Opening young eyes to nature: Nikkitha Terasa

Opening young eyes to nature: Nikkitha Terasa

At the Anna Nagar Tower Park, Nikkitha Terasa is quick to point to bats roosting on a tree. The fascination in her eyes, as she speaks about nature and about one’s surroundings being an important classroom, has led to her journey thus far as a nature educator working with young minds. “Beyond nature itself, there’s so much to nature education and it prompts people to connect with their surroundings, collaborating, being curious, and asking questions,” she says. A postgraduate in zoology from Madras Christian College, Nikkitha says that while she was always fascinated by nature, it was an internship during her undergraduate days that proved to be an eye-opener.

“A few years ago, I had the opportunity to interact with Yuvan Aves, naturalist and educator, through an internship with Urban Wilderness Walks, which he was facilitating with Madras Naturalists Society. I conceived and took people on my first nature walk then, and have since come a long way,” she says.

Her journey as a nature educator, Nikkitha says, started with the coming-together of the Palluyir Trust for Nature Education and Research, founded by Mr. Yuvan, which brought together like-minded individuals keen on making place-based, nature-based outdoor education a mainstream practice in schools, colleges and for members of the public in Chennai.

Through her work as a nature educator with Palluyir Trust, Nikkitha was selected by the North American Association for Environmental Education as part of its 2023 batch of 30 environmental educators aged under 39 from across the world.

“From simple bingo cards to posters depicting common species around us, we create nature education materials. Very important among them are field guides, wherein we invest a lot of time and energy,” she explains. At Palluyir Trust, Nikkitha is part of several interesting initiatives. Among the projects she is part of is the creation of a climate curriculum aimed at going beyond simply reading about the environment. With a special interest in insects and flowers, the nature educator speaks about a passion project she’s involved in — creating a field guide for wildflowers in and around the city.

A co-author of the book, Seashells: An activity book for the beach and ocean, Nikkitha says the book was born out of the learnings from a programme the trust initiated for children of fisherfolk at Besant Nagar. “A dream project of ours at present is our collaboration with the Greater Chennai Corporation and taking a nature-based programme to their schools as part of the curriculum. We are looking at studying how this will improve their curiosity, critical thinking, and interpersonal skills,” she explains. For her, it is important not just to be an educator for children but also a facilitator for teachers and she hopes to initiate teacher interaction programmes.

While her journey as a nature educator has been eye-opening for her in many ways, how can parents and teachers kindle such an interest in children? “Children at a very young age are curious about everything, including nature. As parents and educators, we need to encourage this curiosity and subsequently facilitate exposure to the same,” she concludes.