|
| General Site Search |
|---|
|
|
||||||
 |
TEACHING THE HUDSON VALLEY BLOG
| Making It Authenic & Empowering in the Pine Bush |
| Posted by Alan Fiero | |
| on June 20, 2011 | |
|
Our work is based on just one main tenet. Environmental education should be authentic – linked directly to the environment in which students live – and meaningful by which I mean empowering students to make a difference. My students have made a significant difference; they know and can see that. For instance . . .  Lupine, the larval food of the endangered Karner Blue butterfly, was in very low supply in the 1980s because deer were eating it. Over four years, my students and those of other teachers at my school built a dozen 40’ x 40’ exclosures -- fenced areas that keep out animals -- to protect lupine. Working with a math teacher, my students and I then designed a research project to determine the exclousres' effectiveness. Our lupine did so well we were able to transplant them throughout the Pine Bush, and give them to community members to begin native plant gardens. A butterfly house was established here at Farnsworth 10 years ago so students could learn to raise several native butterflies. Four years ago we were asked to become the only school in the world raising Karner Blues. The program has expanded from 50 eggs and one classroom to 300 larvae in three classrooms. Last year, 109 of 110 larvae were successfully grown to the pupae stage. Pitch Pine, the climax tree of the Pine Bush, was in decline so my students planted more than 1,600 seedlings. When deer threatened the new trees, students built a 100’ x 100’ exclosure to protect them. The trees have now been transplanted throughout the Pine Bush. To my students’ surprise, the absence of natural fires had led to an over abundance of Aspen trees that were crowding out native species. To address this problem, we learned to girdle the trees. Girdlingis the removal of a ring of bark from a tree. Its kills the tree without triggering re-sprouts. Over 10 years we have girdled more than 50,000 aspens, and reopened more than 20 acres to native species. Student research also documented the success of this initiative. Sharing what we learn. In the summer our students volunteer as docents at the preserve. Each year since 1998 thousands of visitors have learned about the Pine Bush from our students. Lesson plans The Pine Bush Project provides an opportunity for students to become immersed in an authentic, real-world look at ongoing ecological issues. As such, it naturally involves all disciplines. Throughout the development of the Pine Bush Project I have sought to collaborate with other teachers and include all aspects of the study of ecology. 
A grant from the Greater Capital Region Teacher Center allowed a multi-disciplinary team to develop specific lessons linking the
study of the Pine Bush with math, language arts, and social studies. The lessons can be borrowed without charge from the Center.
During a recent sabbatical, I again collaborated with teachers from many disciplines to create lessons to be shared through the APBPC Discovery Center website. A social studies teacher and I created data based questions related to the
settling of the Pine Bush by an African American community from the south in the 1930s and 1940s. Jennifer Lemak, author of Southern Life, Northern City: The History of Albany's Rapp Road Community, gave us permission to incorporate information on education, schooling, and the Great Migration, from her book.
In Trading Game students use actual Colonial exchange lists from the Pine Bush to hunt and trade for goods at forts. This game leads to in-depth discussions of the ecology of the colonial Pine Bush and human needs. A graphing activity uses data on Karner Blue populations and Lyme disease. The RAFT (Role, Audience, Format, and Topic) technique provides opportunities for creative writing about or set in the Pine Bush. Students also receive guidelines for writing a research report focusing on economic and social concerns related to the Pine Bush. Each student is asked to produce a final project sharing what they have learned about the Pine Bush. Students are free to choose how to do so, and past projects have included murals, poems, public presentations, and children’s books. The Pine Bush Project demonstrates how the study of your own local environment can be a platform from which to launch integrated, meaningful, authentic learning. The beauty of this project is its simplicity. I believe it can be adapted by virtually any teacher using a resource close to home. |
|||||||||||
Powered by !JoomlaComment 3.26
3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved." |
|||||||||||
