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Regenerative Learning Ecology Blog
Ryan Pleune is founder of Mycelium Cooperative and a regenerative learning practitioner with 25+ years facilitating transformative education (ages 3-18 and adults). Working on Tsėhéstáno (Cheyenne) and Hinono'eino (Arapaho) territory, he weaves climate justice, play-based pedagogy, and ecological literacy through Forest Schools, Outdoor Nature-Based Preschools, and Emergent Strategy Wildcraft Workshops. His work embodies both/and thinking—demonstrating that rigorous learning and joyful development strengthen each other while preparing learners for thriving in an interconnected world. Contact him to learn more or to get involved with Mycellium Cooperative
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The Wood Wide Web: How a Fungal Network Inspired the Way We Learn Together
Welcome, Dia dhuit, É-peve-éšeeva, Nii’óókoh’uusini, Kia ora, Buenos dias Beneath every forest floor — beneath the root systems of ancient oaks, the spreading arms of aspens, the grasses and wildflowers of Colorado's prairies — there is a hidden conversation happening. You just can't hear it with your ears. What Is a Mycelium Network? Mycelium is the underground body of a fungus: a vast, thread-thin web of filaments called hyphae that weave through the soil in every direction
Ryan P
Sep 94 min read
The Fawn Who Disappeared
Mira had never meant to follow the rabbit. One moment she was sitting on the big flat rock by the creek — her rock, the one with the stripe of pink quartz running through the middle like a secret message — and the next moment a cottontail with one black-tipped ear was hopping along the trail, looking back at her like it was waiting. So she followed. The rabbit led her through the tall grass, past the cottonwood tree whose roots had grown into the shape of a sleeping giant, an
Ryan P
Aug 245 min read
The Art of Sitting Still: How Sit Spots Build the Roots of Ecological Belonging
There’s a particular kind of knowing that can’t be rushed. It arrives slowly, the way mushrooms fruit after a long rain, or the way a hawk learns every thermal above a ridgeline. A child who visits a patch of prairie once walks away with impressions. A child who returns to the same patch — week after week, season after season — walks away changed. This is the quiet power of the sit spot. What Is a Sit Spot? A sit spot is exactly what it sounds like: a place you return to, aga
Ryan P
Aug 215 min read
Beyond Field Trips: How Travel Tuesdays Bring the Universe Story to Life
When Learning Returns to the Community There’s a moment that happens on the second or third visit to a place that never happens on a single field trip. A child who walked past an exhibit last week suddenly stops, peers closer, and asks a question that changes everything. Another learner makes a connection between something they saw at the Nature and Science Museum two months ago and the butterfly emerging from its chrysalis today. The learning isn’t rushed. It’s relational. I
Ryan P
Nov 11, 20257 min read
From Seedlings to Elders: Cultivating Regenerative Learning Ecologies Across Generations
There's a particular kind of magic that happens when a five-year-old discovers a beetle beneath a log, when a middle schooler realizes they can navigate by stars, when a grandmother plants seeds she'll never harvest but tends anyway. It's the magic of reciprocity—of humans remembering we belong to something larger than ourselves. This is the work of Outdoor Nature Based (ONB) pedagogy , and it's not confined to a single age group or season of life. At Mycelium Cooperative, we
Ryan P
Oct 18, 20254 min read
From Cooperation to Mycelium: Why Networks Matter More Than Hierarchies
Traditional cooperation often implies working together toward shared goals—valuable, but sometimes limited by assumptions about what those goals should be and who gets to define them. My experience taught me that regenerative thinking goes deeper, asking: How do we create conditions where individual flourishing and collective healing strengthen each other, even when that means difficult transitions?
Ryan P
Jun 12, 20256 min read
'Harmony in Diversity': Regenerative Experimentation through Playful Pedagogy in Colorado's Short Grass Prairie
'Harmony in Diversity': Regenerative Experimentation through a Playful Pedagogy at an Outdoor Preschool in the Short Grass Prarie.
ryanpleune1
Aug 23, 20247 min read
Creating Integrated Outdoor Learning Communities: Race, Class, Ethnic, and Gender Diversity in Nature-Based Education
Reflections on HOW and WHY Through a Regenerative Justice Lens Through out the years I have heard some version of "Re-connecting humans to nature is like asking a fish to re-connect with water." This wisdom cuts to the heart of what we're really doing when we create outdoor nature-based learning communities—we're not introducing something foreign, but rather removing the barriers that separate us from our inherent belonging. Building on my previous exploration in "Diversity E
ryanpleune1
May 5, 20245 min read
Part 2 of 2: Diversity EQUALS Health - Building Liberatory Learning Communities Across Race, Class, Ethnicity, and Gender
An Intentionally Unfinished Invitation to Co-Creation January 15, 2024 honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy, I share my most vulnerable blog post yet—one designed to be co-created with you through dialogue, reflection, and lived experience. This centers the most complex Triple WellBeing® competencies while remaining intentionally unfinished, responsive to your insights and evolving through our Outdoor Nature Based Programs and community partnerships. This connects to
ryanpleune1
Jan 15, 20246 min read
Diversity EQUALS Health Part 1 of 2: "Nature Preschools and Forest Schools Boost Immunity"
Diversity EQUALS Health Part 1 of 2: Nature Preschools and Forest Schools Boost Immunity Through Regenerative Connection From Individual...
ryanpleune1
Nov 28, 20236 min read
Re-wilding and Regenerative Learning: Ancient Wisdom for Collective Liberation
Moving Beyond the "Re" to Understand What We're Actually Returning To Rewilding and Regenerative Learning in education imply there was once a "wild" or "generative" foundation to return to or reinvigorate in our schools. This is profoundly true on both local and international levels—there IS a wild and generative foundation that schools like Mycelium Cooperative are cultivating within learning communities committed to both individual healing and collective liberation. At the
ryanpleune1
Jun 13, 20235 min read
Reflecting and Responding: The Heart of Regenerative Pedagogy
Part of facilitating a “Pedagogy of Play” is in reflecting and responding to observations and wonders.
ryanpleune1
May 29, 20235 min read
Nature Play IS Learning: Integrating Academics and Life Skills Through Regenerative Outdoor Education
Moving Beyond False Dichotomies in Early Childhood Development Adults and parents navigating educational choices for their children often...
ryanpleune1
May 16, 20236 min read
School/Life Readiness, Forest Schools and Rainbow Scarabs: Foundations of Regenerative Learning
Why "Below the Tip of the Iceberg" Skills Matter More Than Surface Compliance With my first blog post, I want to illuminate the deeper...
ryanpleune1
May 6, 20235 min read
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