Mind Mapping - The Naturistic Learner

The naturistic learning style is one of the eight styles of Howard Gardner’s theory on the different multiple intelligences of individuals. Intelligence, like that of naturistic style, can be defined as an individual’s capacity to comprehend, perceive, and work with the elements of the natural environment.

Individuals with this style of learning often excel in activities that involve the outdoors of a classroom. They enjoy studying life and plant sciences as well as forestry and agriculture. They are also great lovers of pets, so having pets in the classroom or in the home environment help these learners as they are very good at interacting and taking care of animals.

People with this style of learning learn better if they are interacting directly with kinesthetic activities involving plants and animals. They love working in the outdoors! As a student, they engage quite well with collecting elements of the outdoors for projects, doing landscaping, or creating a greenhouse or animal sanctuary.

Educators should use books that describe nature with pictures and text for this learner as well as fiction or non-fiction books about camping or surviving out in nature. Taking these students or individuals out on nature outings is like bringing them straight to their heaven on earth. They tend to learn about the world through processing their environment’s elements intellectually and hands on.

For these learners, being able to understand the connections with the outdoors and subject matter really stimulates their learning abilities and will allow them to excel in their studies. Many children who have this learning style will often join the boy or girl scouts as an extracurricular activity, and will long to do more outdoor activities rather than staying inside the house or classroom.

Therefore, educators of this type of learning style should engage their students in doing more tactile, naturistic projects as well as use examples of the practical application of certain subjects in connection with the outdoors with the help of brain storming software available on the market.

The career paths that are attractive individuals are forest ranger, field or plant biologist, Marine biologist, veterinarians, science teachers, herbalists, agricultural scientist, landscaper, florist, greenhouse operator, geologist, archeologist, anthropologist, and nature journalist.