Differentiation in Embedded Bushcraft

If you read my recent post about my research into using bushcraft in formal education you will have read about how students plant ID skills were improved by taking part in bushcraft activities.  The group of students who contributed to this research were all over sixteen,  were studying a level three qualification (A level equivalent) and had no significant learning difficulties.

But what if you are teaching a much younger group or a group with special needs or a group of Masters degree students or indeed a group of executives on a staff development day? How do you differentiate your material for such a potentially wide variety of needs?

I'll stick with plant ID as an example;

FOR VERY YOUNG GROUPS;
How about teaching tree identification by relating them to a popular story, for example; "this is a yew tree, Robin Hood would have made his bow out of wood from this tree" then you can move onto ash and alder as arrows and have them make simple bows and arrows. Or you could focus on a particular part of the plants stucture which will make it memorable, everyone remembers 'sticky weed' don't they, the sticky buds of horse chestnut, the burrs of burdock, rosehip itching powder and many others will be similarly memorable.

It might not be a great idea to allow children to use the furry seeds of rosehips on each other during your sessions as they are a very potent itching 'powder' but they will never forget how to identify it once they know what they can use it for. 

Cleavers are more often known to children as 'sticky weed' 

SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENTS;
Because there are such a wide variety of needs within the label of special needs it is hard to address this topic in just a few words. A couple of activities I have used successfully include making a willow rope for a tug of war, tinder collection and variations on the activities I mentioned for use with very young children.  Making a crude willow rope does not require well developed fine motor skills and if it takes the weight of a couple of people pulling on each end it will not fail to impress,  they wont forget willow after that.

Making a crude rope from willow bark ready for a tug of war

Another advantage of this activity and tinder collection is that they can both be done from a wheelchair.  Thistledown, dry grass, cow parsley stems etc can all be collected easily and will be memorable especially if students can set fire to them.

A group of special needs students cooking hogweed biscuits on the campfire. 

Earlier in the year the immature flower heads of hogweed are an alternative to broccoli and in fact I think they are tastier. 

ADVANCED STUDENTS;
This is where you can bring in wild food, fungi, medicinal plants, fine cordage manufacture and other more advanced skills.

These unusual looking fruit are actually edible and delicious, the strawberry tree produced these funny looking things each autumn/winter. These aren't very common but they are something for the more advanced bushcrafter. The ones in this picture aren't quite ripe, they should be a deep red colour when they are ready to eat.  

VERY ADVANCED STUDENTS;
Consider using 'shocking' tactics if students are a bit older and more experienced they will have heard a know things, like yew is deadly poisonous, watch the look on their face when you pop a yew berry in your mouth (make sure you spit out the stone!!). Fungi foraging is another good one for very advanced groups.

This tiny purple fungi might look a bit suspect but actually its an edible amethyst deceiver, the name doesn't inspire confidence though does it

A delicious mix of amethyst deceiver, penny bun and tomatoes.  

IMPORTANT;

Remember that for any of these activities you will need to have a good knowledge of plants available in the area you are working and be aware that plants are a seasonal commodity and not all activities will be possible all year round.
There is also a DANGER when it comes to teaching young children and students with special needs about wild edibles, they are not always fussy or cautious about what they put in their mouths, NEVER study fungi, or poisonous or easily mistaken plants with these learners and always be on hand to confirm correct ID.

Children love colourful things don't they and it's quite often tempting for them to put things like this in their mouths, but these are the fruit of spindle and are actually poisonous, as a leader you need to be on hand to make sure mistakes like this don't happen. 

ONE MORE THING;

 Notice I have not discussed in detail identifying features of plants here, in my experience of teaching plant ID both from a bushcraft perspective and a countryside management/conservation/ecology perspective it is far more effective to help students make an initial ID then allow them to make their own 'rules' for identifying it again. This might include notes on colour, texture, size and smell, students could even create a herbarium for reference purposes.

A herbarium sample is a pressed sample of a plant, in this case creeping jenny
By Sunk3rn (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

It's these kind of activities where learners get to actually experience what they are learning about, eat the plants or use them to make fire or learn about what they were used for historically that will really help them learn. There is always something that you can do in nature no matter what the age group or level of ability.

Geoff

Stand up for Stanage

I know this isn't strictly related to bushcraft, but this campaign from the BMC (British Mountaineering Council) begs the question why can't there be a closer relationship between mainstream outdoor activities and field sports?  Maybe bushcraft which combines elements of both is a good common ground to start on;

https://thebmc.co.uk/stand-up-for-stanage

As I first read this article and the proposed 'Stanage Charter' I was pleased that there was going to be an effort to protect this iconic area of the Peak District but as I read the charter and saw the point that *Shooting rights should not be excercised I was very disapointed.
I am deeply concerned that one interest group among popular outdoor activities should include in their agenda the restriction of another outdoor activity. To my mind there is no reason that shooting (and field sports in general) and climbing, walking and mountaineering should not coexist amicably and support each other. Shooting and game management activities taking place would not automatically mean that access to stanage was restricted.
AFTER ALL WE ALL WANT TO SPEND TIME OUTDOORS; whether you want to carry a gun or a climbing harness is largely irrelevant.

The Appropriate Attitude to Knives

I was given my first pocket knife at eight years of age, it was a small wooden handled lock knife and it was perfectly adequate for sharpening pencils, cutting string, opening boxes and all the tasks that my young mind could make up which required the use of a knife.

This was not that many years ago but I can already hear the accusations of 'irresponsible' being levelled at my parents (and at me for my recent post about my sons introduction to using a knife). But is it really irresponsible or are we denying a generation of valuable formative experiences.

Might not a child who has been given supervised access to a knife and opportunities to learn how to use it safely and creatively not have a better, safer attitude to knives than someone who has never been allowed to use one and instead has always been told they are weapons? Couple that with the prominent leisure activity of shooting, stabbing and battering virtual enemies to death on a games console and is it any wonder that young people firstly think of knives as weapons not tools?   

It would be interesting to research whether introducing the use of knives and tools to children from a younger age aids their development of fine motor skills, but unfortunately when you use popular academic search engines the first results to appear always seem to have titles like 'teen charged with having knife at school' or 'weapons carrying on school property'. Forest School initiatives are doing a fantastic job of redressing the balance and teach children how to safely use knives,  bill hooks, saws and other tools. If only there was more encouragement for children and young people to learn to use knives and tools it would surely help development of dexterity,  confidence and a sense of creativity.

One Dangerous Thing You Should Let Your Kids Do

I have always been determined that my children would own pocket knives and learn how to use them responsibly and well.
I had a pocket knife as a child and although I bare a few scars from it I grew up with a healthy respect for tools and developed good dexterity. I want my children to grow up considering a knife to be a tool rather than the dangerous weapon that misinformed teachers and media would have them believe.

Despite this wish of mine I hadn't really considered introducing my son Michael (who is three) to knife use just yet. Bearing in mind my recent post sharing Gever Tulley's  TED talk and having watched a programme by Norwegian adventurer Lars Monsen where I saw very young Sami children throwing a lasso and using knives I rethought my self imposed 'age limit' for my sons use of knives.

This is the result;

He was very happy with the stick man he made and although I obviously helped a lot for this first project I hope that teaching him these skills young will help him in some way. 

Bushcraft Research

Click here; to read my recent research on.The Value of Bushcraft in Formal Education

This research aims to analyse the relationship between the embedding of bushcraft skills into formal countryside management qualifications and the performance of students. It shows through the testing of two cohorts of students one of which received no bushcraft tuition and one which did that the results differ significantly between the two groups. The group which received bushcraft tuition demonstrated much greater skills in the tested topic of plant identification and the potential reasons for this improved performance will be discussed here.

Five dangerous things you should let your kids do; TED talk

Check out this amazing TED Talk:

Playing with fire and owning a pocket knife, yes please, if only these things were 'average' for children nowadays. They would surely develop more practical skills than they do by playing on their games consoles.

Judging a Deers Age by it's Teeth

Many skills which we asociate with bushcraft are still very much in use in the land management industries, with a backround in game and deer management this is one skill which I teach to my countryside management students which might be intersesting to those of you with an interest in tracking and ecology.

It's quite common to find animal remains in the woods and this is a method you can use to judge the approximate age of a deer from it's teeth. 

This is part of the collection of lower jaw bones from a range of deer found localy which I use to help students learn how to identify the age of deer. Most of these jaws are from Chinese water deer but the second from the top is from a year old roe doe and the bottom fragment is from a muntjac buck. The way to estimate the age of a deer is is to look at the eruption of the teeth, discouting the incisors at the front of the jaw, most of which are missing in these photos, each lower jaw in an adult deer should have six teeth.

The rule is simple; if all the molars (the three rearmost teeth) are not erupted and the third premolar (the third tooth from the front) has three cusps the deer is juvenile.

A three cusped juvenile pre-molar

A partially erupted molar, is this deer an adult?

As a guide roe deer should have all their adult teeth, ie six teeth on each side of the lower jaw and a two cusped pre-molar by 13 months of age, Chinese water deer and muntjac mature slightly faster and should have all these teeth shortly before they are 12 months of age.

A full set of adult teeth, notice the third premolar only has two cusps and all molars are fully erupted.

 Trying to judge the age of adult teeth is harder, the wear and tear on the teeth gives an indication of age but this depends on a deers diet and local conditions.

lightly worn teeth, notice the molar to the extreme right is not fully errupted (this is a juvenile deer)

Heavy wear on a full set of adult teeth. notice how the cusps of the teeth are almost completely worn away, this indicates that this deer was much more mature.