens. Children Youth And Environments, (2), 228-232.  8The STEAM Journal, Vol. 3, Iss. 2 [2018], Art. 7https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/7TAB (2016). What is TAB-Choice? TAB: Teaching for Artistic Behaviors. Retrieved from  Wurm, J. P. (2005). Working in the Reggio way, A beginner’s guide for American teachers. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.   9Hunter-Doniger: STEAM Lessons from the Forest

STEAM Lessons from the Forest: Ingenuity, Instruments and Autonomy

Keck Graduate Institute

The STEAM Journal
Volume 3
Issue 2 Standing Still Article 7
December 2018
STEAM Lessons from the Forest: Ingenuity,
Instruments and Autonomy
Tracey Hunter-Doniger
College of Charleston
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam
Part of the Art Education Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Early Childhood
Education Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Elementary Education Commons, and the
Outdoor Education Commons
© December 2018 by the author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivatives
License.
STEAM is a bi-annual journal published by the Claremont Colleges Library | ISSN 2327-2074 | http://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam
Recommended Citation
Hunter-Doniger, Tracey (2018) "STEAM Lessons from the Forest: Ingenuity, Instruments and Autonomy," The STEAM Journal: Vol.
3: Iss. 2, Article 7. DOI: 10.5642/steam.20180302.07
Available at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/7
STEAM Lessons from the Forest: Ingenuity, Instruments and Autonomy
Abstract
This article discusses a case study of an environmental art camp that was modeled after choice-based
pedagogies. At this camp the children were able to choose their activities, and taught how to think and work
like an artist/scientist using a sketch/field book as a guiding instrument for their inquiry and empowerment.
What was found was that three pillars of empowerment formed a foundational structure consisting of three
interrelated factors that inspired the campers: 1) ingenuity, 2) a useful instrument, and 3) autonomy.
Cultivating the artist/scientist habits gave the students the ingenuity or practical knowledge and
understanding of how the roles intersect and are interrelated.
Author/Artist Bio
Dr. Hunter-Doniger is an Associate Professor of Education at the College of Charleston. She taught visual arts
for 15 years and has dedicated her research to art infusion and STEAM.
Keywords
STEAM, TAB, Reggio, Forest Kindergartens, Autonomy, Ingenuity
Cover Page Footnote
IRB approved for this study.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0
License.
This article is available in The STEAM Journal: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/7
STEAM Lessons from the Forest: Ingenuity, Instruments and Autonomy 
Tracey Hunter-Doniger 
 
 There is a notion of education that envisions happy, wide-eyed children quietly in rows of 
desks, raising their hands and speaking only when called on, as they are portrayed as proverbial 
vessels being filled with knowledge by the all-knowing teacher. While this view is laden with 
hyperbole, it is also vastly unrealistic. Children are not cogs in a wheel, they are intelligent, 
individuals with distinctive thoughts and interests. This article takes a look at what happens when 
a child-centered approach to learning intersects with STEAM education at a summer camp where 
traditional dogmas are removed and children get the opportunity to become artists and scientists 
with the confidence to inspire ingenuity, proper instruments to record and reflect on ideas, and 
empowerment through autonomy. 
 
Child-Centered Approaches 
Child-centered approaches change the dynamic of instructional leadership.  Rather than a 
top-down, teacher-led curriculum, children and their interests lead the instruction and the teacher 
facilitates the learning (Moyer, 2001). When children are engaged in topics they find interesting 
they become motivated to learn (Katz & Chard, 2000). Three examples of child-centered learning 
are the Reggio Approach, the Forest Kindergarten model, and Teaching for Artistic Behaviors 
(TAB) learning environments. 
 The Reggio Approach is named after the town in Northern Italy, Reggio Emilia, where it 
originated.  Children are viewed as independent researchers and focus learning around their 
interests (Wurm, 2005; Malaguzzi, 1993). Projects and educational themes stem from inquiries 
1
Hunter-Doniger: STEAM Lessons from the Forest
made by the children that could last from one day to several weeks. Building, creating, exploring, 
and painting are used to make sense of their world and form concrete understanding (Hunter-
Doniger, et al., 2018; Griebling, 2011). Another example of a child-center model from Europe is 
Forest Kindergartens. 
 The premise of Forest Kindergartens is that they spend nearly the entire school day outside 
as nature is at the center of the learning (Powers-Costello, 2015). Children’s play is often sparked 
by flora and fauna and their imagination and creativity becomes the foundation for the lessons 
(Schäffer & Kistemann, 2012). Teachers bring some supplies or tools they might need and 
encourage the children to explore and ask questions.  While it appears to be “free-range learning” 
there are specific tasks, standards, and goals that are accomplish throughout the school year (Sobel, 
2014). Similar to the Reggio Approach, Forest Kindergartens rely heavily on the arts as a catalyst 
for engagement and comprehension as does TAB. 
Teaching Artistic Behaviors or TAB is a child-centered approach where children are 
encouraged to think, paint, and draw like an artist.  The TAB approach is typically found in an art 
room where children are taught how to use materials and then they are given “studio time” to create 
an original work of art.  They learn from their mistakes and become independent critical thinkers 
and problem solvers (TAB, 2016).  The goal is not to have 25 projects that are exactly the same at 
the end of class, the emphasis is on content and artistic experience (Parks, 1992).  A TAB art room 
may have fifteen different projects in progress at one time as the art teacher works with individual 
students as they need assistance.   
 
 
 
2
The STEAM Journal, Vol. 3, Iss. 2 [2018], Art. 7
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/7
Methods  
 The camp for this case study was located on a remote intercoastal property that belongs to 
a moderately sized university in the Southeastern United States. The qualitative method of intrinsic 
case study was chosen as the best method to investigate the research question. An intrinsic case 
study is one that is carried out because the case itself is of interest (Stake, 1994). 
The research question (How do children respond to the intersection of art and science in a child-
centered outdoor learning environment?) was investigated on site to better understand the 
connection itself rather than using the case as an instrument to understand a larger, generalizable 
issue (Cresswell, 2013). The participants were selected as a convenient sampling of 20 campers 
ages 8-10 and 5 counselors.  
 
The Location 
The property for Camp Innovate (pseudonym) immersed the campers in nature with over 
864 acres of meadows, wetlands, long-leaf pine forests, and brackish water ponds along the inter-
coastal waterways in the Southeastern United States. A generous benefactor bequeathed this 
property to the university with the vision to share the beauty and history with children of the area. 
The notion of STEAM and art infusion parallels the benefactor’s lifelong career as an ornithologist, 
renowned fowl artist, hunter-turned-conservationist, global explorer, author, and nature enthusiast. 
Camp Innovate was a pilot program that envisioned inspiration and opportunities in art and science 
while young children were surrounded by nature.  
 
 
 
3
Hunter-Doniger: STEAM Lessons from the Forest
Nurturing Learning in Nature 
Having experienced mostly traditional forms of schooling, the children needed to be 
deprogrammed from a teacher directed or goal-based learning style to a child-centered approach. 
This required the children to be taught several habits of being an artist/scientist for observations 
and exploring.  Children were taught that the crossover between disciplines in STEAM is not a 
new concept. For centuries, scientists had to be able to depict their ideas, inventions, and 
discoveries through sketches, drawings, and paintings since technologies such as cameras were 
not yet invented.  Likewise, artists, such as Leonardo Di Vinci did research and recorded findings 
and ideas in notebooks. Forming artist/scientist habits empowered the children to observe and 
record information. Nurturing this type of thinking involved an individual approach to critical 
thinking that encompassed their interests and deep investigations. Once the children were familiar 
with a model for learning where their ideas were important and should be recorded, they were 
given sketch/field journals as an instrument to develop the habits of scientists and artists. 
Furthermore, the child-centered approach was an enriching atmosphere for the children to explore 
possibilities in a non-threatening learning environment. As they began to try out their new sense 
of empowerment, the children embraced STEAM education. The lines between disciplines became 
blurred and curiosities, by and large, crossed subject areas. While the case study is too small to be 
generalizable, the findings are notable. 
 
Findings 
Even though the curriculum for this summer STEAM camp was meticulously planned to 
allow for the intersection of multiple disciplines in every activity, modifications were necessary. 
4
The STEAM Journal, Vol. 3, Iss. 2 [2018], Art. 7
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/7
First and foremost, while the child-centered approach to learning is widely successful in Europe, 
at this camp the children were lost without direction. The use of the sketch/field journals helped 
form artist/scientist habits of observation and recording their thoughts and ideas. During the choice 
activity time, the sketch/field journals assisted in scaffolding learning by allowing the children to 
envision, stretch, and explore.  Requiring a written or drawn reflection from the students was 
counter-productive to a child-centered approach, but it was a necessary bridge to guide the children 
into deeper exploration of STEAM subjects. 
The child-centered approach gave the children the opportunity to explore multiple 
possibilities once they learned the camp activities were not a contest to get done but rather a 
journey of exploration.  It appeared that for the children in this case study, envisioning and 
stretching, and exploring were not part of an innate skillset. Issues developed during the child-
centered time when the educational roles were switched from teacher-led to student-led. The 
children were familiar with a teacher stating exactly what to do to complete a task, but when there 
were no explicit directions, the children were at a loss. The children needed instruction on how to 
explore, inquire, and essentially play on their own. After the students were given the tools, and 
taught the habits, the children’s innovation and communication skills were amplified. 
Artists are sometimes at a loss when looking at a blank, white canvas, and scientists are 
sometimes dumbfounded when considering the infinite possibilities of space. This was the case 
with the children’s first encounter with pure autonomy. The children had no idea how to proceed 
without an adult telling them what was right or wrong. It was essential to teach the children a 
procedure for inquiry and exploration where they felt comfortable not having a teacher tell them 
what to do. Had the camp lasted longer, the counselors could have let the children figure things 
out on their own, but time was limited and structure was definitely needed. However, with the 
5
Hunter-Doniger: STEAM Lessons from the Forest
structure, the children were able to not only choose their activity, they also implemented their 
artist/scientist habits and used the sketch/field journal as a guiding instrument for their inquiry. 
This created three pillars of empowerment (see Figure 1). 
 
 
Figure 1 
 
 
 
 
The three pillars of empowerment formed a foundational structure consisting of interrelated 
factors that inspired the campers: 1) ingenuity, 2) a useful instrument, and 3) autonomy. 
Cultivating the artist/scientist habits gave the students the ingenuity or practical knowledge and 
understanding of how the roles of artist/scientist intersect and are interrelated. This made the use 
of the sketch/field journal an essential instrument, because it allowed the children to record their 
Three Pillars of 
Empowerment 
Interrelated 
Factors 
How this empowered the children to 
explore and create. 
Artist/Scientist Habits Ingenuity The practical knowledge of a specific role 
and how it intersects with other areas. 
Sketch/Field Journal Instrument The instrument allows a child to record 
their thoughts and ideas as something of 
value to be saved and revisited. 
Child-Centered Approach Autonomy A pedagogy that embraces freedom for the 
children to be in charge of their own 
learning opportunities and explorations. 
Artist/Scientist
Habits
Sketch/Field 
Journals
Empowerment 
to Explore 
and Create
Child Centered 
Approach
6
The STEAM Journal, Vol. 3, Iss. 2 [2018], Art. 7
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/7
thoughts, ideas, and predictions. The children valued their journals enough to save and revisit them 
at the end of camp. The child-centered model provided a pedagogical structure that embraced 
freedom so the children could take control of their learning and creativity. When the disciplines 
were removed from their silos and the counselors became guides rather than ‘all-knowing’ an 
avenue for the intersection of STEAM subjects was created.  In the end, the three pillars of 
empowerment allowed for a unique learning space.  
 
Closing 
The autonomy found in the child-centered model, paired with the ingenuity of the 
artist/scientist habits, and the sketch/field journal as an essential instrument created this space 
where children were free to explore and create. The children knew they were not in school, but 
they were learning.  They knew that they were in charge of what they were learning, but a counselor 
was always nearby to assist if needed. The children knew they could create and make mistakes and 
correct them on their own. The campers learned that they could envision what they would do, and 
then they could stretch and explore beyond what they imagined. Essentially they became 
empowered to explore ideas and opportunities at the intersection of disciplines. When students are 
given proper instruments, the ingenuity to use them, and the autonomy to explore, they are 
empowered to expand and try new opportunities and ideas.  
  
7
Hunter-Doniger: STEAM Lessons from the Forest
References 
 
Cresswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five 
approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 
Griebling, S. (2011). Discoveries from a Reggio-inspired classroom: Meeting developmental 
needs through the visual arts. Art Education, 64(2), 6-11. 
Hunter-Doniger, T., McGrath, A., McNeel, K., Templeton, K., Tobin, K., Walker, A., & Wen, 
J. (2018). Transdisciplinary Lessons Learned from the Reggio Emilia Approach and Art. 
Reading Matters, 18(1), 21-25.  
Katz, L., & Chard, S. (2000). Engaging children’s minds: The project approach (2nd ed). Stamford, 
CT: Ablex. 
Malaguzzi, L (1993). History, ideas, and basic philosophy. In C. Edwards, L. Gandini, & G. 
Forman (Eds.), The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia approach to early 
childhood education (pp. 41–89). Norwood, NJ: Ablex. 
Moyer, J. (2001). The child-centered kindergarten: a position paper: Association for childhood 
education international. Childhood Education, 77(3), 161-166. 
Parks, M. (1992). The Art of Pedagogy: Artistic Behavior as a Model for Teaching. Art Education, 
45(5), 51-57. 
Powers-Costello, B. (2015). School’s Out: Lessons from a Forest Kindergarten. European Education, 
47(3), 291-293. 
Schäffer, S. D., & Kistemann, T. (2012). German forest kindergartens: Healthy childcare under 
the leafy canopy. Children Youth and Environments, 22(1), 270-279. 
Sobel, D. (2014). Learning to Walk between the Raindrops: The Value of Nature Preschools and 
Forest Kindergartens. Children Youth And Environments, (2), 228-232.  
8
The STEAM Journal, Vol. 3, Iss. 2 [2018], Art. 7
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/7
TAB (2016). What is TAB-Choice? TAB: Teaching for Artistic Behaviors. Retrieved from  
Wurm, J. P. (2005). Working in the Reggio way, A beginner’s guide for American teachers. St. 
Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.  
 
9
Hunter-Doniger: STEAM Lessons from the Forest


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STEAM Lessons from the Forest: Ingenuity, Instruments and Autonomy

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