Wachstumshormone

Jul

22

Tips for bringing students into the field: Strategies for success

Filed Under Outdoor education | Leave a Comment

Goodall1By Joshua Klaus, Director of Academic Programs, Ecology Project International (EPI)

Taking students into the field can provide an endless array of occasions to learn new skills, see theoretical concepts enacted, make connections, and learn about the world around us.  Given the endless places that offer valuable learning opportunities, it must just be a matter of heading out the door for students to have impactful educational experience, right?

Though it would be nice if it were that easy, there are a few key strategies that will allow any educator (novice or veteran) to make the most of their time – before, during, and after their field experience. Read more

Jul

18

A Greater Impact—What Teaching has Taught Me

Filed Under Guest Commentary, Outdoor education, Perspectives | Leave a Comment

IMG_8885by David Strich
North Cascades Institute

Mountain School has ended for me, but this recent spring session changed my life as an educator. I have become more convinced that I am pursuing the right career and that my teaching techniques have had meaningful impacts in my students’ lives. It is embarrassing for me to speak so candidly and arrogantly, but the parent chaperones have told me I am doing good work. I know this is true because in two successive weeks I choked up at home while journaling. Though I write this article more than two months later, I still feel the emotions welling inside me as I recall specific moments that impacted me earlier in the season.

I blame one student who eloquently spoke about how he feels empowered to change the world. I fault another whose sheer smile in her own accomplishments makes me tear up every time I am reminded of her voice. Read more

Jul

12

When Did ‘Environmental Education’ Become a Dirty Word?

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by Susan Smartt
on Huffington Post

For those of us who advocate on behalf of environmental education, June was a pretty good month. First, President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative led to the establishment on June 13 of the Federal Inter-agency Council on Outdoor Recreation, bringing together federal, state and tribal agencies to ensure that everyone has access to the great outdoors. Then, on June 21, the Maryland State School Board made the final vote in support of a high school graduation requirement for environmental literacy, the nation’s first.

Read the rest of this article here.

Jul

5

The Importance of Deep Experiences in Nature

Filed Under Activities, Outdoor education, Perspectives, Place-based Education | Leave a Comment

Cornell1By Joseph Cornell

Profound moments with nature foster a true and vital understanding of our place in the world. I remember an experience I had as a five-year-old boy that awakened in me a life-long fascination for marshes, birds, and for a life lived wild and free.

I was playing outside on a cold, foggy morning when I suddenly heard a startling chorus of “whouks” coming toward me through the air. I peered intently at the thick fog, hoping for at least a glimpse of the geese. Seconds passed; the tempo of their cries increased. They were going to fly directly overhead! I could hear their wings slapping just yards above me. All of a sudden, bursting through a gap in the fog, came a large flock of pearl-white snow geese. It seemed as if the sky had given birth to them. For five or six wonderful seconds their sleek and graceful forms were visible, then they merged once again into the fog. Seeing the snow geese thrilled me deeply, and ever since then I have wanted to immerse myself in nature. Read more