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"Huck's Song" written by Chris Anderson, performed by Kim & Chris Chisholm. Visit https://www.wolfcamp.org/ for all the details...

Like the popular STEM Education movement in the classroom, STEAM brings education into balance. Here at Wolf Camp, we realized when developing and reflecting on our new virtual classes that they seem to be the ultimate in STEAM Education.

First, let’s look at the “S” and the “A.” We’re all about science, but we use the arts of nature to teach it – the “it” being a lot of biology. Actually, it’s applied biology, or ethnobiology – the way humans interact with plants, animals and the elements of nature.

One of the fundamental ways we teach biology interactively is to set students up with their own “sit spot.” The “sit spot” concept of nature education uses the scientific method – of studying a “control group” location from which to compare other areas of nature. How is a “sit spot” a control group?

Once a student learns the players and patterns of nature in one area, they can use that place (control group) they know so well to compare it to anywhere else they experience. With their control group experience as empirical evidence, students can quickly recognize the patterns of nature anywhere they go, and they will quickly identify species new to them which are filling patterns common to nature everywhere – niches they know from experience.

We also do the “T, E & M” in STEM/STEAM Education. In fact, we teach the original human technologies such as fire by friction, tanning of animal hides using chemicals naturally found in eggs. We also teach the origins of engineering: the crafting of bows, arrows and at-latls that dramatically improved the efficiency of hunting, and we teach ancient and new farming methods that focus on sustainability and self-sufficiency.

We also teach the fundamentals of math developed through animal tracking. Similar to how music has been found to help young people understand basic math, some anthropologists believe that humans developed the capacity for advanced mathematical thinking through the mysteries of tracking. Presented with sign (evidence) that an animal may have been present, humans had to develop complex thinking to “put 2 and 2 together” and figure out “who” it was, “what” it was doing, “when” it happened, “where” it is now, and “why” it would have been in the area in the first place.

On top of that, we’ve figured out how to do it virtually – the ultimate marriage of ancient and modern technologies. Ironically, we are using the most modern of technologies to teach the most ancient, and to get people off their computers and into nature for a few hours per day.