Building Ecological Literacy Skills Sparks Love for Creation

Written by Sarah Bokma, Former Environmental Education Coordinator

February 2025

“We caught a tadpole!” exclaimed a group of students. We had been searching hard for frogs in the pond, and they had found a tadpole instead. Using our pond-dipping net, we carefully transferred the creature out of the pond and placed him in a viewing container. The children oooo-ed and awww-ed over the tadpole—so proud of their catch! They sat at the picnic table mesmerized by the “not-yet” frog, the tadpole with legs, this moment of transformation-in-action before them. After some time, one child observed: “I don’t think the tadpole has what it needs—there’s no food in there for him!” I smiled and asked, “What should we do then?” The class together agreed that even though they loved watching their beloved tadpole circle round the container, it would be better for it to be returned to the pond. And with the same exuberance they had in catching the tadpole, they displayed an equal amount of exuberance in becoming caretakers of the tadpole as they returned it back to its natural habitat. It’s in moments like this that I see the impact of our work at A Rocha Ontario—when children can’t help but express their care for creation.

It Only Takes a Spark

I’m sure we’ve all had the magical experience of watching a spark transform into a flame. The classic phrase “it only takes a spark” speaks of something that occurs throughout all of life. It could be a one-off conversation that sparks a career change, a mesmerizing concert that brings about healing to your heart, or an afternoon spent serving hot chocolate to those living on the streets that ignites a heart for justice. Even though some of these experiences aren’t necessarily long or drawn out, they are integral to our experience of being human. Our lives are filled with learning surprises, great interruptions, and life-changing moments. And this is one of our hopes at A Rocha Ontario when we run a three hour field trip: that we are able to “spark” a love of creation in the lives of participants that will be carried well beyond the time we spend with students on site.

Cultivating Ecological Literacy

A Rocha Ontario offers environmental education programming at Cedar Haven Eco-Centre in Freelton, Ontario. It’s through our programs on this one-hundred-acre property that we aim to develop the ecological literacy of participants towards hope and transformation.” A quote that beautifully complements this is one from George Eliot in her novel The Mill on the Floss: “We could never have loved the earth so well if we had had no childhood in it” (). This summarizes a key motivation behind the work we do: we want children to experience a childhood rich with learning time outside, where they develop the skills needed to continue the good work of caring for creation.

As educators, we are adept with the word “literacy”; we know the variety of building blocks used to create rich literacy programs. We have phonics, great literature, poetry, grammar, phonograms, reflections . . . the list goes on! We easily understand the goal of literacy and its role in building a student’s confidence and identity, their understanding of themselves and the world around them, and their ability to communicate.

But what about ecological literacy? In the same way we don’t expect a child to know how to read by simply placing a book in front of them, we don’t expect a child to know all the ways of engaging in nature by simply stepping outside. Like building language literacy skills, there are countless ways of developing ecological literacy. We read stories about nature, we learn the art of observation, we give space to explore, we seek Indigenous wisdom, we offer engaging science lessons and experiments, we work together to remove invasive species, we listen to the calls of the birds, we learn how to identify native tree species . . . the list goes on!

The cultivation of wonder, curiosity, and love for creation isn’t stirred simply by reading about it—students need to encounter and experience it as well.  They need time to observe a salamander in its natural habitat, come face to face with its vulnerability as a creature, and allow their wonder to spark questions like “How come it doesn’t get squashed by the boulder it’s living under?” In learning about mammals, students’ understanding is deepened as we pick up what’s left behind by our resident porcupine. When they feel the strength and sharpness of a quill, their curiosity is sparked as they wonder how porcupines are able to live such isolated lives. When students learn the life cycle of birds and then encounter freshly hatched blue birds inside one of our nest boxes, it sparks so much wonder and joy at the newness and intricacies of God’s creatures. I love what nature journalist John Muir Laws says about studying nature:

A world of infinite beauty and discovery waits just beyond the point where we usually stop paying attention. Nature offers us peace, a rich and meaningful place to learn. There is no computer program that can replicate the richness of seeing a flower up close, the intrigue of geeking out with bugs, or the calm of laying on your back and watching clouds. The key to developing a closer connection with nature is deliberately enhancing your powers of observation and wonder.

Ecological literacy helps students recognize their place as created beings alongside the rest of God’s plants and creatures that also live, breathe, and make their quiet and vital contributions to the ecosystems we all live in. It gives children what they need to feel comfortable and confident as they explore the outside world. Just like language literacy gives a child the necessary tools in life to read, write, and communicate, ecological literacy gives a child the skills they need to know about, care for, and love the created world around them.

Originally written for and published by the Christian Educators Journal (February 2025).

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