Place Based Education:
Using Nature Walks, Outdoor Classrooms, and Local Sites
Course #4824
Summer 2016
Course
Rationale: Education, by its very nature, is a multidisciplinary venture. For example, prose, poetry, and art can express the general themes of natural science or any other discipline. Interpretive, or nature, walks promote good teaching, energize existing approaches, and inspire new ones. Place-based education using interpretive walks will be used to generate the observations, dialogue, and discoveries about relationships and meaning in nature that are at the very heart of critical and creative thinking.
Course
Description: Teachers will learn techniques to incorporate nature walks as well as outdoor classrooms and local sites into art, English, math, social studies, world language, and science curricula. Interpretive nature walks will be modeled, with an emphasis on developing skills of observation and identification, posing questions, and connecting discoveries to a broader context. A myriad of presentation strategies will be explored that incorporate art, prose, or poetry to express the discoveries of the nature walks. These strategies encourage students to express their findings in more dynamic modes than traditional lab reports, and they entertain endless possibilities for communicating scientific information. Journaling techniques and sketching will be explored, as well as field trips with interpretive walks that will engage participants in pond studies, biodiversity of the intertidal zone, and the ecosystems of the salt marsh. Participants will prepare a single interpretive nature walk or outdoor lesson plan based on a theme to be used as a blueprint for future incorporation into their curriculum. Participants will be required to read material prior to the course. Trips to Rockefeller State Park, Scarsdale High School woods, Marshlands Conservancy, Edith Read Sanctuary, The Bronx River Conservancy, Weinberg Nature Center, Constitution Marsh and other local sites are planned. Walks include themes based on historical perspectives, pond study, biodiversity, and natural habitats.
Course
Requirements: 1. Attend all sessions.
2. Complete assigned readings.
3. Develop an interpretive walk based on a curriculum theme for use in the classroom.
Course
Coordinator: Richard Clark, Teacher, Scarsdale High School
Open to: All
Time: 8:30am-4:30pm, August 1-August 5
Location: Scarsdale High School, Room 1N2 and off campus sites
Materials needed: Art book, watercolors, journal, Last Child in the Woods, by Richard Louv
Credit: Three points salary credit or stipend
Course limited to 20 participants.