About Us
Growing nature-connected schools.
Good Natured Learning is here to make sure students and educators get
daily doses of "Vitamin N"ature at school.
We know - and research supports - humans thrive with daily, accessible, and relevant nature connections.
The myriad benefits of 🍎-a-day nature connections for humans, especially learners, include:
🌿 increased mental and physical wellness
🌿 improved academic performance
🌿 enhanced social emotional & 21st Century skills
🌿 more equitable learning experiences
🌿 more relevant learning
🌿 greater sense of agency to take action for the planet
🌿 more joyful schools!
Why we exist
Humans need daily, accessible, and relevant nature connections.
Feeling this need and recognizing the potential for nature to make things better for educators, students, and our planet, co-founders Becca Katz & Erin Allaman started Good Natured Learning to make nature connections part of the very fabric of "formal" teaching and learning in schools.
Meet The Team
Becca has been a nature-based educator for over two decades. Prior to starting Good Natured Learning, she worked with Lake County School District and Get Outdoors Leadville! to integrate nature-connected learning experiences, retool and design school systems to support learning outdoors, and implement professional development workshops for educators to add nature-based learning practices to their teaching craft. She loves how simple nature-based learning practices – from bringing more plants into your classroom to teaching students in nearby nature – can yield such profound effects like improved wellness and increased engagement. Becca holds a B.A. and M.S. from Stanford University. More important than any degree, Becca has learned from, with, and in nature over hundreds of days-and-nights spent camping and traveling in the Wilderness with students, friends, and family. With GNL, she's excited to focus on how nature connections can be integrated and integral to teaching and learning in schools. Becca adores connecting with people to talk about almost anything, especially about NBL. And, because she always has more words, she writes a newsletter: Learning, by Nature.
As a member of the Good Natured Learning team, Anna works with the Good Natured Learning Fellows, supporting their case study journeys. Anna holds a master’s in education leadership, is an accredited learning environments planner (ALEP), a leadership in energy and environmental design accredited professional (LEED AP) and a professional interior designer (NCIDQ) whose practice focuses on biophilic design for well-being. Anna supports schools to think of their campus as a living eco-system that functions like a three-dimensional textbook. School grounds come alive with science gardens, edible gardens, outdoor learning spaces, native and pollinator gardens, regional landscaping, and unstructured play spaces filled with natural building materials. Working at the intersection of social and environmental justice Anna believes that nature-based learning is a key strategy to improving diversity, equity, and inclusion in education and moving towards a more regenerative and harmonious relationship with all life on our beautiful home planet.
Rebecca has been leading young people in nature for over 15 years and is passionate about the positive impacts of the outdoors on building community, individual well-being, and learning. Rebecca’s connection to nature began in the woods behind her house as a child and strengthened as she spent many nights in the Wilderness throughout high school, college, and as a teacher and administrator at the High Mountain Institute. She is equally excited about helping preschoolers find a natural treasure in the playground at school as she is about giving teenagers an immersive outdoor experience. Rebecca has worked with kids ages preschool through twelfth grade in a variety of settings, both in school and outside of school. Most recently, she has been providing nature-connection and social-emotional learning programming, as well as writing curriculum, for Wayfinders on the Hudson. Rebecca holds a B.A. in Education and Human Development from Colby College and an M.Ed. in Psychological Counseling from Columbia University. She is inspired by the work that the current GNL fellows are doing in their schools and would like to see every child have the opportunity to have a little more nature connection in their lives.
More about Mildred coming soon. Can you handle the suspense?