to be out here is really relaxing you know it like relieves your stress at
school you only get to be outside for probably like 30 minutes but out here
you get to be out here all day there's really lots of trees because where I
live there's not that much
hi I'm Simran Sethi we all know that being outside in nature is good for
kids but for a lot of them it doesn't happen very often many children grow up
in a world of television video games and pavement and for them spending quality
time outside means a quick recess on an asphalt playground studies show that
besides promoting physical and emotional health spending time in the
natural world engages children in learning and inspires them to care
about the world around them on an island in the Pacific Northwest near
Seattle is a leading proponent of this kind of outdoor experience a school in
the woods called island wood each week over 94th and 5th graders from
neighboring elementary schools spend four days on the 255 acre campus to
explore the diverse ecosystems and rediscover their connections to the
natural world oftentimes it changes their lives
dear journal today we arrived at the center I hope it will be a good
experience for me my name is Natalie Von Vey and I'm nine years old when I
first came here for the first time I didn't know what to expect but this is
a really nice place I really like how everybody has windows it really looks
like you're in the forest
my name is reading after we scraped all the compost into the composting then we
put these weights on one arm and then the bucket of food on the other it tells
us how much we've been wasting and that we should conserve more and eat what we
take in the morning all the kids but up to do different things
today we did storytelling and that made me think about how Native Americans
were here on this island and probably in the same spot as where this center is so
this is a transmitter we now have six birds that have these transmitters I
think kids don't always have a chance to participate in something real you guys
ready yeah let's go let's go down this path I see some of the kids who don't
really participate in school very much really participating actively they're
just so involved in what's happening and doing that hands-on learning and I
think they're finally seeing you know that learning is something more than
just worksheets and books it's about exploring it's about excitement
where is she oh right behind this she's like in behind us I saw the real owl
and she was really pretty it was a nice sight I like the animals I feel like I'm
closer to them now this is an opportunity for them to not only discover
who they are to discover where their strength comes from what their
weaknesses are but to also have their eyes open as if a veil has been removed
for them to sort of like find out I can do this I can be this what is exciting
for me is that an opportunity like that could change the life of the kids
nature was our first teacher but that lesson has been all but forgotten in
our rush to teach test and mold students to fit into our current educational
system many children have difficulty learning in a tightly structured
environment of desks rows and tardy bells but experienced based education
programs successfully engage students with the hands-on approach nature
becomes a living classroom and educators and naturalists become guides to
encourage curiosity exploration and learning studies show that this approach
gets students excited about learning raises academic test scores and improves
concentration and cognitive development it takes a lot of work but at the core
creating inspiration begins with inspiration the inspiration really came
from the land and seen this beautiful place I woke up on a Sunday morning and
had a very clear idea of what should be done here we should build a school in
the woods where kids could come and learn about the natural and cultural
history of Puget Sound the beginning of the project was really more process
about gathering information in the first two years I probably conducted about
70 different focus groups with historians artists the kids that we have a
very exciting and unique opportunity to build an outdoor residential
environmental education center from the ground up the next year I spent
traveling to 25 other facilities around the US and found some that were really
models for us I tried to take the best from each center that I visited our
clients in this project are the kids in the environment and together as a team
we're gonna serve these clients what we've ended up with is truly a world-class
model both around the design because of the sustainable architectural aspects as
well as the curriculum because kids were really our biggest customer we
decided to ask them what they thought so this morning what we're looking for
help from you all on is how to make that place extra special we ended up
asking 250 children in 4th 5th and 6th grade if they could build a school in
the woods what would they want to do when they got there and where would they
want to sleep their ideas are really what has created the magic for this
place this is really a project that's about community and it's a project that's
for the community many children don't have the opportunity to get away from
their daily urban lives due to economic challenges and other factors their
visit to an outdoor learning center maybe the first time they actually spend
a night in the woods and get their hands in the dirt sometimes the students
aren't sure they want to be away from familiar surroundings but something
happens after a few days immersed in nature curiosity takes over and learning
becomes fun and that's an experience that should be available to all children
regardless of their socioeconomic status
for me of these kids that is their first exposure to really an environmental
situation like a forest and they've never experienced anything like at home
we don't really have a big area to go outside and I like that like there's like
fresh air like a lot of forest very cool
Calvin what are you catching maybe you can draw the eagle that we saw just a
while ago I like the part when we went night hiking we saw animals that we
didn't see in the daytime like owls if they flew by and we heard frogs that was
fun you can really hear the the wildness you can really hear the the
environment I haven't heard those frog sounds at my house before I learned
about produce earths and consumers and I like how the instructor like on teach
us and how we went to the art studio and did some art what we call
participatory learning is particularly useful because it gives you one more way
of cementing that knowledge in your brain and it's a lot more fun when you do
something you remember it the best way to know if you know something is to
teach it and the children in fact are learning and then teaching each other I
wasn't yesterday did you get very wet it gives them another way of looking at
the world you know that the world is not all cars and and blacktop and tall
buildings and houses and people and I would like to live somewhere here just
that quiet I never really went out in the woods like this for a long time so
it's real different for me I think differently see if I go outside I look
at all these things and if I see some kind of hole near something I'll look
at it and see if there's any animals and interesting things about it it makes me
feel open like being free when I'm a college student I'd really want to come
back here and teach if you can inspire one kid to treat the world differently
when that kid grows up what will they do with their life and what will they do
for the world when children are outdoors they become aware of their
connection to nature and better understand the importance of protecting
it global climate change shows that our actions can have enormous effect on the
future of this planet it's important for us to work together using fewer natural
resources in what we do and what we build here at island wood all the
buildings were designed from the ground up to use almost 30% less energy and
water than traditional structures and the buildings weren't just designed for
shelter they were designed to teach as well we began the project one of the ideas
was to use architecture as education so that the buildings did more than
contain programs or hold people but they were an opportunity to help teach
about sustainability about the natural world the ones up there is that what
divides one yes in this case it was really about how do we create buildings
in which fourth and fifth graders would have an impact in their life that they
could carry home and tell others you can even feel like you can feel the texture
the buildings are a textbook the buildings are things that they can
operate they can learn which direction is north which direction is south they
can learn how the wind moves learn how the Sun moves and learn about how to be
better stewards of the environment there were bamboo floors and they looked
really cool and they were really smooth they use bamboo because the bamboo grows
faster the cool thing about the building that I saw was that some of the
countertops were made out of recycled yogurt containers and lids we wanted to
make sure that there were places that were a lot of fun some of the ways that
we did that was going in and talking to children in the classroom many of the
ideas that the kids had were integrated for example one idea was the floating
classroom they wanted to be able to pull themselves out into this four acre
pond that we had and to do this much like Huck Finn style raft they wanted to go
across suspension bridges they wanted classrooms that were tree houses those
children's ideas have probably created the greatest piece of the magic here one
of our goals was to make all the environmental aspects visible did anybody
actually use the compost toilets here we put stairs so the kids are able to go
down and not only we can have access to it but the kids will be able to see where
the waste is going and be able to understand how that process is working
why do you suppose plants are growing in the wastewater the living machine the
kids are able to walk through and see that process happening
the living machine is pretty cool because it helps dirty water to get clean
again we really hope that the kids take away and understanding that although they
may live in the urban world that the natural world plays a very important
part in sustaining their life and their family and community's life I'm
definitely going to try a lot harder to conserve water I'll probably recycle
more not waste food I liked going on the suspension bridge because I'm a scared
of heights and I faced my fears for these students getting outdoors may
increase personal growth and confidence but it doesn't end there back at school
teachers reinforce and continue the experience for students their new found
appreciation and awareness is a seed carried into their homes to develop and
grow my name is Joe Patrick and I am an island with grad student hey as we're
walking down the street I'll be looking out for some little creatures I think my
fondest hope is to make connections with a lot of students and to inspire
students to go out and make a difference in their communities share their
knowledge and their excitement about learning with other people to spread that
and get that fire kind of lit inside people that they can really make a
difference it's really up to them
one school I've worked with is belly Gatzert and they've taken the idea of
stewardship back to their schools now there are the correct amount of pieces
in here so that everyone will be able to build the birdhouses there's no
leftovers the students really have taken an interest in birds especially from
trying to follow Gracie the owl around island wood and I think it's going to be
a very important thing to have these birdhouses out around the school so we
can make it a little bit more of a natural habitat so the hole that you make
which side is gonna go to and which bird is it another classroom is working with
a garden they're looking at ways they can go into that garden and bring some of
the knowledge that they had formed through investigating in the natural world
of island wood back to the natural world of belly Gatzert
my ultimate goal for kids coming through here is for them to have fun and to be
awakened our hope is that through those kinds of experiences that children will
become good stewards of their communities and their environments one of
the things we do in a garden is we mulch our beds that is we put things over
the top of them because rain can wash the soil away we studied land and water
in the classroom and we'd done numerous experiments with erosion they didn't
connect but as soon as they realized that that had to do with plants and soil
sliding I think it somehow made more sense to them
okay on your mark get set go in the classroom we don't get dirty and out
here we do it's fun gardens are one part of island wood that you definitely can
transplant back to your home community because everybody can have a garden
whether it's in a pot whether it's at your school it's at your home or it's in
a community garden so it's an exciting possibility for children
at our school kids are definitely more kinesthetic learners we deal with that
by having PE quite a bit activities always doing some sort of hands-on
activity whether it be in math or science just to get them up and moving
around so the garden is great I'm in the garden I feel more like a learning machine
it makes me feel happy more adventurous more learning
I wanted to do a garden so we wouldn't have to go to the grocery store and buy
the things we like and I thought it would be better to have a garden in our
backyard for me and my family when we do gardening together we are able to have a
tight conversation sometimes being quiet and calm brings up the moments of asking
questions and sometimes they're afraid to ask or maybe embarrassed I want to be
his best friend and I think gardening is a good start being out with my dad feels
fun because I haven't been with him for a while because he works late and I
learned more about him I would like to be like him when I grow up because he's a
fun dad and I want to be a fun dad like him sometimes when we are little kids we
want to be like our dad but sometimes when we are older and we see our kids we
want to be like them if a small thing like a garden can make such a huge
difference imagine a world where children everywhere have the experience of
spending time outdoors the opportunity to use nature as a classroom exists no
matter where you live so go ahead turn off the TV get off the couch and discover
the immense education that exists beyond your front door
you
