ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Natural History is a largely outdoor, discovery-based class for our lower school students, where they see the Valley as a textbook and the seasons as its chapters.
Eric Heil has taught Natural History to his third graders for decades now, and in this rebroadcast from 2021, he unpacks the class's lessons of close observation, pattern recognition, scientific inquiry, identification, wonder, and the foundations of philosophy—all among 8- to 11-year-olds.
Chapters:3:10 Personal observation and discovery
5:35 The outdoors: an alternative textbook
9:55 Boys and nature journals
19:49 Intrinsic value in nature study
25:47 Junior philosophy: substance and accidents
31:50 "I see, I think of, I wonder"
36:23 Starting a nature study at your school
Links:Webinar: How to Keep a Nature Journal featuring Eric Heil and Peter Vitz Fact or Opinion: On Preventing (or Unwinding) Moral Relativism by Michael Moynihan
The Laws Guide to Drawing Nature and Journaling by John Muir Laws Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock A Natural History of North American Trees by Donald Culross Peattie Nature's Events: A Notebook of the Unfolding Seasons by John Serrao
Also on the Forum:Teaching Sovereign Knowers, a series on science education by Michael MoynihanEducating Boys: Nature, Risk, and the Making of Men by Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti On Nature Journals and Observant Souls featuring Eric Heil "Can I Catch It?": On Handling Wildlife featuring Eric Heil
Featured Opportunities:Convivium Conference for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 11-13, 2026)
