Wild Becomings - How the Everyday Experience of Common Wild Animals at Summer Camp Acts as an Entrance to the More-than-Human World - Research Paper

Oct 15, 2026

Wild Becomings investigates how environmental education shapes children’s conceptions of nature through place-based experiences at Camp Arowhon. Based on interviews and observations using a hybrid phenomenography-ethnography approach, the study identifies local common wild animals as key to campers’ embodied connection to place. Both structured “nature programs” and unstructured “free-play” increase familiarity with everyday animals. The paper applies the Deleuze-Guattarian idea of becoming as an entry point toward engaging more abstract aspects of the natural world, and discusses implications for urban environmental education.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background and Methods

Research approach (phenomenography and ethnography)

Findings and Educational Practices

Structured nature programs

Unstructured free-play

Conceptual Framework and Implications

Becoming and more-than-human world

Wild Becomings: How the Everyday Experience of Common Wild Animals at Summer Camp Acts as an Entrance to the More-than-Human World Gavan P. L. Watson, York University, Canada Abstract This paper describes the partial results of a research project which investigated conceptions of nature and the role of place in environmental education in children who attended Camp Arowhon. Through interviews and observations, utilizing a hybrid research drawing from phenomenography and ethnography, local common wild animals emerged as playing an important role in campers’ embodied connection to place. Through structured“nature programs” and unstructured “free-play,” campers discovered and increased their familiarity of common local animals. Using the deleuzeoguattarian concept of becoming, these interactions are proposed to serve as a starting point through which a child can move on to engage with increasingly abstract aspects of the natural world. Implications for urban environmental education, where these children spend the majority of their year, are discussed. Résumé Le présent article décrit les résultats partiels d’un projet de recherche de 2003, lequel étudie des représentations de la nature et le rôle de l’espacedans l’éducation écologique chez les enfants qui fréquentaient le camp Arowhon. Par des entrevues et des observations, se servant d’une ébauche de recherche hybride sur laphénoménographie et l’ethnographie, on adécouvert que les animaux sauvages communs du coin jouent un rôle important dans les rapports que les campeurs incarnent par rapport à l’espace. Par des programmes structurés, axés sur la « nature » et le « jeu libre » non structuré, les campeurs ont découvert et accru leur connaissance des petits animaux sauvage communs du coin. En utilisant le concept dedeleuzeoguattaria du devenir, on propose ces interactions comme point dedépart par lequel un enfant éventuellement aborder des aspects de plus en plus abstraits du monde naturel. On discute des implications de l’éducation écologique urbaine, où ces enfants passent la majorité de leur vie d’élève. Keywords: animals; children; summer camp; local knowledge; deleuzeoguattarian thought; urban environmental education Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 11, 2006 127 If someone were watching you this morning, it would have looked like you disappeared into the forest. You, however, know the secret of your disappearing act. The worn path through the forest that you are on now is well hidden from view along the gravel road. No longer bordered by trees on the road, you are surrounded by them as you walk towards a small log building, no larger than a camper cabin inside this forest. As you walk along this path, you notice on your left and right the dappled, pattern shadow and light play on the forest floor that surrounds you. Looking back towards the road, you see the hole, now bright and backlit, through which you entered. You were warmed by the sun as you walked along the road, but now that you are sheltered by the shade of the canopy overhead, the heat of the morning sun is replaced by a certain feeling of respite. It is, by all accounts, a beautiful morning. Walking up the steps to the screen door, you look at the thermometer screwed into one of the building’s log supports. It looks to be about 22 degrees in this mottled shade. It’s a comfortable temperature. For mid-morning it’s warm, and while you’re comfortable in your sandals, shorts, and a tee-shirt, the sweatshirt you started the day with comes off as you walk into the lodge. To greet you, a light breeze blows through this big screened-in building and across your arms. The little hairs on your arm move just enough to register the fact that the atmosphere is moving. From the periphery come the noises of a typical camp morning: feet running along the gravel road, distant shouts between cabin mates, and the sound of a sudden gust blowing through the upper boughs of the nearby white pine. The scree

FAQs

What was investigated in the Camp Arowhon study?

The study investigated children’s conceptions of nature and the role of place in environmental education at Camp Arowhon through interviews and observations.

How did the campers engage with local wild animals?

Campers engaged through structured “nature programs” and unstructured “free-play,” discovering and increasing their familiarity with common local animals.

What conceptual idea does the paper use to interpret these interactions?

It uses the Deleuze-Guattarian concept of becoming, framing animal encounters as an entry point for moving toward more abstract understandings of the natural world.

Oct 15, 2026

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