my students decided that they would talk to other kids if they saw them doing it. Others planned to make signs to remind people to use the sidewalks.
Lesson 9: Think hard about findings (Q.U.E.S.T) Final reflections and next steps
Time: 45 minutes As a final post-assessment, students were excited to share their discoveries of how the landscaped and natural areas had many more earthworms compared to the foot-traffic area. They also shared multiple facts about earthworms, including their importance for plants and animals growing around them, and how they aerate soil, disperse nutrients, and allow water to filter through their tunnels. When I asked my students what we can do to take care of our environment, many students talked about “saving the earthworms” from being stepped on, staying on walking paths, and avoiding shortcuts through the planted areas. I then asked them if they’d be interested in learning more about composting worm bins in the future, and many were excited about this possibility. A couple students excitedly shared stories about their worm bins at home, and others wanted to share with other students the importance of earthworms to plants and other animals.
Let students drive your study! Effective field study programs consist of key components such as purposeful outcomes, critical investigations, a learning community, and direct experience. Outdoor studies such as the one described here have the potential to deepen environ- mental understandings and promote natural resource decision-making. Curriculum frameworks allow teachers to hone in on learning objectives, provide flexibility, increase student engagement, facilitate authentic learning, and promote civic engagement,12, 3, 13, 14
but my students’ questions drove this investigation. The Q.U.E.S.T. framework has infinite possibilities, especially considering observable elements near school or on a field
trip. Additional outdoor study ideas might include comparing locations (e.g., studies of tree types, leaf color changes, bird nest numbers, extent/speed of plant growth, or birdhouse popularity); time of day (e.g., studies of prevalence of pollina- tors, squirrel activity, bird calls, or stream temperature); or seasons (e.g., study of extent of leaf cover, decomposer depth in soil, visible animals, flower prevalence, pollinator populations, migrating bird prevalence, or feeder popularity). In any case, students are highly engaged and motivated to investigate and find answers to their own inquiries. The more we, as teachers, promote inquiry and loosen our grip on the curriculum steering wheel, the more our students will be inspired to ask testable questions and learn how to test these inquiries, thereby tapping into their own passions, connecting with their local environments, and discovering authentic reasons to become environmental stewards.
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