What Watching Birds And Wasps Taught Me About Ideal Learning Environments

How do birds and wasps have anything to do with learning? Plenty, as it turns out. Educational learning theories have long posited concepts on what makes an ideal learning environment. But what if the ideal already exists?

First, a little context. A few months ago, almost everyone from the Indiahikes Bangalore office set off to Channarayana Durga, and it wasn’t on a trek. We were attending an introductory course on how to be naturalists.

“Excited” is too mild to describe what the team felt. It's not every day one benefits from the wisdom of expert eyes helping us weave together the sounds, sights, smells, and mind-boggling stories of the earth.

The expert eyes in question were Payal Mehta and Harsha J., naturalists who work with the Nature Conservation Foundation, among others. What a privilege it was to be learning from among the best in natural history, ethical guiding, and conservation in the country.

It was pitch dark when our vehicles announced their arrival in a swirl of dust. Payal and Harsha welcomed us, their warmth and enthusiasm shining through the darkness of the night. Just as we planned to turn in, a snake slithered its way into the campsite to say hello – seemed a fitting way to kick off the programme!

The next few days forever changed how we view the world and ourselves. We learnt every creature on this planet is a naturalist – instinctively aware of natural processes and rhythms. 

Humans were once naturalists too; once. As a species we have increasingly lost our ability to stay connected with nature. Yet, over just two glorious days in the wilderness, it felt like we had closed the gap a little. 

All we had to do was look at the world in microscopic detail. Ask a lot of questions. Think. 

Among the gazillion takeaways from those two days, a central idea remained - the earth makes room for every creature's needs.

Apex predators may dominate the food chain, but you don’t have to be one to thrive. 

You don’t need brute strength or force to succeed. What you need are 1) ideal conditions 2) interconnections and 3) alliances 

Here's why it got us thinking about learning environments.

1. Ideal conditions: There’s room for everyone here

What does this bird need? The ideal conditions (a cup-shaped flower) that suit its needs (easy to perch on and feed from) – which it did, for a few seconds before flying off into the forest.

Nature’s emphasis isn’t on the biggest, the strongest – it is on thriving as one is meant to. Harmony between you and your environment helps you become who you’re meant to be. 

Is there room for everyone in the world we’ve created?

Classrooms provide only one type of atmosphere – where the academically inclined, the most athletic, or the extroverted tend to thrive. 

Can classrooms consider the needs of everyone – the quiet child, the academically “weak” child, or the one with plenty to say yet could do with more time? 

We group children according to “ability” with little to no consideration for whether the learning environment supports their needs. 

Our classrooms mirror a world that doesn’t support a person’s need to show up as they are and just be; to be the best thinker, plumber, artist, designer, scientist, dreamer or adventurer they can be.

We’re bent on turning birds into tigers, and that’s where the problem lies.

2. Interconnections: Everything in nature is connected to everything else

Harsha and Payal regaled us with stories of interconnections in nature. While plenty of examples in nature exist, few relationships are as enduring (and dramatic) as the one between figs, wasps, and by extension, the world!

The fig’s flowers are hidden behind layers of plant tissue, accessible only through a tiny hole and difficult to pollinate. But there’s a purpose behind this complexity. By making pollination challenging, the fig ensures that only one kind of pollinator can reach its flowers - the fig wasp.

Fig wasps are perfectly adapted to this task. Often just a few millimetres long, fig wasps enter the fig through the small opening, sometimes sacrificing their own limbs in the process. Once inside, they pollinate some of the flowers and lay their eggs in others.

The larvae develop. Wingless males emerge first, mate with the females, and then create exit tunnels before dying – the ultimate swan song! The fertilised female wasps exit the fig, carrying pollen with them and ready to start the cycle anew.

This unique relationship makes fig trees vital to tropical forests. With fruit available year-round, fig trees sustain larger animals, who in turn disperse their seeds, preserving forest diversity. Meanwhile, other wasps have evolved to leverage this fig-fig wasp dynamic, adding even more complexity to the ecosystem.

Our disconnect from interconnections

Constructivist learning theories emphasise the need for learners to build upon previous experience and understanding to “construct” a new understanding.

In other words, we remember things and understand better when learning is an integrated system of knowledge. Yet we’ve ended up making sense of the world in subjects – Maths, Science, the Humanities, Sports, Arts, and never shall the disciplines meet!

Classroom learning rarely offers the big picture we so desperately need. What matters isn’t how much we know, it’s how much we can synthesise information and connect the dots.

Children who can’t make interconnections risk the danger of thinking in binaries. The same children grow up to become adults who can’t see beyond what they know - adults who may believe in “development” at any cost, look down on the arts, or believe nature is a backdrop to their lives; a place to “escape” to. 

How many children (and adults) know what happens to the plastic bottle they throw away? Or why climate change is a social justice issue as much as it is an environmental one? Or how lifestyle choices in the city can impact food and water security in remote mountain communities?

Education owes it to children to help them see the bigger picture - that everything is connected to everything else.

3. Alliances: We get by with a little help from our friends

When it comes to survival, it’s just plain smart for species to team up—for protection, help, sustenance, support, or guidance. Some friendships are obvious. Other BFFs (like the ones below) are unusual, but vital all the same.

We know the mistletoe plant as a whimsical, romantic Christmas ornament. In nature, it is a parasitic plant that grows on trees, blending in like an extra branch. 

How does the mistletoe spread its seeds? Enter the pale-billed flowerpecker, and its distinct pooping habits. 

The mistletoe plant produces a berry which is the primary food source for the flowerpecker. The seed, after being eaten by the bird, passes through its digestive system, shedding only its soft outer layer, making it sticky.

Most birds instinctively position themselves so their droppings fall to the ground—the flowerpecker is different.  

It turns sideways and defecates directly onto the branch, placing the seed exactly where it needs to be, where it firmly sticks on. The seed sends out roots that burrow into the branch, tapping into the tree’s sap, and—just like that—another mistletoe begins to grow.

The mistletoe depends on the bird, and the bird relies on the mistletoe. Without one, the other wouldn’t survive.

At the heart of nature is a simple premise: you give and you get. You don’t take.

Every creature has a role to play. It is this balance that keeps ecosystems running smoothly. Take out one piece, and the whole thing can quickly fall apart, unravelling into chaos.

A self-centred, hustling generation that can’t stop, won’t stop

Back in the “real” world, we’re told to get ahead at any cost, and it starts in school and at home. 

Competition has inherent value, yet how much is too much? The narrative today glorifies “beast mode” as the only way to live (ironically, real "beasts" operate the way they do only for food and survival).

When hyper-individualism becomes the norm, it tears at social fabrics. You see it in how we treat public areas as personal trash bins, or a sense of entitlement overriding basic courtesy. It manifests online, where social media “cancel culture” runs on validation without affecting lasting change. 

You see it in how corporations sacrifice the well-being of entire communities for their bottom line. Even charitable acts frequently have ulterior motives.

When personal satisfaction trumps the greater good, community connections, family ties, and friendships take a backseat. Care and altruism disappear. Slowly but surely, we chip away at our own humanity.

The rhythm of nature vs. the environments we create

Two days of immersing ourselves outdoors reinforced what we at the Indiahikes School of Outdoor Learning strongly believe in - the outdoors help you learn how to learn. A more purposeful way of being automatically falls into place when you are outdoors.

When you combine the outdoors with exceptional facilitation, the possibilities seem limitless! We've seen the benefits on our treks with children. We experienced it ourselves once again during the session with Payal and Harsha.

Among a myriad things, we learned to engage with our surroundings more deeply. We were more patient and observant than usual. The outdoors rekindled wonder and awe.

We found our feet in challenging, unfamiliar environments, all at our own pace. Plus, when the body and mind are free to amble, you return with a deep sense of having reconnected to yourself. Lest we forget, we are a part of nature. 

Above all, it changes how you view the self and other living beings. Each of us plays a part, although we may lead vastly different lives.

Which is real life, and which is just fantasy? 

Think of the reciprocity, harmony, and equilibrium of nature versus the environments we’ve created – fear, unhealthy competition, working in silos, and rampant consumerism.

Which environment would you rather your children learn in? Today, we’ll leave you with that thought.