ABSTRACT
Scholars suggest that children enjoy a greater connection with the natural world and encourage the nurturing of this relationship so they grow to value rather than fear nature. During this inquiry, I turned to poetic transcription to represent a gifted, fourth-grade student’s connection with natural surroundings. After collecting data through interviews, journal entries from the participant, and observational notes, I practiced Found Poetry by selecting key phrases and words that best captured the student’s experiences and crafted three, researcher-voiced poems (“Nature’s Child”, “Nature’s Mind”, and “The Butterfly Whisperer”). Examining the poems, I determined that this student’s connection with the natural environment closely mirrored research suggesting that children in fact experience nature differently. I also discuss how using poetic inquiry assisted me in vicariously and evocatively representing the student’s experiences, hopefully causing readers to reconsider their own relationship with nature.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.