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Feb

15

Going Home (Book Review)

Filed Under Children's Literature, Reviews | Leave a Comment

GoingHome

The Mystery of Animal Migration

By Mariane Berkes
Published by Dawn Publications

Reviewed by Emily Baker-LaRouf

What pushes an animal to travel thousands of miles to places it has never seen or to reproduce in the same spot as its ancestors did?  The mysteries of the animal world are many and scientists still don’t hold all the answers.  Exploring these topics with children can be exciting and a little daunting.  I recently had the pleasure of reading Going Home to my kids and the timing couldn’t have been better.  With fall changing toward winter here in Minnesota we have watched the bird activity increase as the flocks head southward toward warmer climes.  This book provided a great jumping off point to migration in general. Read more

Apr

2

K-12 Activities: Monitoring Biological Diversity

Filed Under Activities, Biological Diversity, Outdoor education, Place-based Education, Schoolyard Classroom, Science, Sustainability | Leave a Comment

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by Roxine Hameister

Developing a biodiversity monitoring project at your school can help students develop many skills in an integrated manner. Here are some simple ideas that you can use to get your students started.

Children and teachers are being pulled in many directions. Children want to “learn by doing/’ but because of societal fears for children’s safety, they are very often not allowed to play outdoors and learn at will. Teachers are encouraged to meet the unique learning styles of all students but the classroom reality often means books and pictures rather than hands-on experiences. In addition, children are under considerable pressure to be thinking about their futures and what further, post secondary, education they might be considering.

Sometimes children just like science. Many are of the “naturalist intelligence” and enjoy learning how to classify their world. Activities that meet all these requirements are within schools’ meagre budgets and are indeed possible. These projects are equally possible for the teacher with little science or biology background knowledge. The science skills are readily picked up; being systematic about collecting and recording the data is the main skill needed. The curriculum integration that is possible from these projects range from field studies to computer skills, to art and literature; the entire curriculum is covered in these activities. Read more

Feb

19

Review: Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature

Filed Under Non-formal, Outdoor education, Resources, Reviews | Leave a Comment

CoyotesGuideCover©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 to Connecting with Nature is clearly the book of a lifetime for authors Jon Young, Ellen Haas and Evan McGown. It calls on ancient wisdom and generations of teaching to lay out a path for anyone with a desire to share nature with others. It offers dozens of activities, stories, songs, and games, guided by the excitement of discovery, real connections with animals and plans, and a sense of belonging through knowing our place on the planet.
Coyote’s Guide can be purchased through the Wilderness Awareness School website at www.wilderness awareness.org .

Jan

2

Humane Education for a Humane World

Filed Under Activities, Biological Diversity, Justice and Equity, Outdoor education, Reviews | Leave a Comment

Animal CollageHumane education examines the challenges facing our planet, from human oppression and animal exploitation to materialism and ecological degradation.  It explores how we might live with compassion and respect for everyone.

by Zoe Weil

In 1987, I offered several courses in a summer program for middle school students at the University of Pennsylvania.  The courses met from 9-5 and lasted 5 days.  One of the classes I offered was on our treatment of animals and another was on the environment.  In each course, we went on field trips.  In the class on the environment, we visited a recycling center, a wildlife rehabilitation center, and held a Council of All Beings on a protected beach.  In the course on animals, we visited an animal shelter, a farmed animal sanctuary and conducted a critical review of conditions for animals at the zoo.  We watched videos about what was happening to animals and the environment, wrote letters to elected officials and CEOs of polluting companies, and created campaign, slogan and T-shirt ideas for activism.

When the two weeks were over, I was astounded by what had taken place.

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Zoe Weil is the co-founder and president of the International Institute for Humane Education (IIHE) which, through and affiliation with Cambridge College, offers a distance-learning M.Ed. in humane education which is the first and only program of its kind in the U.S.  IIHE also offers its acclaimed Sowing Seeds humane education workshops monthly around the U.S. and Canada.  Zoe is the author of The Power and Promise of Humane Education and Above All, Be Kind: Raising a Humane Child in Challenging Times.  For more information about IIHEís training programs and Sowing Seeds workshops, visit www.IIHEd.org.

Jun

9

A Zoo is a Great Educational Tool

Filed Under Activities, Biological Diversity, Perspectives, Programs, Science, Sustainability | Leave a Comment

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by Rex Ettlin
Education Program Coordinator
Oregon Zoo

First I have to tip my hat in apology to aquariums, wildlife parks and educational farms. Since I work in a zoo that’s what I can talk about. But the idea of a zoo as an effective educational tool applies equally well to all non-formal educational settings, such as art museums, science museums, nature parks or natural areas. Teachers who have access to any of these should definitely include them in their toolbox.

A zoo’s paramount purpose is to promote wildlife conservation. A zoo exists to educate. Research happens, recreation happens, but above all is the intent to educate. The educational potential is at its greatest with a professional educator designing a learning activity to use at the zoo. The zoo is a great tool and it’s at its best when a real artisan is using it, a classroom teacher who has designed focused activities connected to a long-term curriculum.

Read more