Stomata
an sedGreen web magazine on ecological sustainability
 
      Adding new content when there is scarcely enough time to teach the “core” academic subjects may seem daunting, yet the Nature and Me program’s interdisciplinary approach and carefully crafted lessons enable teachers to address the state-mandated learning goals.  Bringing the Nature and Me program to one’s classroom does not mean that students learn less in other subject areas.  Instead, they are invited to try a holistic approach to learning in which math, science, history, language arts, and visual arts intermingle in meaningful ways that deepen students’ connections with nature.
      In the three years that this program has been in existence, we measured our success in several ways.  First, we have seen scores of student work samples that reflect careful, thoughtful work on the part of both teachers and children.  Second, we have asked participants for candid feedback about their class experiences with the program 
and have learned directly from the teachers that students are “more curious and have more questions about natural objects around them”; “[show] excitement and genuine interest in nature and how it works”; and express great joy and wonder while conducting field work outside and doing engaging investigations back in the classroom.

     

    This addition to the curriculum of several Boston elementary schools has been made possible by the caring, generous support of Henry Meyer, Jr.  If you are interested in learning more about the Nature and Me: Explorations in Ecology program or know a Boston Public School teacher who might be interested in joining us, please visit our website at:

    Carlos sits in the shade of a linden tree and studies the patterns of sunlight falling on the ground around him.  Not far away, Brandi and Jakeline crouch over a fallen piece of bark, hand lenses extended.  Over by the ginkgo tree Devon leans over to examine a leaf as he carefully sketches it in his journal.  Are these children partaking in a summer retreat in the Vermont countryside?  Hardly.  It is a school day, and these Boston Public School students haven’t even left the city they call home.  They’re at the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain, participating in the Nature and Me: Explorations in Ecology program.
      Nature and Me: Explorations in Ecology is a program of sedGreen and Boston University’s Department of Science Education in collaboration with the Arnold Arboretum, the New England Wildlife Center (NEWC), and Boston Public Schools.  A unifying view of all collaborators is that it is our responsibility to teach coming generations how to be responsible, caring stewards of the Earth, and to give children opportunities to learn how and why to value our natural world.  Toward this end, our mission is to get children — especially those who spend most or all of their time in urban settings — excited about and familiar with nature through field experiences and meaningful related classroom work. 
      Students who participate in the Nature and Me program take three fully-funded class field trips to the Arnold Arboretum over the course of the school year.  At the Arboretum, each student "adopts" a tree and then studies it through the seasons.  In collaboration with theNew England Wildlife Center's popular "Sevens" program, teachers also implement lessons and activities designed to allow students to gain deeper knowledge about trees and related topics such as flowers, seeds, and ecosystems.  Team colleague and respected herpetologist and naturalist Joe Martinez of the NEWC makes many visits to each classroom to lead these activities.  Students and teachers also benefit from Boston University's close connection to the Tiputini Biodiversity Station in the northwest Amazon.  We provide unique images and curriculum materials so that teachers can bring the rainforest alive in the classroom.
      This past summer, I joined my Nature and Me colleagues, sedGreen leaders Lia Stelljes and Douglas Zook, in developing a guided journal book that allows students to record, describe, and reflect on their tree adoption and related nature experiences.  The journal book not only fosters a way to express one’s emerging relationship with nature, but promotes basic skills, such as observing, imagining, developing ideas, describing, and practicing the fundamentals of experimental thinking and action.  A copy of the book, Nature and Me: Explorations in Ecology: A Guided Journal for Field and Classroom is available to look over in the SED library and at the third floor conference table area of Science Education at the School of Education. Trees as life long friends:  “Nature and Me” program deepens Boston school children’s science experience
by Jennifer Reese, sedGreen, former MAT, and Science Teacher at the F.A. Day Middle School of Newton
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“The protection of nature depends on more than the organizational strength of stewardship organizations; it also depends on the quality of the relationship between the young and nature – on how, or if, the young attach to nature.”   -Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods
Karen Wood and her students from the Oliver Holmes Elementary School of Dorchester at an Arboretum visit
http://treeandme.project.googlepages.com, 
or email me, Jennifer Reese (jennifer_reese@newton.k12.ma.us) or Douglas Zook (dzook@bu.edu).http://treeandme.project.googlepages.com/mailto:jennifer_reese@newton.k12.ma.usmailto:dzook@bu.edushapeimage_8_link_0shapeimage_8_link_1shapeimage_8_link_2
“Nature and Me” Boston school teachers practicing observation activities at the summer workshop.
Middle school teacher and recent SED graduate student Lia Stelljes leading a “Nature and Me” session with Boston teachers