As a middle school science teacher, I can say that teaching ecology is one of the best ways to make kids excited about science. I teach in downtown Los Angeles where the high school dropout rates are over 50% and most students have no opportunity to experience the outdoors, let alone do science in the field. Even kids with major social and behavioral problems get excited by surveying aquatic micro- organisms or exploring tidepools. It leaves them inspired to learn more and encourages them to ask questions about the world around them.
Field trip funding is generally quite limited and teachers must go through lots of paperwork to get permission to take kids outdoors. Teachers often must do this stuff in their free time without pay. The Sierra Club Inner City Outings (ICO) program http://www.sierraclub.org/ico/ is a fine way to get K-12 kids outside. The Sierra Club generally has funds for a bus and entry fees to parks and reserves as well as camping equipment. Trip leaders are volunteers from the community, trained by the Sierra Club. Teachers can design field activities for the trip. People with science backgrounds make great leaders (several with the LA chapter are Ph.D. students and researchers from Caltech) and anyone can volunteer. Most large cities have this program and you can find information on your local chapter here: http://www.sierraclub.org/ico/national/contact.asp http://www.sierraclub.org/ico/national/websites.asp I hope that some people will read this and sign up! Investing in K-12 is a great way to make prepared undergraduates and informed citizens. Cheers, Leslie McGinnis Berendo Middle School Teach For America On Wed, 26 Sep 2007, Withers, Kim wrote: > One of the best and most remembered experiences I had was in the 4th > grade. In those days (1960's), every 4th grader in the Denver Metro > Area went to what was called "lab school" for a week. While I don't > remember any specific "teaching" of ecology, we were taken into the > Rockies, and spent the week in a rustic camp-like setting. We hiked up > to alpine meadows and were exposed to the environment. We were taught > about survival and shown the edible plants that were available. We > spent the evenings looking at the stars. I saw a huge herd of elk > moving down out of the high country on that trip and I'll never forget > it. I saw the rings of Saturn and have never forgotten it. It is those > kinds of educational experiences that are so important in impressing on > children that there is a world outside the inside of the house. It was > ecology and more, just not formal instruction, but the kind of > experiential learning that seems to have been lost in today's > educational system. As rote and memorization become more and more what > students get in the lower grades, their ability to really think things > through is not developed. Most kids have a lot of curiousity about the > world around them but it is squelched by the tight strictures of today's > educational system that values standardized testing over actual > learning. Kids are also sometimes discouraged from even going outside > by parents concerned about kidnapping etc. > > Ecology is fun and engaging and because of its complexity forces > students to really think. Using ecology as a vehicle - for students to > get outside and experience nature, to have them engage in critical > thinking, to integrate math, physics, chemistry, social science and > language skills across disciplines - then the students that we get at > the college level - regardless of major - will be better, more prepared > students. > > Kim Withers, Ph.D. > Associate Research Scientist > Center for Coastal Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi > 6300 Ocean Dr., Unit 5866 > Corpus Christi, Texas 78412 > Office: 361-825-5907 > FAX: 361-825-2770 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > "In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary > act." George Orwell > > >
