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Free Learning With Nature psychology, health, art and education courses enable you to expand your thinking, intelligence and opportunities.
Project NatureConnect
Institute of Global Education
Special
NGO consultant to United Nations Economic and Social Council
A free, distance learning, online, Learning With Nature course uncovers important surprises in psychology, art, health and education.
To: Mardi Jones, Ph.D.
Mt. Vernon Counseling CenterDear Dr. Jones,
Thank you for your inquiry regarding the secret behind the success of my thinking with nature, psychology, health, art and education classes that help people build and enjoy responsible relationships. Please permit me to respond to you with the following example:
I often ask my classes to go outside and find the most attractive, nearby natural area or thing where they can be relatively alone. The group of 35 people I describe here did just that. They spent seven thoughtful minutes enjoying an attractive natural place they found, and the additional attractions they discovered while they visited this natural area next to their school.
When the class returned I asked them to share their experiences with a few people and then find single words or phrases that conveyed what things of value they had experienced. I wrote what they reported on the blackboard:
beauty
light
strength community
joy
trust
safe
learning
healthbelonging friendship
peace
wisdom equilibrium,
spirit,
meditation
pleasure
quietudeexhilaration
participation
God
challenge
love
play
thankfulness
fairness
artsense of place
sharing
humility appreciation difference in time
relaxation aliveness
curiosity
intelligenceIn our discussion the class strongly agreed that these qualities were very important things to know or learn . For the betterment of our health, education and self, they felt these attributes should be an integral part of each citizen's education, art and personal psychology.
I then asked these questions of the class; you might try to answer them for yourself:
If you were to teach these values and topics in a classroom how long would it take to accomplish this goal?
What would the curriculum be, do and look like?
What arts, methods and materials would you use teach this in a classroom?
If these values can be found this easily in a natural area, why do you think in the name of "excellence in education" we support laws that insist we spend 24,000 hours of our developmental years in K-16, classroom-confined, indoor learning to be eligible for a college diploma? Why do we ignore that we obviously can discover and learn about these qualities in nature?
Why do you think this type of educating with nature is often demeaned as "recreation" rather that applauded as re-creation?
Do you think there is a relationship between our excessive indoor education and the exploitive stress, abuse and violence we suffer in our society on personal, social and environmental levels?
After some discussion, the class concluded that it would be very difficult or impossible to design or establish an indoor health, psychology, art or education class that could teach what they had just discovered outside. So we made going outside part of our learning process.
For People and Earth in a Balance,
Michael J. Cohen
Director,
Institute of Global Education
Two secret surprises for you:
1. There is a free, accredited, Learning With Nature, online course on the internet that enables you to master how to successfully take, complete, and teach the class described above using your local natural areas. No matter your background, you can make the course part of your learning, transcript, resume or career.
2. The health and psychology nature education class where Dr. Cohen presented the lesson, above, in 1961 did the nature attraction activity on cold, wet, windy day in Central Park, Borough of Manhattan, New York City. Since then,Cohen has repeated that lesson hundreds of times with similar results.
Important questions:
What does our educational system actually teach us about the value of conscious contact with natural systems within and around us? (Hint: recently, to improve excellence in education, we have been building schools without windows).
Do you, I and society unnecessarily suffer and cause many problems because we are not learning from nature important things that we know we deserve to know? If so, who is responsible and liable for this destructive omission?
A free Learning With Nature course enables you as part of nature, to connect with attractions in natural systems and expand your thinking and intelligence. The course empowers you to improve your personal and professional relationships and teach others to do the same.
FREE COURSE DESCRIPTION: We suffer our greatest troubles because the contamination of our thinking prevents us from finding solutions for our problems even when they sit right before our eyes. Learn about an enabling, nature connecting process that transforms our contaminated thinking and its destructive effects into constructive relationships. Discover your 53 inborn intelligences and how you can restore them. Advance your reasoning, health and spirit. Increase your contribution to the wellness of yourself, society and the environment.
Learn More: CONTINUE TO THE FREE COURSE
 
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Learn More: CONTINUE TO FREE COURSE
Institute of Global Education
APPLIED ECOPSYCHOLOGY / INTEGRATED ECOLOGYDepartment Chair Office
Dr. Michael J. Cohen, Lead Faculty
Applied Ecopsychology Director
Akamai University, IUPS, NEEF, PSU
Post Office Box 1605,
Friday Harbor, WA 98250.
(360) 378-6313
nature@interisland.netDr. Cohen is the director of
PROJECT NATURECONNECT
at the
Institute of Global Education