The air filled with the rustle of plastic snack bags hurriedly being opened.

The crackle of Goldfish crackers and the smack-smack of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches signaled snack time in the preschool classroom.

Over all the noise, the chomp-chomp of an apple being devoured by a young girl rang out over the class.

“The little girl had an apple for snack time. She set [the apple] down on the desk, put her hands by her sides and just started chomping down on it,” said Gene Myers, associate professor of Huxley College. "Her teacher came up and asked her if she could use her hands to eat. She looked and said, ‘I’m a beaver!’ and went back to gnawing on her apple.”

Myers said he observed a preschool classroom for an entire school year as part of his research for the book, “The Significance of Children and Animals.”

He will be giving a presentation at 7 p.m. April 15 at Village Books, which coincides with the release of the book’s second edition.

Myers said his book focuses on how children’s exposure to animals affects their social development.

Myers said his observation of the young girl eating the apple like a beaver wasn’t unusual.

He said children often pretend to be an animal to act out behavior that wouldn’t otherwise be acceptable.

“By orienting themselves to the world of animals and finding commonality with other living things, children are clarifying what it is to be a person,” Myers said.

He said he spent nine months in Gloria Needlman’s preschool classroom in the laboratory school at the University of Chicago.

Needlman, who taught at the laboratory school for 36 years, said her classroom had all kinds of different animals including guinea pigs, snakes, birds, fish and cockroaches.

Needlman said she thinks having animals in the classroom benefited her students.

“There was always a child sitting on the floor at one time or another talking to or cuddling with the guinea pig,” Needlman said. “I believe connecting with animals is a significant part of children’s understanding of empathy and gentleness.”

Sheri Toomey, the events coordinator at Village Books, said she thinks the book will appeal to people in Bellingham because of a community interest in conservation of the environment and animals.

Toomey said she enjoys inviting local authors to speak at the store.

“People like to see what their neighbors are up to, and I think people can really connect with the topic of childhood interest in animals,” Toomey said.

Myers said he occasionally assigns students in his Huxley classes reading from his book to show how people view animals and to relate conversation to student experiences with animals.

The publication of his book has also led Myers to bigger projects.

His newest book, “Conservation Psychology: How and Why People Care for Nature,” is coming out in September 2008.

Myers said he thinks the concepts in both books are especially important in today’s changing environment.

“I think now more than ever, it’s important for kids to be ecologically aware and connected to the non-human world,” Myers said. “The book talk is my chance to share my interests and observations with the community.”

Share this article:
                                   

Be first to comment on this article

Only registered users can post comments.
Please login or register.