Putting on your “woods ears”: A lesson in listening

Abstract A simple exercise of active listening to bird vocalizations in a natural setting was evaluated in an introductory class (FW101L) at Michigan State University. This class is geared toward first‐ or second‐year students and is intended to broaden their skills and knowledge as naturalists. This activity is shown to have a lasting impact on students evaluated in 2015 and 2016 via feedback in a reflective essay students submit covering the entire course. I posit that focusing student attention on bird songs and calls increases the saliency of these sounds, and a positive feedback loop is set up whereby these sounds are more readily detected in future outdoor experiences, which is the intended outcome. This exercise is an effective component of an outdoor experiential class, but more broadly emphasizes the role that saliency has on student learning.