CLEARING: What have been the most difficult issues in getting this project started?
Michael Becker: One of the Permaculture Design Method principles is to start small, and I highly advocate for starting with small projects that you can have initial success with. Trying to get space is often a hurdle, and if you can show [...]
Continue reading " Q and A: Michael Becker Talks About Hood River Middle School Outdoor Classroom "
Hood River Middle School Outdoor Classroom Project
The Outdoor Classroom Project is a work in progress where students are the researchers, engineers, designers, architects, builders, and users of a multidisciplinary, multi-sensory learning experience.
What you see when you approach the schoolgrounds at Hood River Middle School is nothing short of remarkable. From solar panels on [...]
How rearing salmon in an elementary classroom can foster powerful teaching and learning in the content areas, environmental awareness, and good stewardship of the Earth
By Daniel S. King, PhD
My transition in January of last year to a new position teaching science, math, and technology to 5th graders at STARBASE ATLANTIS on Navy Base [...]
Continue reading " Connecting students and salmon in their watershed "
Why the Wolverine Matters to a Kid Who Has Never Seen a Raccoon
by Megan McGinty
IT IS APRIL AND I AM SITTING UNCOMFORTABLY on the cobbles of a gravel bar on the Skagit River in the North Cascades National Park with a group of local fifth graders, talking about the special rocks we just found. Ranger [...]
Field trips are exciting. Field trips incorporating inquiry-based learning and live animals are even better.
by Stephanie Schroeder
This second grade unit focuses on beach hoppers, tiny amphipods found on most sandy beaches. The first three lessons focus on learning beach hopper characteristics in the classroom and teaching students how to do scientific [...]
Continue reading " Beach Hoppers: Inquiry-based learning while having fun! "
©2008 Jon Young and Wilderness Awareness School.
This a book that needs to be in the possession of everyone who claims to be, or aspires to be, an outdoor educator. This book goes to the heart of developing a sense of kinship with nature and teaching about connecting to the land and to nature.
The Coyote’s Guide [...]
Continue reading " Review: Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature "
Reviewed by Victor Elderton
ISBN: 0-88899-458-3
Published by: Groundwood Books / Douglas & McIntyre
Written by: Annette LeBox
Illustrated by: Karen Reczuch
It’s not often in the Pacific Northwest that a children’s book is published that does a great job of illustrating the various aspects of a salmon’s habitat and ecology, while being told in a poetic style that children [...]
By Maggie Wolfe
This is my one of my favorite children’s environmental books. Chris Van Allsburg’s illustrations are fabulous, as always, and greatly add to the drama of the story. I read this book to students (5th-6th grade) at the end of almost every week at outdoor school. This is a great book to read aloud, [...]
Using the local community as a starting point for teaching interdisciplinary concepts and connecting students to the real world.
By Kim Stokely
Sixteen years ago, after attending a workshop on science teaching, I was driving home over a mountain pass when I stopped and looked out over the mountain valley. I thought, “Look at this science classroom! [...]
Michael Becker, 
David Greenwood, Lakehead University, 
Tony Deis, 
Lindsay Huettman, 
