Our Environmental Studies Center was an outstanding lead into the structured inquiry lesson. Teaching and learning outdoors provided meaningful and interesting context for students to discover and make real-world connections.
Prior to visiting our local Environmental Studies Center, we read Jean Craighead George’s eco-mystery, The Missing Gator of Gumbo Limbo. George is one of my favorite environmental writers and her vivid use of words, knowledge of flora and fauna, and the creatures which inhabit them, bring Florida to life. I make a point every year to share her gift with my students. The vocabulary which is presented in this novel builds background for many students who may be new to our state and/or have not experienced hiking into Florida’s existing wild habitats. After reading aloud, students summarized, then illustrated each chapter with whatever mental images George created for them while listening to the story. The end products are as beautiful as George’s vivid language.
The stage has been set and prior to departing for our field studies, students have been divided into different learning teams of five. I thought about this for several days before making this decision. Their current teams work very well together; however, I believed they would greatly enhance one another’s discussions when returning to the classroom if their off-campus experiences were unique. The end result of this decision reaped greater rewards than I had envisioned.
Our first-day off campus finds us at our local Environmental Studies Center and deep into several wetland habitats. Once students’ shoes were checked to make sure we didn’t lose any in the mud (they are duct-taped), we were off towards our first wetland: the hydric hammock (aka MudWalk). Every fifth grade student looks forward to the MudWalk; often never realizing, until we return to the classroom, they are learning about promoting awareness to the needs of protecting our wetlands and their habitats, the components of soil (organic material), and the carbon cycle. In the hydric hammock student teams collect their first soil sample, which will be analyzed when we return to the classroom. Safety is a great concern as we begin our walk through the hammock. Students were taught to recognize poisonous plants and how to safely navigate through the hammock. As we continue our hike, students quickly notice the soil is becoming more saturated, deeper, and darker in color. Approximately ten minutes into the walk, hysteria begins. The mud is mid-calf and continues to get deeper. This can be the time when a shoe may be lost, or worse, someone stumbles over tree roots, and falls. This year, only four students fell into the mud…and one teacher…me, thanks to one of my four. Safety lesson to review in depth next year; keep an arm’s length away from others while in the mud.
Day two off-campus we continue our environmental learning in the pine hammock and mixed hardwood hammock. These habitats are much drier than the hydric hammock. A great discussion emerges as we learn how several local trees are or have been used for food, medicine, and clothing. Once deep into the mixed hardwood hammock, learning teams and their chaperones were given a lesson on using compasses and counting paces from one point to another. Several of my students had difficulty comprehending the compass and became somewhat frustrated. Understanding the afternoon would have student teams orienteering in selected remote areas, success of such feat required mastery of the compass. I made note to teach the compass next year prior to our field study.
Holding classroom studies outdoors, granted opportunities for each style of learner a means to make sense of his/her world. Students, who normally choose to work and reflect independently, became alive to the senses and sounds which enveloped them. Returning to our school classroom, these students were bursting at the seams and offered great insight as to the history of Florida’s topography and reasoned as to how these three habitats came to be. The Venn diagrams they completed offered me insight as to their understanding of the unique habitats, analyzing soil samples and the habitats they came from. Data from each of the habitats offered a great visual for students to compare and contrast the components of sand, soil, and water. Reflecting on our habitat hikes, students comprehended how changes to an ecosystems elevation affected the diverse nature of the soil, plant life, and variety of species of animals inhabiting each.
We ended this portion of the unit with a creative writing piece. Students were asked to create a story of a leaf. To set the tone, I asked them to stand, close their eyes, and imagine they were a leaf in Central Florida. Speaking slowly, I asked them to move and react as I began spinning a tale through a year of Florida’s weather. Standing tall during Florida’s summer heat, they soon began to bend and sway as they encountered the winds and water of hurricane season. Fall gave into winter, and some trees began to fade and lose their leaves into the deep, sandy soil. As spring emerged, beautiful leaves began to blossom from buds and continue through the cycle once again. With these mental images in place, one student at a time was called to the chart paper to create a story depicting the life of a leaf. Twenty-three voices provided comedy and creative thinking into their comprehension of the carbon cycle as one leaf began its journey around the world.
The implementation of this structured inquiry lesson happened at an ideal moment. Students were highly engaged. Beginning in the classroom with our environmental studies unit and continuing our learning at the Environmental Studies Center was an ideal means for my students to make real-world connections and extend their thinking. Learning outcomes and objectives were successfully met. National and state standards were addressed. Safety measures were put into practice. These science lesson(s) provided significant integration of mathematics, reading, writing, and Florida history.
When my students return from spring break, the background knowledge they have gleaned from these activities will greatly assist them as they collaborate, research, and prepare PowerPoint presentations on a self-selected biome of the world.
References
Department of Education. (2008). State of Florida Next Generation Sunshine State Standards. Tallahassee, Florida. Retrieved March 29, 2010 from http://etc.usf.edu/flstandards/sc/new-pdfs/points-5.pdf
George, Jean C. (1992). The Missing ‘Gator of Gumbo Limbo. New York, NY:HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
National Science Teachers Association. (2010). Retrieved March 30, 2010, from http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4962&page=105.
Project 2061. (2010). Retrieved March 29, 2010, from http://www.project2061.org/publications/bsl/online/index.php?chapter=1
Project 2061. (2010). Retrieved March 29, 2010, from http://www.project2061.org/publications/bsl/online/index.php?chapter=2
Project 2061. (2010). Retrieved March 29, 2010, from http://www.project2061.org/publications/bsl/online/index.php?chapter=3
Project 2061. (2010). Retrieved March 29, 2010, from http://www.project2061.org/publications/bsl/online/index.php?chapter=4
Project 2061. (2010). Retrieved March 29, 2010, from http://www.project2061.org/publications/bsl/online/index.php?chapter=5
Science and Safety: It’s Elementary. (2005). Council of State Science Supervisors. Retrieved March 30, 2010, from http://www.csss-science.org/safety.shtml
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