V
rom local Aq Teachers:
Why Use The Outdoors
In Teaching?
Anything which we learn must
relate to something within the
realm of our experience in order
to have meaning. Without this
relationship, knowledge is just an
accumulation of facts. It has been
known since the beginning of
time that we learn best by direct
experience, but because of the
pressures of today’s world we
have substituted learning
through symbols for this direct
experience.
The question then becomes
are we really learning, or are we
just learning about something?
An example of how we might
learn about rather than truly
understand would be a deaf
person’s study of music. No
matter how much he would learn
about it, we would have to agree
that his appreciation and un
derstanding would be enhanced if
he were able to hear the music -
- to have a direct experience with
it.
To a sixth grade class, “story
problems” are the worst kind of
math assignment. The students
groan and gripe at a problem
such as “A six-foot man casts a
four-foot shadow. If a flag pole
casts a 20-foot shadow, what is
the height of the pole?” The
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Thoughts
in Passing
same class will jump at the idea
of going outside the school
building and using the same
problem solving technique to
measure the height of the
school’s flag pole. Being involved
in a direct experience makes the
difference.
Agricultural science, in fact
science in general, has “turned
off” a majority of our students in
schools and has for generations.
This has largely been the fault
of those of us who have been
content to teach “about” rather
than become involved in a direct
experience. At best we have
taken bits and pieces from the
real world and brought them into
the classroom somewhat out of
context, and then expected the
student to grasp the “whole”
concept
Most of us are closely akin to
the art teacher who, on a
beautiful May day, had the sixth
grade class draw from “real
life”. She had them sitting m the
too-warm classroom sketching a
worn out tennis shoe sitting on a
cardboard box on top of her desk.
Just outside the classroom on the
edge of the school grounds and in
full view of the calss was a
strikingly beautiful elm tree with
a large rock beside it. Which
sketching assignment would have
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'■««%*'
1 4t '
Dr. Robert D. Herr
held more interest for these boys
and girls? Perhaps the art
teacher has been “turned off” by
the natural world and didn’t even
notice the tree.
Why then should we have
agricultural education, en
vironmental education, con
servation education, or outdoor
education whatever you wish
to call it --- and why should we
have a natural area in the school
district to teach it in? All
curriculum can and should be
involved in this important area of
education, both on the high school
and elementary levels. As we
must be able to communicate,
language arts becomes the
prerequisite to any experience.
Children love language arts in the
out-of-doors. Go on a word hunt
see how many nouns, verbs, and
adjectives we can find. Creative
writing can be based on the words
we have found, the things we
have seen, touched, and smelled.
Both Art and Language Arts as
well as social science come into
use as a temporary interpretive
trail is constructed. Math
becomes more realistic as an
acre is stepped off. How large an
area did the United States really
get for three cents in the
Louisana Purchase?
The general population needs
to better understand their en
vironment. For generations we
have been poorly informed and
today’s problems have been
caused by a lack of concern. We
cannot afford to let this
generation grow up without
understanding their relationship
to the total environment.
Action on an environmental
problem begins with an interest,
so this is what students must first
develop. This interest, sustained
through qualified leadership and
real life experience leads to
knowledge and understanding of
the problems. Through
knowledge and understanding,
attitudes are developed. With
proper environmental attitudes,
concerns evolve. Through these
concerns a program of action
becomes necessary.
We don’t reallv need an
CIBA-GEIGY
Lanra'-ter F?minc r Saturday May 5.1973
outdoor facility to teach these
attitudes but it would help One
teacher and his students can
learn about pollution by collec
ting all the litter from the school
grounds and placing it in a large
display case located in the front
lobby of their school To add
more effect, you can cast a
child’s hand made out of plaster
and have it extending from the
pile of trash trying to save
himself. Or to demonstrate the
relation of litter to pollution you
can have children place some
representative samples of the
litter in a gallon jug filled with
water. They can set the jar in the
warm sunlight and check it every
day. After a few days their noses
and eyes will tell them how litter
can contribute to water pollution.
Many more such experiences can
be carried out on the school
grounds but an outdoor con
servation or environmental
laboratory could do the job a
great deal more effectively and
completely.
If today’s education is to
prepare students to live in
tomorrow’s world, then en
vironmental education should be
given a high priority in the
educational offerings of every
school district Not only is it
necessary to study natural en
vironment but also to learn more
about the man-made en
vironment and its relationship to
the natural environment.
Man-made environment is
everywhere in evidence. Is it not
correct to assume then that
natural environmental areas are
necessary if the proper
relationships are to be gained
through direct experience?
Robert D. Herr, Chairman
Agriculture Department
Eastern Lancaster
County Schools
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