Name: Beyond the Child: Exploring Land-Led Pedagogies in K-6 Outdoor Education
Start: 2025-05-09T14:00:00-0600
End: 2025-05-09T15:15:00-0600

Welcome to the 2025 Outdoor Learning Conference

Friday May 9, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm MDT

Eagle

This interactive, outdoor workshop invites educators to explore the shift from traditional child-centered pedagogies to land-led pedagogies in outdoor education. Emphasizing the land as a teacher, this session fosters reciprocal, respectful relationships between students and the natural world. Drawing from Natural Curiosity’s Four Branches of Environmental Inquiry and Indigenous Perspectives, participants will engage in hands-on activities, group discussions, and reflection-based practices. They will also explore a spiral model of learning and assessment that is rooted in the natural cycles of the seasons. This holistic framework helps educators deepen their connection to the land and integrate seasonally attuned teaching practices into their classrooms.

Speakers

Alyson McMullen

Natural Curiosity/University of Toronto

Alyson (she/her) is of Mushkegowuk (Swampy Cree), Irish and French ancestry. She is an educator (RECE, OCT) whose work is centered around decolonizing education through land centered inquiry based practice. Alyson is a graduate of the Waaban Indigenous Teacher Education Program at... Read More →

Krista Spence

Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study Lab School/University of Toronto

Krista Spence, (she/her) BA, MA in Ed., RECE, Teacher-Librarian and Land-based Educator, works at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study Lab School, an elementary school in downtown Toronto. Krista was the recipient of the ‘Outstanding Early Childhood Educator’ EECOM award... Read More →

Friday May 9, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm MDT
Eagle

Indigenous Ways of Knowing Workshop

Outdoor Learning Conference 2025

Alyson McMullen

Krista Spence

Log in to save this to your schedule, view media, leave feedback and see who's attending!