Socratic educator Michael Strong with six year old Alana

What are you gonna do today?

Today I'm gonna go on a playdate with my friend Penelope, go, uh, Nerf gun wars with my friend Dylan.

Sounds like you have a lot of fun. Yeah, good for you, good for you. Um, your dad said that maybe you were going to learn about the rain last week. Did you learn about rain?

Loud rain?

Yep.

Uh, not really.

Okay, that's okay. We talked about clouds last week. You remember talking about clouds?

Yes, I remember.

Okay, so one of the things is sometimes you go to Hawaii, right?

Yes, sometimes.

You like Hawaii?

I do. It's probably my favorite place to go.

Pretty amazing place. You're very lucky to have family in Hawaii.

Yeah.

Are the clouds in Hawaii similar to the clouds in San Diego?

Uh, yeah, kind of. They kind of stay in one place like here in San Diego, but sometimes they move like here.

So what's— in what ways is Hawaii different than San Diego?

Well, I don't know any differences about Hawaiian here.

If it's exactly the same, then why do you like to go there?

Well, maybe because it's more like the waters. I like to play with my family, and, and it's more like hotter sometimes. It here, it's a little more— it's— and like there, it's a little more cooler, and here it's It's pretty much a little bit hotter sometimes.

So the weather is some, a little bit different in the two places? Yeah. You know which island you go to in Hawaii?

Which?

I don't know, there are different islands. You know there are different islands in Hawaii?

Yeah, but I like to go to Oahu.

Ah, so that's the one you usually go to?

Yeah, that's the one I usually go to.

Okay, do you go to Honolulu?

Honolulu? Actually, yeah, I've been there. That's one of my favorites too.

I see. Do you go to the beach in Hawaii?

I do. I just haven't been there in a while.

How about snorkeling? Have you ever gone snorkeling?

Uh, one time.

Did you like it?

I did, but didn't get much practice.

Did you see fishes and corals and things like that?

Well, I mostly saw fishes. Because it was pretty much a long time ago, so I don't really remember what I saw.

Okay, okay. Well, I'm thinking about if places— where else have you traveled? Can you think of other places you've traveled other than Hawaii?

I think I've traveled to Colombia with my dad.

Oh, that's right! I remember him telling me about that trip. Did you like that trip?

I did.

Was Colombia different than San Diego?

Um, kind of.

In what way?

Well, it was more darker, more each day there was a little bit more cloud— it was a little more cloudier than San Diego is.

Okay, and then where else other than Hawaii and Colombia have you traveled to?

I think I've been to Maine. My aunt lives there. I can't remember anywhere else.

Okay. Maine, I would think, is fairly different. Was Maine different?

Um, well, kind of different with all the things around their house because it was mostly like trees and their backyard was pretty cool.

And the trees, are the trees different in Maine than they are in San Diego?

Um, not really.

Okay, exactly the same kind of trees. Do you think that, um, every place on Earth has the same kind of trees?

Well, not every place on Earth. Sometimes other places can have different types of trees.

Why do you think different places have different kinds of trees?

Um, I think Africa would probably have the different tree.

In Africa they have baobab trees. Have you ever seen a picture of a baobab tree?

Uh, no.

They're really, really interesting. I'll have your dad show you a baobab tree because they're totally different. Totally different.

Okay.

Do you like different kinds of trees?

Yes, I do.

Did you see Lord of the Rings?

Uh, yes, I have.

Do you remember the Ents?

The what?

Ents, the big talking trees. Remember the really tall big trees that walk and talk and they go in this battle, they help win this battle?

I don't remember.

Okay, okay. Well, if you like trees, they're They're really interesting trees, I think. Next time you should check out the ants.

Okay, probably the weirdest trees.

You like weird trees?

Uh, kind of.

Okay, okay. Well, um, I— have you— what is nature? What do you know what nature is?

It's a form of an outside place with all different kinds of things you like outside. Like trees, hummingbirds, flowers, dirt, grass.

Yep, yep. Do you think nature is the same all over the world, or is nature different in different places?

Well, nature is probably, um, same as some places, like what, like the wildlife, because it's like having all these beautiful, amazing things that you don't really like, like you don't really get to see much outside.

So you know that in some places there are elephants?

Yeah, some places like Africa, and you don't really get to see them much. So that's probably a piece of nature that you won't really get to see much.

Do you see elephants very often in San Diego?

Uh, only in the zoo.

Okay, well, do you think that maybe there are different kinds of nature?

Yes, I think there's different kinds.

Okay, great. Well, that's— I just wanted to kind of think about nature because, as you're right, in different places, you know, some things are the same and some are different. And it's interesting, I think it's interesting to observe nature and see what parts are similar and what parts are different and begin to think about why is nature the same in some ways and different in other ways. Does that make sense?

Yes, it makes a little bit sense.

Okay, and no, no problem thinking about it, but I just thought I wanted to see what your experience of Hawaii and San Diego and different places was so we can begin to think about nature, okay? In which case, I want to keep these short, so I want you to have a fantastic day and hopefully have a whole lot of fun. Okay?

Okay.

All right, bye-bye, Alana.

Bye, I'll see you next Sunday.

You too.