A Walk on the Wild Side

Sometimes to take a journey all you need is a great book, but sometimes you have
to actually move your feet. Recently, inspired by a brief case study in the textbook,
you know the pages between the regular sections that student pretend do not exist,
I decided it was time to get my students moving. I love experiential learning, I love
hands on, but I also love the structure of a more traditional classroom setting. I
struggle with creating balance for my students and my sanity.

Inspired by the story of an American scientist who braved the African forest, I
decided I could brave the wilderness of our school neighborhood. Before we
left the classroom, I told the students we were going outside. Instantly the noise
increased and excitement began to build. In their mind outside at school meant
extra recess. For me it meant connecting to scientific skills, making them take on
the role of a cartographer, writer, and data collection specialist. To begin I shared
just briefly the story of mapping the African forests. We discussed what that might
have been like. The students were amazed that anyone would be willing to make
such a journey. None seemed to think they would follow this example and set off on
a similar path.

My school is in a residential setting. There are no forests to explore nearby, but we
do have a lovely little garden complete with chickens, vegetable and flower beds, a
few trees, and opportunity. Their instructions before leaving the classroom were simple. . .
observe everything you can. Listen, look, breath deeply, but don’t talk because you
might miss something. Our entire journey took about 20 minutes. When we made
our way back to the room the students learned of the real purpose and the task that
was before them. I got the collective groan, several questions, and a little pushback,
but as a class, we gained the opportunity to talk about the perspective and difficulty
of map making, the variation of data collected, and make connections to their English
class as we talked about descriptive writing. None of this would have been as meaningful
to the students if we had simply read the case study. Yes, it took an entire class
period for what could have been done quicker. Yes, I will have to read all the journal
entries and that will take more of my time. Yes, there were a million other ways to have
done this activity or I could have skipped it all together, but some lessons are worth
taking the first step.

The students submitted their maps and writing. Some were beautifully drawn and
detailed, others were less so, but every single student learned something, and that
after all is the point.