Secondary Science Outdoors How high school science teachers include outdoor activities in their lessons
By Julieta de los Santos, Man-Wai Chu and Marie-Claire Shanahan
while others point to the sheer amount of content needing to be covered in each course leaving limited time, if any at all, to bring their teenage students outdoors. Despite the obsta- cles, there are numerous benefits to combining the outdoors with classroom learning when teaching teens. Outdoor set- tings are ideal for cross-curricular learning that can help stu- dents make connections, enhance their skills across differ- ent subjects, and renew their enthusiasm.1 Students can also develop their interpersonal skills by getting to know their class and teacher better through sharing outdoor experiences. To better understand how outdoor learning might work in
W
high schools, we spoke with five high school science teachers in Alberta, Canada who frequently use outdoor settings to engage their students. These teachers were chosen based on their use of the outdoors, and we found that they have the fol- lowing things in common. For these teachers, the outdoors is viewed as an educational setting where students can apply their knowledge and develop a scientific lens to understand the world outside of school. Socially, they feel classroom dynamics improve after returning from an outdoor experi- ence. For example, instead of students competing with one another, they help each other. In turn, the learning atmo- sphere becomes more positive and the classroom is more
Page 12
HY DO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS have fewer outdoor experiences than their younger counter- parts? Some teachers cite a lack of resources
of a learning community rather than a group of individual learners. As well, each of these teachers uses outdoor set- tings to complement indoor learning, rather than to replace or displace it. To help empower other high school educators, we asked
each of these science teachers to share outdoor activities they find particularly effective. In the following, we provide a brief general description of how to do each activity with the understanding that each teacher has their own style of teaching and not all activities will be replicated identically. These examples are meant as a starting point to alter in whatever way the inspired teacher reading this article sees fit, rather than a specific set of “how to” instructions for each activity.
Comparing Ecosystems with Water Samples Students are brought to the Meanook Biological Research
Station in Athabasca, Alberta, where professionals guide them to collect water samples and use the equipment. For example, they use the Winkler method to measure and compare dissolved oxygen, and specialized equipment to measure chlorophyll across different lake settings. Students are excited to use the professional equipment. For teachers who do not have access to a biological research station, an alternative is to use school equipment with any two differ- ing bodies of water or two different locations on one body of water, such as a creek.2 There are a couple of seasonal varia- tions for this investigation. During the winter one teacher has their students collect samples by drilling through frozen lake surfaces. They then bring these water samples back to
GREEN TEACHER 113
Julieta de los Santos
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
