Bee-ing and Feeling of Place

Schooling in industrialised societies has traditionally prioritised rational, logical ways of knowing. Consequently, other ways of knowing can be marginalised. It is argued that a mechanistic logic is applied to the natural world, resulting in nature being objectified and treated only as a resource. Thus, the allure and wonder of the more-than-human world is replaced with an instrumentalist attitude to the outdoors that can result in children suffering from indoorism and what has been called ‘the extinction of experience’ and a sense of ‘placelessness’. This chapter examines how contemplative ways of knowing, and states of being, outdoors in natural places allow for enhanced understandings of the more-than-human world. Drawing on underpinning theory that resonates with the philosophies of Indigenous cultures, we show how the body can be experienced as a place of reciprocity through ‘slow pedagogy’ that allows for an embodied experience of place. This is demonstrated through two exemplar learning sessions that take place in an ancient woodland. In both sessions, beings in the more-than-human world are perceived as subjects rather than objects. We argue this affords participants a sense of awe and wonder that provides an augmented experience of place and an expanded understanding of self. This way of viewing the world chimes with Indigenous cultures yet is in contrast with the dominant culture of industrialised societies. Therefore, we can conceive these approaches as ways of decolonising curricula that usually objectify nature and tend to view place through rational, logical lenses.