Garrison School Environmental Education
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • MISSION
    • COMMITTEE CHARGE
    • CREATING STEWARDS OF THE NATURAL WORLD
    • ESSENTIAL DEFINITIONS
    • NATURE'S BENEFITS FOR CHILDREN
  • PROGRAMS
    • FOREST FRIDAYS
    • HUDSON VALLEY SEED
    • NATIVE GARDEN
    • SCHOOL FOREST DAY
    • YOUTH CLIMATE SUMMIT
  • SCHOOL FOREST
    • HISTORY
    • VISITOR GUIDELINES
    • HHLT PROPOSAL
  • STUDENT RESOURCES
  • TEACHER RESOURCES
    • BOOKS & FIELD GUIDES
    • EXPLORE NATURAL SCIENCE >
      • ANIMALS
      • CITIZEN SCIENCE
      • CLIMATE CHANGE
      • GEOGRAPHY & MAPPING
      • GEOLOGY
      • INVASIVE SPECIES
      • MIGRATION
      • PLANTS
      • STREAMS, SWAMPS & VERNAL POOLS
      • TREES & FORESTS
      • WATER
      • WEATHER
    • GRANTS
    • HEALTH & SAFETY
    • HOW TO TEACH OUTDOORS
    • HUDSON HIGHLANDS TOPICS >
      • HUDSON HIGHLANDS FOLKLORE
      • HUDSON RIVER
      • LOCAL CONSERVATION HISTORY
      • REVOLUTIONARY WAR HISTORY
    • LESSON PLANS >
      • GRADES K-2
      • GRADES 3-5
      • GRADES 6-8
      • GRADES K-8
    • ORGANIZATIONS
  • SOURCES
  • JOIN US
  • CONTACT
  • NEWS
  • MAP
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • MISSION
    • COMMITTEE CHARGE
    • CREATING STEWARDS OF THE NATURAL WORLD
    • ESSENTIAL DEFINITIONS
    • NATURE'S BENEFITS FOR CHILDREN
  • PROGRAMS
    • FOREST FRIDAYS
    • HUDSON VALLEY SEED
    • NATIVE GARDEN
    • SCHOOL FOREST DAY
    • YOUTH CLIMATE SUMMIT
  • SCHOOL FOREST
    • HISTORY
    • VISITOR GUIDELINES
    • HHLT PROPOSAL
  • STUDENT RESOURCES
  • TEACHER RESOURCES
    • BOOKS & FIELD GUIDES
    • EXPLORE NATURAL SCIENCE >
      • ANIMALS
      • CITIZEN SCIENCE
      • CLIMATE CHANGE
      • GEOGRAPHY & MAPPING
      • GEOLOGY
      • INVASIVE SPECIES
      • MIGRATION
      • PLANTS
      • STREAMS, SWAMPS & VERNAL POOLS
      • TREES & FORESTS
      • WATER
      • WEATHER
    • GRANTS
    • HEALTH & SAFETY
    • HOW TO TEACH OUTDOORS
    • HUDSON HIGHLANDS TOPICS >
      • HUDSON HIGHLANDS FOLKLORE
      • HUDSON RIVER
      • LOCAL CONSERVATION HISTORY
      • REVOLUTIONARY WAR HISTORY
    • LESSON PLANS >
      • GRADES K-2
      • GRADES 3-5
      • GRADES 6-8
      • GRADES K-8
    • ORGANIZATIONS
  • SOURCES
  • JOIN US
  • CONTACT
  • NEWS
  • MAP
  Garrison School Environmental Education

HOW TO TEACH OUTDOORS

natural Curiosity

2/25/2016

 
The Laboratory School at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study at the University of Toronto has produced Natural Curiosity: Building Children's Understanding of the World Through Environmental Inquiry / A Resource for Teachers. There is a nearly 90-year history of research and practice at The Lab School as a demonstration school. This resource grew from the professional insights and experiences of The Lab School’s teachers.

The Lab School defines Environmental Inquiry as a combination of 
Inquiry-based Learning, Integrated Learning, Experiential Learning, and Stewardship.  Part 1 of this resource provides detailed sections devoted to each of the four branches that comprise Environmental Inquiry. Part 2 of this resource describes the experiences of teachers who have integrated Environmental Inquiry into their practice.

The accompanying  Companion Guide for Natural Curiosity: Making Environmental Inquiry Work Through Teacher Collaboration helps to bring teachers together to discuss the Inquiry-based learning and teaching methods described in Natural Curiosity. The Companion Guide is comprised of sessions meant to be led by a facilitator to create a forum for teachers to discuss options for putting inquiry into practice. 
Picture
Picture
Chiarotto, Lorraine. Natural Curiosity: Building Children's Understanding of the World through Environmental Inquiry / A Resource for Teachers. Toronto, ON:  The Laboratory School at The Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study, 2011. PDF.
The Laboratory School at The Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study. A Companion Guide for Natural Curiosity: Making Environmental Inquiry Work Through Teacher Collaboration. Toronto, ON:  The Laboratory School at The Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study, 2011. PDF.

connecting the dots

2/25/2016

 
Learning for a Sustainable Future (LSF)  is a non-profit Canadian organization that was created to integrate sustainability education into Canada’s education system. LSF has published the 2014 publication Connecting the Dots: Key Strategies that Transform Learning for Environmental Education, Citizenship and Sustainability. This resource guide for teachers outlines learning strategies for environmental education that teachers may employ to prepare students to enter adulthood as informed, engaged citizens. The learning strategies presented are:
  1. Learning Locally
  2. Integrated Learning
  3. Acting on Learning
  4. Real-World Connections
  5. Considering Alternative Perspectives
  6. Inquiry
  7. Sharing Responsibility for Learning with Students
"We believe these strategies represent the best that environmental education has to offer to formal learning. They are the “dots” that connect to form a system approach to learning." — Stan kosak and susan elliott
Picture
Kosak, Stan and Susan Elliott. Connecting the Dots: Key Strategies that Transform Learning for Environmental Education, Citizenship and Sustainability. North York, Ontario: Learning for a Sustainable Future, 2014. PDF.

to look closely

2/25/2016

 
Picture
In Laurie Rubin's book To Look Closely: Science and Literacy in the Natural World, Rubin reflects on what she learned by taking her second grade students outdoors for weekly stream study excursions. Rubin taught first and second grade in Ithaca, New York for 23 years. In To Look Closely, Rubin chronicles a year of experiences at the stream. She shares strategies for teaching outdoors, and discusses how to integrate the skills students acquire through nature study into every subject.
"Today my belief in an integrated learning experience for my students remains resolute. I am confident that such an experience can be developed within the context of the ever-shifting state and federal learning standards. I am convinced that nature study is the child-centered program that can integrate critical thinking skills in science, mathematics, and language arts." - Laurie rubin


Read More

nature as a classroom guide

2/7/2016

 
The David Suzuki Foundation of Vancouver, British Columbia published the Nature as a Classroom guide for teachers in April 2015. The Foundation developed the guide after holding a series of teacher workshops, in which teachers discussed strategies for teaching outdoors and brainstormed ways to reduce barriers to taking students outside.
Picture

10 x 10: tools for teaching

2/7/2016

 
The Children & Nature Network's Natural Teacher Network produced the eGuide 10 x 10: Tools for Teaching, which offers tools and resources to help teachers connect students to nature. The guide offers ten reasons to take students outside and provides links to original research and studies that support each statement. It also provides ten examples of nature-centric programs at schools in the U.S. and Canada. Additionally, the guide provides a list of organizations that support nature-based learning.
Picture

observe, describe, wonder

2/7/2016

 
Journey North, a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change, is a free internet-based program presented by Annenberg Learner, a division of the Annenberg Foundation. Journey North engages students and citizen scientists around the globe in tracking wildlife migration and seasonal change. Journey North offers the teacher guide Observe, Describe, Wonder: Building Inquiry Into Instruction. This resource helps teachers to:
  1. Create a climate for inquiry
  2. Support productive discussions
  3. Encourage students to ask "how do we know what we know?"
  4. Support students in generating questions
  5. Plan science investigations with students
  6. Support students in gathering data
  7. Help students make sense of data
  8. Help students review science research critically
Picture

sharing natureĀ®

2/7/2016

 
Teachers will enjoy using Joseph Cornell's ​Sharing Nature: Nature Awareness Activities for All Ages as a guide to teaching about nature outdoors. The book is engagingly written, beautifully-designed, and small enough to fit into a backpack.
"TO CREATE A SOCIETY THAT TRULY LOVES AND REVERES THE NATURAL WORLD, WE MUST OFFER ITS CITIZENS LIFE-CHANGING EXPERIENCES IN NATURE." — JOSEPH BHARAT CORNELL
Cornell advocates the "Flow Learning™ sequence." He discusses Flow Learning in the video above. Stage one involves activities that awaken enthusiasm, with the goal of fostering playfulness and alertness. Stage two involves activities that focus attention. Receptivity is the goal of these activities. Stage three offers direct experience to participants, with activities that promote communing with nature. And, in stage four, participants share inspiration by engaging in activities that promote idealism. Cornell provides the age level for each of his activities. The “Sound Map” activity, for instance, helps to focus the attention of children (and adults) ages 5 and older. 
The Sharing Nature website offers a free sample of the book for download. Teachers and parents may borrow the book from the Mid-Hudson Library System.
Picture
Sharing Nature® Worldwide. "Flow Learning." Online video clip. Sharing Nature® Worldwide. Sharing Nature® Worldwide, 2015. Web. 22 Feb. 2016. Used with permission of Sharing Nature® Worldwide.

    TEACHING OUTDOORS

    This collection of resources provides inspiration and strategies for teachers to support outdoor learning opportunities.

    Archives

    February 2016

    Categories

    All
    Achievement
    Activity Plans
    ADHD
    Child Development
    Conservation
    Disabled Students
    ELA
    FOSS
    Health
    Inquiry
    Journals
    Local Learning
    Motivation
    Nature Play
    Observation
    Safety
    Science
    Stewardship
    Teaching Strategies

    RSS Feed

Garrison Union Free School, 1100 Route 9D, Garrison, NY 10524
Phone: 845-424-3689  |  Fax: 845-424-4733