Restoring Connections 2016

By Lillian Thomas, edited by Kiley Graham, Quinn Haaga, Meagan Hamilton, Kassandra Hishida (Project Manager), Phoebe Lett, Rachel Rechtman, and Miranda Taylor-Weiss.

“I found them!” An excited kindergartener points triumphantly at a patch of earth not far from the trail. A cluster of rare Fairy Slipper flowers grows in the shady shelter of the incense cedar forest of Mount Pisgah Arboretum in Eugene, Oregon. The small group of students and their teachers gather for a closer look. Eyes widening with disbelief, they look beyond the flowers at a dusty brown coyote bounding through the woods, disappearing into the ferns. The students stare in awe, their excitement fueling the rest of their field trip, senses alive and curiosity ignited.

In today’s society, these types of outdoor education experiences are becoming increasingly rare. The University of Oregon’s Environmental Leadership Program (ELP) Restoring Connections team strives to restore children’s connections to nature. From tracking coyotes to identifying wildflowers, we give students learning opportunities in nature that they would not likely receive in the classroom. In today’s technology-based world, we often see children using phones, computers, or tablets, their eyes glued to the screen. Disengagement from nature can minimize empathy or bonds felt for plants, animals, and places. This is best described as Nature Deficit Disorder, defined by Richard Louv as a key foundational factor to address in solving environmental issues.

Our team, in partnership with Mount Pisgah Arboretum and Adams Elementary School, has worked together to bring a cohort of elementary students to Mount Pisgah Arboretum once every season for six years. Through age-appropriate lessons that cultivate empathy and a strong sense of place, we strive to equip our students with the knowledge and skills necessary to care for the environment. As argued by David Sobel, we strongly believe that “If we want children... to feel truly empowered, let us allow them to love the earth before we ask them to save it” (Sobel, 1996).

The 2016 Restoring Connections team was made up of eight passionate environmentalists from the University of Oregon. This program is a two-term process. Throughout winter term, our team learned a variety of teaching techniques and curriculum development strategies. During spring term, we implemented our curriculum and the teaching

techniques we learned in the winter, and were able to serve 142 students on six successful field trips. As part of our curriculum development, we built a kindergarten and first grade curriculum for fall, winter and spring field trip lessons. We aligned our work with national standards and the NAAEE guidelines for excellence; creating usable, accurate lesson plans. We worked within the foundational awareness-to-action framework of environmental education providing knowledge, skills, and attitudes that can be used in action (Tbilisi, 1977). We also incorporated the ideals of Coyote Mentoring in our curriculum, giving students Core Routines for nature exploration- expanding their senses, creativity, and critical thinking skills. One core routine includes “sit spotting,” or sitting individually to enjoy new, magical experiences on the trail. Without having time set aside for being quiet and patient, a student may not have noticed the ant trails carrying bits of leaves, or the dew-covered spider web clinging to a snowberry branch.

One of the most important experiences we give the students is the ability to return to Mount Pisgah and see its changes throughout the years and seasons. Becoming knowledgeable and attached to nature near home is the foundational idea behind place-based learning. Through these seasonal field trips, students were introduced to native species, learned about their habitats, and discovered interesting facts, like how banana slugs sticky slime to protect themselves from predators. As our young students became more familiar with this natural world in their own community, even our most reluctant participants began to see trees as “magical” and insects as “helpful” or even “beautiful.”

Seeing the students’ awe and wonder at their discoveries in the field was the most rewarding part of our project. Our kindergarteners practiced their coyote walking in the incense cedar forest, stepping quietly and carefully down the path. A kindergarten focus was to “awaken the senses,” so students practiced using their deer ears- cupping their hands at the sides of their head- to enhance their listening capabilities. A highlight of the trip was building fairy houses with sticks, leaves, and moss. Free play allowed our students the opportunity to develop a stronger connection with the earth as well as a sense of wonder and respect for nature’s small treasures. During one of our field trips with a kindergarten class, a student's fairy house got a visitor right away- a little green grasshopper! The students were delighted and eager to keep building and exploring the forest floor.

Our first grade teams explored the hidden wonders of the seasons, and the plants and animals of the oak woodland. They learned about the seasonal wildflowers, like the fuzz-covered cat’s ear lily, and saw the flowering catkins on Oregon white oak branches. The students were also able to work with our community partners at Mount Pisgah in a restoration project. They were enthusiastic with the opportunity to take action and become “nature’s helpers”. Their dedication to pick and remove a mountainous heap of the invasive shining geranium weed was inspiring. In their newly-cleared sites, students planted native Oregon iris flowers. Our students were excited to bring their families to see their plants grow and blossom along the trails of Mount Pisgah, and further their connection to this magical place.

The Restoring Connection team’s transition from the classroom to the field provided a wealth of opportunities for professional development as well as personal growth. In holding the space and attention of a class and working with community partners, we all learned valuable leadership skills. By the end of our program, each of us learned to effectively handle last minute changes or unexpected turns through flexibility, teamwork, and communication. As we learned to be adaptable, our team also discovered the value of being reflective educators. Receiving feedback and working with our critical self-reflections were extremely important in creating our final curriculum. Adding detail in the steps of activities and aligning learning outcomes with the

lessons made our finished product more meaningful.

Giving students the ability to explore and understand nature is the basis of the awareness-to-action framework. The long-term outcome we strive for includes a generation who is aware and empathetic of the environment, has the knowledge and skills to fight for their beliefs, and, lastly, will change their behaviors based on these values. Whether that be attending the annual Mount Pisgah Wildflower Festival, asking their parents to take them hiking, or growing up to make positive environmental decisions, it all begins with a love for nature. The ELP will continue to foster this love and takes pride in the successes of its students, whether kindergarteners or college seniors.

To learn more about the 2016 restoring connections team please visit our website at http://restoringconnectionselp.weebly.com.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Luvaas Family Foundation for their generous contributions that made this

project possible. We would also like to thank our community partners: the teachers and staff at

Adams Elementary School, Mount Pisgah Arboretum, and Jenny Laxton and August Jackson who

were so helpful in our restoration project.

Works Cited

Louv, Richard. Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-deficit Disorder. Chapel

Hill, NC: Algonquin of Chapel Hill, 2008. Print

Sobel, David. Beyond Ecophobia: Reclaiming the Heart in Nature Education. Great Barrington, MA:

Orion Society, 1996. Print

Tbilisi Declaration. 1977. Summary of goals and guiding principles.

http://www.gdrc.org/uem/ee/tbilisi.html

All photos taken by the 2016 Restoring Connections Team