Nature inclusive teaching Community of practice: Course & curriculum design and implementation

This community of practice for nature inclusive teachers is meant to support educators at WUR to learn about and practice with nature inclusive methods. Some of the activities are single events open to anyone who is interested, other activities are meant as training/intervision for those who have followed the one of the teacher trainings on nature inclusive education; Onboarding in nature inclusive education or Emotions in the classroom.
Some events are organised as Inspiration Lunch workshops. You can register for those through a separate link.

Below you can find a description of all activities.

1. Single Intervision Meeting

If you bring Nature Inclusive Education (NiE) into practice and are in need for some extra peer consultation (intervision) in small groups, you are welcome to join. Minimum group size is 5. The session will be guided by a trainer from Teaching & Learning Centre. This session is meant for teachers who participated in teacher training on Nature-inclusive education or Emotions in the Classroom.

Programme, 120 minutes:
•    Welcome round
•    Case-selection of two cases  (if you have a case, write STQ* and bring it)
•    Peer rounds
•    Individual reflection & wrap-up

*STQ: Write down, just for yourself, a still urgent, unsolved case around a NiE situation
•    Describe the situation in 1 or 2 sentences. Be as specific and to the point as possible
•    Describe what exactly triggers you in this situation in 1 or 2 sentences (What triggers me is...)
•    Formulate a question considering this trigger (How can I ...., What can I do to ....., etc)

Facilitator: Marieke van Schaik

2. Learning Design Studio

The learning design studio is a sessies of 4 meeting in which people learn with and from others, supporting each other in their professionalization as ‘critical friends’. To ensure professional learning, and go beyond ‘a nice exchange’ about your respective educational practices, we will structure the meetings by using liberating structures, also called protocols. Protocols are activities to structure meetings quite strictly, to make sure everyone contributes, and to also make sure to work towards a concrete outcome that everyone can directly use in their own teaching practice. In educational literature, this is called ‘congenial conversations’, as opposed to ‘collegial conversations’. 
The meetings are not without obligation. There is no peer learning without peers. We expect your commitment to attend all 4 meetings. You can miss one meeting for a good reason, but we do expect you to then do a replacement assignment. This series is meant for teachers who participated in teacher training on Nature-inclusive education or Emotions in the Classroom.

Dates: Tuesdays 11/11/25, 01/13/26, 03/17/26 & 05/19/26, from 15.00 - 17.00.

3. Earth Day

Have you ever celebrated Earth Day? On  22nd of April it's Earth Day, a day to celebrate life on earth and share a moment of gratitude that so many life forms support our daily lives. During this celebration, we will organise several workshops, an intergenerational lunch and create a ceremonial moment on campus. Everyone is welcome, save the date!  

4. In-depth day in the forest 

Wageningen University is surrounded by beautiful forests. During this day-workshop we explore educational practices that can be applied in a variety of courses to research the relationship between humans and other life forms. In this workshop you will experience some methods yourself and come up with an application of a method within your own teaching practice. During the day, we will also reflect on the ‘side’ effects of teaching in an outdoor environment, and how this can benefit your teaching practice. Date t.b.a.

5. Embodied learning

During this half-day workshop, we explore the role embodied learning methods in higher education. Anke de Vrieze will guide this workshop. She has initiated and facilitated the Transformative Learning Hub for 5 years and is an experienced teacher in embodied methods. Date t.b.a

6. Deep time walk

The Deep Time Walk is an insightful, transformative walk through the history of the Earth. The walk takes about 3 hours and starts from Wageningse berg.  Date t.b.a

7. More-than-human project

In this 2-hour workshop, Camilla Ramezzano will share her work and experiences with the More-Than-Human project, which offers methods and stories to bring more relational perspectives into the classroom. Date t.b.a

8. Wild pedagogies online winter session

Wild Pedagogies aims to renegotiate what it means to be human in relationship with the world by engaging in deep and  transformational change through the use of educational practices.  Could education be richer, for all involved, if the natural world and the many denizens that co-constitute places, are actively engaged with, listened to, and taken seriously as part of the educative process? This online session with Sean Blenkinsop, key contributor to Wild Pedagogies, reminds educators to acknowledge, and then act, on the idea that those teachers capable of working with, caring for, and challenging student learning to include more-than-human beings.  This is more than just learning from the natural world; it includes learning with and through it as well.

9. Nature as co-teacher in practice

In this workshop, we explore how nature can be included in higher education as a co-teacher. Through this process, the learning experience de-centres the taken-for-granted human voice and re-centres more-than-human voices.  All of the beings - the water, plant life, geography — participate in the process of our coming to know the world and ourselves in it. We will try different practices and discuss the potential and hurdles of recognizing and making space for these co-teachers to engage students meaningfully.  

10. Inspiration lunch workshops 

Inspiration lunch workshops are 1,5 hour sessions organised during lunch, for both new and more experienced teachers, as well as other staff to learn about educational topics and innovations. In 2025/2026 we organise several workshops focused on topics in nature-inclusive education.
 

The list below will be updated regularly.

• 9 September 2025: Writing with nature: Exercise in perspective taking with Louise van der Stok and Marca Gresnigt
• 9 October 2025: Organising and teaching outdoor classes (also with large groups) with Casper Quist & Ellen Torfs; Follow this link for more info and registration

X. Design Workshop

We offer the option to take a separate design workshop, in case you have followed the teacher training Nature-inclusive education or the module on Emotions in the classroom, and are seeking support to apply these methods in your own teaching practice. The design workshop needs at least 4 participants and will take between 2-3 hours. Please send an email to Marca.gresnigt@wur.nl if you are interested.
 

Target group

We welcome all WUR education staff who are excited to implement nature inclusive methods in their teaching and/or interaction with students. (Teachers, study advisors, programme committee members)

Literature

This community is part of a series that will allow you to deepen your understanding of and ability to apply nature-inclusive methods. Full series:

• Onboarding in nature inclusive education and worldviews regarding human-nature relations. Consisting of self-study and several moments of exchange and reflection
• Care in the classroom: supporting students in social-environmental responsibility and anxiety
• Community of practice activities: course & curriculum design workshop on the translation of the learning from earlier models into course and/or curriculum design.

These modules have been developed and will be co-taught in collaboration between NatureCollege foundation WUR Teaching and Learning Centre

Costs

Participation is free for Wageningen University & Research staff involved in teaching in a Wageningen University Degree programme.

Cancellation

We consider registration as final. When cancelled within three weeks before the course activities start, your chair group will be charged all costs of your subscription (€350,-).
If there are less than 6 participants in the course, the Teaching and Learning Centre may cancel the course and notify you at the latest 2 weeks before the start of the course.