Nature Journaling
Nature journaling in CalNat courses takes a variety of forms, including
data collection and documentation, field notes and descriptions of
activities completed, and sketches of urban flora and fauna, as well as
narratives of observation activities and experiences. Previously in Wild
Davis, nature journals were used by students for taking notes on lecture
content, documenting their contribution to the group field projects
(including data collection), and narrating and sketching their
experiences at their sit spots.
Sit spots are a commonly-used instructional tool in CalNat courses, and
involve making observations at the same location throughout the course.
In Wild Davis, students visit their sit spot three times throughout the
quarter, once around dawn, once at mid-day, and once around dusk, for 45
minutes each. Even prior to shelter-in-place directives, sit spots were
intended to be a solitary experience for the students, excluding
friends, family, and electronic devices. Students practice focusing on
each sense individually (with the exception of taste) to ‘get to know’
their location, and document their experience in words, sound
recordings, sketches, and a limited number of photos (to reduce device
use). Prior to remote instruction, students were encouraged to choose
sit spots in an urban green space, garden, or park. Since the sit spot
observations occur at times of day when students may not be comfortable
being alone outdoors, any space in which the student felt safe was
allowed (including backyards). After each observation, students turned
in their nature journals for review by the instructor.
Under remote instruction, students were even more explicitly encouraged
to choose a sit spot in which the student felt safe, and in which
prolonged sitting was allowed. Under shelter-in-place directives, many
city parks required visitors to be exercising and not ‘loitering’ which
limited the options for students in 2020. Consequently, several students
selected sit spots in their backyard (n=9/23), though many still chose a
neighborhood park or greenspace (n=14/23). Unlike previous quarters,
students were also allowed to change the location of their sit spot if
the student’s access to or comfort with the location changed. Students
completed their observations in their nature journals and then ‘turned
in’ their journal entries via scans/photographs or typed transcripts of
the journal pages uploaded to the course LMS.
Under traditional instruction, sit spots are reserved for solo nature
journaling and observation activities; however, under remote
instruction, students often used their sit spot to complete other field
activities (described in the Participatory Science Projects section).
This provided an avenue for place-based learning, or learning about
“local natural, built, and social environments through inquiry,
environmental action, and other hands-on activities in a specific
place” (Kudryavstev et al 2012, p. 240). In addition to fostering
pro-environmental behavior, place-based education can foster academic
achievement, positive social-emotional outcomes, and greater
appreciation of the natural world (Sobel, 2005). Participation in direct
instruction through synchronous lectures, in combination with engagement
in multiple forms of experiential activity such as nature journaling,
observation activities, and completion of field activities, represents a
rigorous and effective strategy to strengthen students’ sense of place
(Kudryavstev et al 2012).